Crescita virtuosa e crescita neodualistica nell'ambito regionale: tendenze recenti per le aree europee in ritardo di sviluppo

The evidence of persistent differentials in the growth and in the labour market performance among regions of Europe calls for a comprehensive analysis of the recent evolution of the position of the more backward area within the European Union. Evolution of regional differentials in GDP per head cannot be understood, according to the point of view expressed in this paper, without a joint analysis of the tendencies at the level of of the two complementary factors in the determination of total product of an area - productivity of the employed population, and the employment rate (employed to total population). Dispersion of income, productivity, and employment rates among the regions belonging to the Objective I area of European regional policies are investigated; an analysis of the evolution of measures of a development gap of these regions with respect to average European standards is considered. In general, it appears that convergence of income and a catch up process, for the regions within the Objective I area, has been taken place, nothwithstanding the evidence of convergence of productivity, by stagnant or declining employment rates reflecting inability ot match labour supply through additional flows of jobs. We have tentatively called this situation of locally improving productivity performance and lack of sufficient capacity of absorption of labour, as one of a neodualistic growth.