Does Evidence on Regional Economic Convergence Depend on the Estimation Strategy? Outcomes from Analysis of a Set of NUTS2 EU Regions

Giuseppe Arbia (), Julie Le Gallo and Gianfranco Piras

Spatial Economic Analysis, 2008, vol. 3, issue 2, 209-224

Abstract: Abstract The regional economic convergence/divergence issue has been discussed extensively recently, but results obtained are not always interpretable unequivocally as a consequence of the different estimation strategies used. As it is widely recognized, the most common theoretical framework applied to measure the speed of economic convergence among countries or regions remains the β-convergence approach, linked to the neoclassical Solow model. There have been many attempts to consider variations of the basic cross-sectional specification ranging from panel data models to Bayesian spatial econometric techniques. The application of spatial econometric methodologies is an essential tool for proper statistical inference on regional data. In this context, the aim of this paper is to connect the different results obtained in the literature. More specifically, we address whether or not evidence on convergence depends upon the estimation strategy, by taking the same set of data and systematically comparing the results obtained from different estimation strategies. The results from a set of NUTS2 EU regions conclude that both the model implied by the cross-sectional analysis and the one referring to the space-time dynamics incorporated in the panel specification point to convergence. The concept of convergence implied is, however, quite different, as demonstrated throughout the paper.

Keywords: Regional economic growth; spatial models; EU regions; C21; C31; R10; R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.taylorandfrancisonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17421770801996664 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Does evidence on regional economic convergence depend on the estimation strategy ? Outcomes from analysis of a set of NUTS-2 regions (2008)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:specan:v:3:y:2008:i:2:p:209-224

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RSEA20

DOI: 10.1080/17421770801996664

Access Statistics for this article

Spatial Economic Analysis is currently edited by Bernie Fingleton and Danilo Igliori

More articles in Spatial Economic Analysis from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().