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DOES EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP RESULT IN QUALITY-OF-LIFE CONVERGENCE?

Joel I. Deichmann (jdeichmann@bentley.edu), Dominique Haughton (dhaughton@bentley.edu), Mingfei Li (mli@bentley.edu) and Heyao Wang (wang_heya@bentley.edu)
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Joel I. Deichmann: Professor of Global Studies
Dominique Haughton: Professor of Mathematical Sciences
Mingfei Li: Professor of Mathematical Sciences
Heyao Wang: Graduate Research Assistant

Regional Science Inquiry, 2022, vol. XIV, issue 1, 31-46

Abstract: This paper employs European Quality-of-life Survey (EQLS) responses from 2003, 2008, 2012, and 2016 to examine whether European Union (EU) enlargement helps meet the objectives of improved living standards and overall quality-of-life across the continent. The data set includes responses to forty questions across nine dimensions for all twenty-eight pre-Brexit EU member states, along with eight non-member states. Insights are captured through the systematic comparison of self-reported perceptions pooled at the country level before and after accession, as well as between member states and non-member states. Special attention is paid to the eleven post-communist countries that joined the EU in 2004, 2007, and 2013, which together represent the addition of one hundred million EU citizens. These include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia. Based upon these findings, the paper concludes with speculation upon popular support for further enlargement in the wake of the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis, the 2016-2020 Brexit process, and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: European Union; Central and Eastern Europe; economic integration; European convergence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 O47 P20 P48 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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