Interest Rates and Wage Indexation

The growth effects of European economic and monetary intergration and the progress of

regional convergence across Europe depend on whether economic in Europe is consistent with a neoclassical or an endogenous growth model. Using annual data from the 1950-1992 period for each of 20 European economies, the paper finds that steady-state real growth rates are generally unaffected by changes in the investment rate, population growth, and government consumption, evidence consistent with neoclassical growth theories. This Strengthens the likelihood of regional (perhaps conditional) convergence, and suggests that the effects of greater monetary and economic unification will be in terms of higher incomes per capita, but not in terms of permanently higher growth rates.[O40,F43]     

Human capital and economic growth in Spanish regions

Modern economic growth theory has emphasized on the human capital effects on economic growth. In this case, the externalities from a better education could enhance economic growth process and facilitate the progress in different regional areas. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of human capital on economic growth process by taking into account the case of Spanish regions. The authors examine whether a better education process and social capital can improve the economic growth process in such area and if it can explain the differences in per capita GDP existing in those regions. The paper uses data from Spanish Statistical Institute and from different institutes of the European Union. The Castilla La Mancha Regional Government has provided financial support for the Project PDI-02-025.     

An empirical test of the regional innovation paradox: can smart specialisation overcome the paradox in Central and Eastern Europe?

The regional innovation paradox is the greater need of lagging regions to invest in innovation and their relatively lower capacity to absorb funding compared to more advanced regions. Using data on regional public spending, industry composition and economic performance, we test empirically whether there is a differential impact of European funding on regional economic growth between Eastern and Western European regions. We conclude that the paradox is proven and consider the extent to which smart specialisation strategies may help to improve the quality of governance of regional innovation systems.     

INCOME INEQUALITY WITHIN EUROPEAN REGIONS: DETERMINANTS AND EFFECTS ON GROWTH

Economic inequality across Europe has been largely investigated by analyzing the determinants and dynamics of the disparities between countries and regions. Similarly, many studies have focused on inequality within European countries. So far, less attention has been devoted to economic inequality within European regions, mainly due to data shortages. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on this level of analysis. After the introductory section, the first part of the paper presents the conceptual bases of the study, examining relevant theoretical and empirical arguments about (i) the determinants of economic inequality, (ii) the relationship between economic inequality and growth, and (iii) the desirability and specificity of regional analysis. The second part of the paper, using various econometric approaches, provides evidence of the centrality of labor market qualitative and quantitative aspects and of some country-level institutional settings for regional inequality levels. As regards the effects of inequality on growth, the results suggest a positive relationship.     

Convergence Across the EU Regions: Economic Composition and Structural Transformation

This paper refers to 1995–2006 and analyzes the role and sources of within- and between-sectors convergence in the context of the economic catching-up process across the European Union regions. The perspective adopted here overcomes the prevailing theoretical and empirical contributions referred to as the one-sector economic growth model by Solow that neglects the implications of economic composition and structural transformation on regional aggregate growth and catching-up. Further, a comparison between the results from the fixed effects panel data model and cross-regions ordinary least square estimates allow consideration of the technological differences in the economic and sectoral speeds of convergence. The growth-accounting approach integrates these results and underlines the role of structural composition and change on the process of economic and between-sectors catching-up.     

Employment shocks and anti-EU sentiment

Euroscepticism and the rise of populist parties have often been linked to economic insecurity. This paper identifies regional employment changes as causal factors for forming attitudes towards the European Union and voting for eurosceptic parties in European Parliament elections. To do so, I combine industry-specific employment data for roughly 260 European NUTS II regions with individual-level Eurobarometer survey data for the past 20 years and regional voting results. I apply panel data and instrumental variable methods; for the latter I construct a Bartik-style instrument, which predicts employment changes on the basis of regional industry specialization and Europe-wide sector specific employment growth rates. The effect of employment changes on attitudes towards the EU is particularly strong for unemployed and low-skilled workers in regions with a high share of migrants from other European member states, which supports the narrative that ‘losers of globalization’ tend to be more skeptical towards economic and political integration.     

The Economic Agenda: a View from Europe

Over the course of the 1990s, the US outperformed Europe not only in output growth, but also in productivity and employment generation, thereby stopping Europe's decade‐long period of catching up. The author shows that the growth difference originates at least partly from insufficient investment by Europe into the determinants of long‐run growth (research, education, and the diffusion of new technologies). Northern European countries with comprehensive welfare systems performed better than the big economies in continental Europe, owing to their timely realization that these costly systems require the highest possible levels of productivity and fast growth. The European agenda for the next decade is based on this analysis. It stresses the importance of accelerating economic growth, primarily through investment into growth drivers. Labor market reforms are necessary, as is the redefinition of macroeconomic policy, a regional policy adequate for European enlargement, and reforms in the public sector. Distributional and ecological issues are also on the agenda, even though Europe outperforms the US in these fields, as is reflective of European preferences.     

Structural change and foreign direct investment: globalization and regional economic integration

This paper investigates flows of inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and FDI-to-GDP ratios in a sample of 62 countries over a 30 year time span. Using several endogenous structural break procedures (allowing for one and two break points), we find that: (1) the great majority of the series have structural breaks in the last 15 years, (2) post-break FDI and FDI/GDP ratios are substantially higher than the pre-break values, and (3) most breaks seem to be related to globalization, regional economic integration, economic growth, or political instability. Static and dynamic panel-data analyses accounting for and/or addressing endogeneity, simultaneity, nonstationarity, heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence show that FDI is negatively related to exchange rate volatility and GDP per capita, but positively related to some regional integration agreements, trade openness, GDP, and GDP growth. Most notably, the European Union is the only regional economic integration unit found to consistently have significant and positive effects on FDI.     

谈FDI对我国区域经济均衡发展的影响

外商直接投资(以下简称FD I)在中国经济增长中发挥着重要的推动作用,但是中国吸收FD I的地区分布呈现出非常明显的非均衡特征。这对我国区域经济发展差异产生了重大的影响。从经济增长、产业结构、市场竞争、收入分配、综合竞争等方面阐述了FD I对区域经济发展的影响机制,并提出相应的对策建议。     

Human capital effects on labour productivity in EU regions

Recent years have seen a wealth of articles on spatial effects in empirical growth specifications. Endogenous growth models, together with the arguments of the new economic geography, have led to spatial dependence being identified with the existence of externalities which cross regional borders. This article continues in this line of research and offers new empirical evidence on the contribution of human capital and agglomeration economies to the differences in productivity in European Union regions. The article uses the spatial Durbin model with different weight matrices to explain the relation between human capital variables and labour productivity, with the advantage that it allows the effects of spatial externalities associated to human capital and agglomeration economies to be quantified.     

Perspectives on the Guaranteed Income,Part I

Strengthening economic, social, and territorial cohesion is a central objective of the European Union. However, disparities between European regions are considerable, and there are doubts as to whether they are likely to be attenuated. In recent years, there has been a growing body of literature that examines the effectiveness of the European Union’s funds for promoting growth and reducing asymmetries among members. We contribute to this literature by examining the conditions under which the European Union’s financial aid may be affecting regional growth. We explore the interactions between transfers and income and other regional characteristics, such as human capital or innovation. We apply this study to a panel of 137 European regions, covering the period from 1995 to 2009. Our conclusions suggest a positive and significant marginal impact of funds only in regions with low levels of human capital and innovation.     

区域经济增长区际差异、制度绩效及其测定

制度转型时期区域经济增长中的制度内生性及制度资源在地域分布上的非均衡性对区域经济增长差异产生影响.本文定性分析经济增长中的区际差异与制度绩效,围绕如何从区域经济增长的区际差异中甑别制度差异,提出了评价相应绩效的方法,并以一个县域经济为实例进行了实例分析.     

我国区域经济增长收敛的短期性和长期性分析

从一个新的视角来解释经济增长收敛,对区域经济增长收敛从短期性和长期性两个方面来进行研究,认为区域经济增长的差异呈先扩大后减小的过程即倒U形。对改革开放以来我国区域经济增长过程进行实证分析,结果表明:在短期内我国区域经济增长趋于发散,但只要采取合适的政策措施,在长期内我国区域经济增长将趋于收敛;并给出了我国区域经济增长收敛曲线的模型形式及预测结果。     

中国区域经济增长条件趋同研究

选择了地理环境、要素投入、增长过程、政策扰动4个稳态因子研究中国区域经济增长条件趋同。结果表明,1978—2008年中国区域经济增长没有发生绝对趋同。但是,在要素投入、增长过程这两个稳态因子的分别作用下,中国区域经济增长均发生了明显的条件趋同,趋同速度分别为1.2%和2.2%。而在地理环境、政策扰动因子的分别作用下,中国区域经济增长均没有出现条件趋同。在上述4个稳态因子的综合作用下,1978—2008年中国区域经济增长出现了条件趋同,趋同速度仅仅为1.4%。这提示我们,要解决好中国的区域经济差异问题,应该把注意力更多地放在有效推进区域的工业化、城市化、市场化、对外开放、信息化,以及增加物质资本、劳动力、人力资本和知识的投入上。     

Visualising components of regional innovation systems using self-organizing maps—Evidence from European regions

Regional innovation systems are regarded as complex systems in which components are strongly dependent on each other. Such relationships can have both linear and nonlinear character. One of the ways to investigate the structure of regional innovation systems is to use a self-organizing map resulting from an unsupervised learning process. In this paper we employed this procedure to visualize and study the patterns present in the individual components of European regional innovation systems. Our findings suggest that there is a similar level of diversity in individual regional innovation systems' components due to their strong intercorrelations. Additionally, the visualisation of the components in geographical maps shows on a positive effect of the Knowledge intensive regions on the spatially close Catching up regions. Finally, the economic growth of the European regions appears to be associated to European economic integration (for lagging behind regions) and the level of innovative and entrepreneurial activity (for knowledge intensive regions).     

The human capital and economic growth nexus: in East and South Asia

This study adopts a disaggregated regional focus to test for the human capital (HC)-growth nexus in selected nine Asian countries. It utilizes the Empirical Bayesian methodology which addresses not only the heterogeneity issue but it also utilizes the common structural priors of regional countries to yield ‘informationally’ efficient estimates of the impact of HC on the stock and levels of GDP. Various measures of HC are utilized to determine which of these produces a better explanation of economic growth in the two Asian regions. The study finds that primary and secondary education was more prominent in explaining the fluctuations of economic growth in East Asia, whereas tertiary and vocational education showed positive effects on economic growth in South Asia. Government expenditures on education were also found to positively affect economic growth in both regions. The results shed new evidence to establish that the differences in growth rates within East and South Asia are associated with differences in educational progression in the regions.     

Business Cycle Synchronization in Europe: Evidence from a Dynamic Factor Model

This paper revisits the effect of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on the extent of business cycle synchronization across its member states. A dynamic latent factor model is used to identify the ‘regional’ effect of the euro area on output growth and inflation dynamics across European countries. The results of variance decomposition analysis confirm that both output growth and inflation tended to be more synchronized among European countries during the run-up to the EMU, but there is no strong evidence to support the argument that the ‘regional’ effects prevailed after 1999.     

我国区域文化创意指数的测度及经济增长效应

在分析已有研究成果的基础上,综合设计了一套能够反映我国区域文化创意产业发展状况的评价指标体系。根据这套指标体系运用探索性因子分析方法对区域产业规模指数、人力资本指数、创新能力指数和文化资本指数进行了逐一评估,最终获得全国31个省（市、区）的区域文化创意指数总水平,显示出文化创意指数的空间分异状况。进行多元回归分析后,发现区域文化创意指数水平与区域经济增长水平存在正相关关系,而且弹性系数较高,说明区域文化创意指数的经济增长效应非常显著,文化创意产业的重要性不容忽视。     

政府支出规模、经济波动与经济增长——基于省级面板数据的实证分析

笔者在Barro的政府规模与经济增长理论基础上,引入经济波动以反映政府支出规模对经济活动的干预,利用中国28个省(市、自治区)1979年～2008年的面板数据,检验了政府支出规模与经济波动对经济增长的影响。研究结果发现,我国地方政府支出规模与经济波动对区域经济增长都产生了负效应,且经济波动比政府支出规模对区域经济增长的负效应更大。因此,政府在追求经济高速增长的同时,要更加注重保持经济增长的稳定性。     

中国金融效率促进经济增长效应的区域差异及地方政府宏观调控的异质需求

把金融效率分为资金聚集效率和资金分配效率,采用2001—2015年中国八大经济区域的面板数据,实证检验了资金聚集效率和资金分配效率与经济增长的关系,分别验证了政府干预对上述相关性的影响。全国整体层面的检验结果显示:资金聚集效率对经济增长具有促进作用;资金分配效率对经济增长具有抑制作用。分区域检验结果显示:资金聚集效率和资金分配效率对经济增长具有不同的作用效果,且存在明显的区域差异。加入政府干预变量后的检验结果显示:地方政府影响了区域金融效率促进经济增长效应的释放,且这种影响同样存在区域差距。这表明,具有不同发展初始条件的区域对金融政策的实施和调控具有异质需求,地方政府应根据区域发展的实际需求,结合经济增长转型及政府职能转变,选择合适的金融领域实施相应政策,有效提高区域金融效率,支持经济长期良性增长。