A Comparison of the Development of Selected Macroeconomic Indicators of the Regions of the V4 Countries
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the article is to compare a degree of beta-convergence between V4 countries and EU28 at national and NUTS 2 level.
Methodology/Approach: We will make this comparison separately for each indicator (gross domestic product at current market prices, unemployment rate and disposable income of households.). To evaluate beta-convergence differences at national and regional level, we will compare the data for the V4 countries and for Germany and Austria. To show convergence, we approximated the GDP growth trend in individual countries, using a trend line for three different time periods.
Findings: Our results point to persistent disparities between regions. They have confirmed that the cohesion policy in the regions of the V4 countries should promote innovations and investments into less developed and predominantly agricultural regions, complete the necessary backbone infrastructure and develop a high-quality regional education. At regional level, the implementation of high value-added programs may be hampered by institutional factors and a lack of capacity to make the necessary infrastructure or human capital investments. Our analysis showed that differences in regional performance are also accompanied by significant differences in investigated indicators.
Research Limitation/Implication: Limitations of the paper are at first missing data for Poland to the year 2013. Second limit of the article are data from regions, because data are related to the palce of residence of its branch.
Originality/Value of paper: Paper is full original,also a data analysis does not copy any other articles neither article in a journal nor paper on conference.
References
Boldrin, M., and Canova, F., 2001. Inequality and convergence in Europe’s regions: Reconsidering European regional policies. Economic Policy, [e-journal] 16(32), pp.205-253. DOI: 10.1111/1468-0327.00074.
Bradley, J. and Untiedt, G., 2007. Do economic models tell us anything useful about Cohesion Policy impacts? A comparison of HERMIN, QUEST and ECOMOD. [GEFRA Working Paper No. 3/2007] GEFRA – Gesellschaft fuer Finanz - und Regionalanalysen. Münster (Westfalen), Germany. Available at: < http://www.gefra-muenster.org/downloads/doc/GEFRA-WP-2007-3.pdf >.
Crescenzi, R., Fratesi, U. and Monastiriotis, V., 2017. The EU cohesion policy and the factors conditioning success and failure: evidence from 15 regions. Regions Magazine, [e-journal] 305(1), pp.4-7. DOI: 10.1080/13673882.2017.11868994.
CZSO (Czech Statistical Office), 2020. Europe – NUTS. [online] Available at: < https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/europe-nuts > [Accessed 11 March 2022].
Dall'Erba, S. and Le Gallo, J., 2008. Regional convergence and the impact of European structural funds over 1989–1999: A spatial econometric analysis. Papers in Regional Science, [e-journal] 87(2), pp.219-244. DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2008.00184.x.
Di Cataldo, M. and Monastiriotis, V., 2020. Regional needs, regional targeting, and regional growth: an assessment of EU Cohesion Policy in the UK regions. Regional Studies, [e-journal] 54(1), pp.35-47. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2018.1498073.
Dluhoš, M., Gajdoš, J. and Hajduová, Z., 2019. Real Convergence of Logistics Performance of Countries of the World, EU and V4. Politická ekonomie, [e-journal] 67(4), pp.406-425. DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1244.
Ehl, M., 2016. Falling into the Middle Income Trap. Aspen Review, 02/2016. Aspen Institute.
Eichengreen, B., Park, D. and Shin, K., 2013. Growth Slowdowns Redux: New Evidence on the Middle-Income Trap. [NBER Working Paper No. 18673]. National Bureau of Economic Research. Available at: < https://www.nber.org/ system/files/working_papers/w18673/w18673.pdf > DOI: 10.3386/w18673.
European Commission, 2015. European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020: Official Texts and Commentaries. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Available at: < https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/ information/publications/legislation/2015/european-structural-and-investment-funds-2014-2020-official-texts-and-commentaries > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
European Commission, 2017. Competitiveness in low-income and low-growth regions – The lagging regions report. Brussels: European Commision. Available at: < https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/reports/ 2017/competitiveness-in-low-income-and-low-growth-regions-the-lagging-regions-report > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
Eurostat, 2020a. NUTS - Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics. [online] Brussels: European Commision. Available at: < https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/ nuts/background > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
Eurostat, 2020b. Regional gross domestic product (PPS per inhabitant) by NUTS 2 regions. [Economy and finance > National accounts (ESA 2010) > Annual national accounts > Regional economic accounts > Gross domestic product indicators] Eurostat. [online] Available through: < https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ databrowser/view/tgs00005/default/table?lang=en > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
Eurostat, 2020c. Unemployment rate by NUTS 2 regions. [Population and social conditions > Labour market > Employment and unemployment (Labour force survey) > LFS series - Specific topics > LFS regional series > Regional unemployment - LFS annual series] Eurostat. [online] Available at: < https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tgs00010/default/table?lang=en > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
Eurostat, 2020d. Disposable income of private households by NUTS 2 regions. [Economy and finance > National accounts (ESA 2010) > Annual national accounts > Regional economic accounts > Branch and Household accounts] Eurostat. [online] Available at: < https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ databrowser/view/tgs00026/default/table?lang=en > [Accessed 03 March 2022].
Fratesi, U. and Wishlade, G.F., 2017. The Impact of European Cohesion Policy in different contexts. Regional Studies, [e-journal] 51(6), pp.817-821. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2017.1326673.
Johnson, S.C., 1967. Hierarchical Clustering Schemes. Psychometrika, [e-journal] 32(3), pp.241-254. DOI: 10.1007/BF02289588.
Kokocinska, M. and Puziak, M., 2018. Regional Income Differences and their Evolution after EU Accession. The Evidence from Visegrad Countries. Journal of Competitiveness, [e-journal] 10(4), pp.85-101. DOI: 10.7441/joc.2018.04.06.
Kuttor, D., 2009. Territorial Inequalities in Central Europe - Spatial Analysis of the Visegrad Countries. Romanian Review of Regional Studies, 5(1), pp.25-36.
Leonardi, R., 2006. Cohesion in the European Union. Regional Studies, [e-journal] 40(2), pp.155-166. DOI: 10.1080/00343400600600462.
Venables, A.J. and Gasiorek, M., 1999. Evaluating regional infrastructure: a computable equilibrium approach. In: European Commission, 1999, The socio-economic impact of projects financed by the Cohesion Fund: a modelling approach. Volume II, Computable general equilibrium models: Models of explicit distribution dynamics. Publications Office, 1999. pp.7-77. Available at: < https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/8ea1e5fb-ccc4-4daf-b060-314997e5a869/language-en > [Accessed 08 March 2022].
Widuto, A., 2019. Regional inequalities in the EU. EPRS: European Parliamentary Research Service. Available at: < https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/637951/EPRS_BRI(2019)637951_EN.pdf > [Accessed 08 March 2022].
Wostner, P., 2008. The Micro-efficiency of EU Cohesion Policy. [European Policy Research Paper No. 64] European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde.
Young, A.T., Matthew, J.H. and Levy, D., 2008. Sigma Convergence versus Beta Convergence: Evidence from U.S. County-Level Data. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, [e-journal] 40(5), pp.1083-1093. DOI: 10.1111/j.1538-4616.2008.00148.x.
Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.