Titolo Rivista:  STUDI ECONOMICI

Autori/Curatori: Antonio Acconcia

Anno di pubblicazione: 2002 Fascicolo: 76 Lingua: IT
Numero pagine: 18 Dimensione file: 165 KB

Presentazione:
Looking at the distribution of income per capita across a large set of European regions since 1975 up to 1999, we conclude for a substantial stability of regional inequalities. It seems that on average the process of economic growth affect all regions in the same proportional way, that is, initial relative positions remain largely unaltered. A different conclusion is reached, however, if we concentrate on the evolution of labour productivity and employment ratio, respectively. In particular, our data suggest a process of decreasing dispersion in labour productivity (convergence), as well as a tendency for regions with relatively low (high) productivity levels to advantage of growth of employment ratio at a rate less (more) than the average. This determined an increase of the correlation between productivity and employment ratio. The latter conclusion is in line with both the traditional neoclassical theory and some of new growth theory models.