IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rrs/journl/v6y2012i2p53-72.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Internal Migration Relevant to Regional Convergence? Comparative Analysis Across Five European Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Daniela Bunea

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

Abstract

This paper carries out a comparative analysis across five European countries of the impact of internal migration on regional income convergence process at NUTS 2 level. Convergence can be defined as the process by which poorer regions catch up richer regions and, as a consequence, regional disparities decrease. The phenomenon is appreciated using the concepts of sigma- and beta-convergence. Theoretically, human migration is one vital adjustment mechanism of regional disequilibria which contributes to enhancing convergence. The study uses the methodology of two-way fixed effects panel data model and its main results point out at sigma-divergence in income evolution in Hungary and Romania and at sigma-convergence trends in Austria, Spain and rather constancy in Sweden. Instead, all countries but for Sweden exhibited beta-convergence. Hungary, Sweden and Spain recorded relatively higher gross migration rates. But despite this fact, internal migration’s impact on beta-convergence was quite small (Romania and Spain) or inexistent (Austria, Hungary and Sweden).

Suggested Citation

  • Daniela Bunea, 2012. "Is Internal Migration Relevant to Regional Convergence? Comparative Analysis Across Five European Countries," Romanian Journal of Regional Science, Romanian Regional Science Association, vol. 6(2), pages 53-72, DECEMBER.
    • Handle: RePEc:rrs:journl:v:6:y:2012:i:2:p:53-72
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://rjrs.ase.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/V62/V623.Bunea.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maurer, Rainer, 1995. "OLS-Estimation of conditional and unconditional sigma- and beta-convergence of per capita income: Implications of Solow-Swan and Ramsey-Cass models," Kiel Working Papers 698, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Niebuhr, Annekatrin, 2000. "Convergence and the effects of spatial interaction," HWWA Discussion Papers 110, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    3. Bernard, Andrew B. & Durlauf, Steven N., 1996. "Interpreting tests of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 161-173.
    4. Pfaffermayr, Michael, 2009. "Conditional [beta]- and [sigma]-convergence in space: A maximum likelihood approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 63-78, January.
    5. Chatterji, Monojit, 1992. "Convergence Clubs and Endogenous Growth," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 8(4), pages 57-69, Winter.
    6. María Hierro & Adolfo Maza, 2010. "Per capita income convergence and internal migration in Spain: Are foreign‐born migrants playing an important role?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 89-107, March.
    7. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1991. "Convergence across States and Regions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 22(1), pages 107-182.
    8. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    9. Friedman, Milton, 1992. "Do Old Fallacies Ever Die?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 2129-2132, December.
    10. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    11. Tiiu Paas & Friso Schittle & Andres Kuusk, 2000. "Modelling Regional Income Convergence in EU-25," Regional and Urban Modeling 283600067, EcoMod.
    12. Quah, D., 1990. "Galton'S Fallacy And The Tests Of The Convergence Hypothesis," Working papers 552, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    13. Etzo, Ivan, 2008. "Internal migration and growth in Italy," MPRA Paper 8642, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Johnson, Paul & Takeyama, Lisa N., 2001. "Convergence Among the U.S. States: Absolute, Conditional, or Club?," Vassar College Department of Economics Working Paper Series 50, Vassar College Department of Economics, revised Oct 2003.
    15. Manfred Fischer & Claudia Stirböck, 2006. "Pan-European regional income growth and club-convergence," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 40(4), pages 693-721, December.
    16. Stein Østbye & Olle Westerlund, 2007. "Is Migration Important for Regional Convergence? Comparative Evidence for Norwegian and Swedish Counties, 1980-2000," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(7), pages 901-915.
    17. Giuseppe Arbia & Roberto Basile & Gianfranco Piras, 2005. "Using Spatial Panel Data in Modelling Regional Growth and Convergence," ISAE Working Papers 55, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY).
    18. Stefano Magrini, 2007. "Analysing Convergence through the Distribution Dynamics Approach: Why and how?," Working Papers 2007_13, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    19. Baumol, William J, 1986. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: What the Long-run Data Show," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1072-1085, December.
    20. Barro, Robert J & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1992. "Convergence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 223-251, April.
    21. repec:bla:scandj:v:95:y:1993:i:4:p:427-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Cristian Incaltarau & Gabriela Carmen Pascariu & Adelaide Duarte & Peter Nijkamp, 2021. "Migration, regional growth and convergence: a spatial econometric study on Romania," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(3), pages 497-532, June.
    2. Mihai Antonia & Zizi Goschin & Irina-Denisa Munteanu & Mihail-Dumitru Sacală, 2023. "The Effects of Schooling Level on Economic Convergence in Emerging Countries: Evidence from Romania," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 125-142, September.
    3. Zizi GOSCHIN, 2017. "Exploring regional economic convergence in Romania. A spatial modeling approach," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 8, pages 127-146, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Magrini, Stefano, 2004. "Regional (di)convergence," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 62, pages 2741-2796, Elsevier.
    2. FE, Doukouré Charles, 2010. "Réduction de Droits de Douane et Convergence Réelle dans l'UEMOA [Tariffs Reduction and Real Convergence in WAEMU]," MPRA Paper 26763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Carlino, Gerald A. & Mills, Leonard, 1996. "Testing neoclassical convergence in regional incomes and earnings," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 565-590, December.
    4. Tunali, Çiǧdem Börke & Yilanci, Veli, 2010. "Are per capita incomes of MENA countries converging or diverging?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(21), pages 4855-4862.
    5. Eftychia Tsanana & Constantinos Katrakilidis, 2014. "Do Balkan economies catch up with EU? New evidence from panel unit root analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 641-662, November.
    6. Burcu Ozcan, 2014. "Does Income Converge among EU Member Countries following the Post-War Period? Evidence from the PANKPSS Test," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 22-38, October.
    7. Coulombe, Serge & Lee, Frank C., 1998. "Évolution à long terme de la convergence régionale au Canada," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 74(1), pages 5-27, mars.
    8. Ronny Correa-Quezada & Lucía Cueva-Rodríguez & José Álvarez-García & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Application of the Kernel Density Function for the Analysis of Regional Growth and Convergence in the Service Sector through Productivity," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-20, July.
    9. de la Fuente, Angel, 1997. "The empirics of growth and convergence: A selective review," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 23-73, January.
    10. Sheila Chapman & Stefania Cosci & Loredana Mirra, 2012. "Income dynamics in an enlarged Europe: the role of capital regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(3), pages 663-693, June.
    11. Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura & Begoña García-Greciano & José Luis Raymond, 1999. "Regional Convergence in Productivity and Productive Structure: The Spanish Case," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 35-53, April.
    12. Cunado, J. & Perez de Gracia, F., 2006. "Real convergence in Africa in the second-half of the 20th century," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 153-167.
    13. Cem Ertur & Julie Le Gallo & Catherine Baumont, 2006. "The European Regional Convergence Process, 1980-1995: Do Spatial Regimes and Spatial Dependence Matter?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 29(1), pages 3-34, January.
    14. Amélie Charles & Olivier Darne & Jean-François Hoarau, 2012. "Convergence of real per capita GDP within COMESA countries: A panel unit root evidence," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 49(1), pages 53-71, August.
    15. Ben-David, Dan, 1996. "Trade and convergence among countries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 279-298, May.
    16. Peter Mulder & Henri Groot, 2007. "Sectoral Energy- and Labour-Productivity Convergence," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(1), pages 85-112, January.
    17. Ahmet Kýndap & Tayyar Dogan, 2019. "Regional Economic Convergence and Spatial Spillovers in Turkey," International Econometric Review (IER), Econometric Research Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Elena Vakulenko, 2016. "Does migration lead to regional convergence in Russia?," International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(1), pages 1-25.
    19. John Nixon, "undated". "Convergence Analysis of Health Care Expenditure in the EU Countries Using Two Approaches," Discussion Papers 99/3, Department of Economics, University of York.
    20. Evans, Paul & Karras, Georgios, 1996. "Convergence revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 249-265, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    convergence; internal migration; fixed-effects panel data; spatial dependence; comparative study;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    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:rrs:journl:v:6:y:2012:i:2:p:53-72. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Bogdan-Vasile Ileanu (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.