Assessing the European convergence machine: do countries converge and regions do not?

TitleAssessing the European convergence machine: do countries converge and regions do not?
Publication TypeWorking Paper
Year of Publication2025
AuthorsPittau, MG, Vaiano, A, Zelli, R
Number25_07
ISBN Number978 88 6851 576 8
KeywordsClub convergence, EU regions, mixture models
Abstract

According to the World Bank report (Gill & Raiser, 2012), the EU has become the modern world’s greatest “convergence machine”. While the process of convergence has been acknowledged at country level, results at regional level are still unclear. Using the most advanced techniques, we assess convergence across European NUTS2 regions over forty years. The distributional dynamic approach unveils different perspectives that traditional methods have overlooked. We conclude that a process of catching-up between low- and middle-income regions has been in progress, while wealthy regions have been drifting away.

Citation Key9002
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