IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/jeciss/v43y2009i2p345-352.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gunnar Myrdal and the Persistence of Germany's Regional Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • John Hall
  • Udo Ludwig

Abstract

This paper seeks to establish that contributions to regional theory advanced by Gunnar Myrdal exhibit high levels of explanatory power when clarifying challenges facing Germany's eastern region since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Myrdal's evolutionary institutionalist contribution is contrasted with the "convergence hypothesis" advanced by R. Barro and X. Sala-i-Martin. Challenged is their prediction that Germany's eastern region would experience relatively higher annual rates of per capita output growth, and that levels of per capita output would converge between the eastern and western regions over time. Myrdal's approach is argued superior as it allows for considering backwash and spread effects within a framework of circular and cumulative causation, emerging between Germany's western and eastern regions.

Suggested Citation

  • John Hall & Udo Ludwig, 2009. "Gunnar Myrdal and the Persistence of Germany's Regional Inequality," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 345-352.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:43:y:2009:i:2:p:345-352
    DOI: 10.2753/JEI0021-3624430207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2753/JEI0021-3624430207
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2753/JEI0021-3624430207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anggi Rahajeng & Wihana Kirana Jaya & Evita Hanie Pangaribowo & Muhadjir Darwin, 2024. "Assessment of regional development pattern towards sustainability urban areas: empirical evidence from Yogyakarta urban areas," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 25827-25848, October.
    2. Joseph E. Pluta, 2010. "Evolutionary Alternatives to Equilibrium Economics," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 1155-1177, October.
    3. Blum, Ulrich, 2011. "An Economic Life in Vain − Path Dependence and East Germany’s Pre- and Post-Unification Economic Stagnation," IWH Discussion Papers 10/2011, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    4. Blum, Ulrich, 2011. "Can Korea Learn from German Unification?," IWH Discussion Papers 3/2011, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Kollai, István, 2019. "Elszegényítő központi régiók? A területi egyenlőtlenség lehetséges mozgatórugói Szlovákiában [Core regions impoverished? Spread and backwash effects on territorial inequality in 21st-century Centra," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1125-1144.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:43:y:2009:i:2:p:345-352. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MJEI20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.