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Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900-2015

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  • Roses, Joan R.
  • Wolf, Nikolaus

Abstract

In this paper we discuss regional income growth and inequality based on a new set of long-run data. The data cover 173 European regions in 16 countries, from 1900 to 2015. These data allow us to compare regions over time, among each other, and to other parts of the world. After some brief notes on methodology, we describe the basic patterns in the data in terms of some key dimensions: variation in the density of population and economic activity, structural change with a declining role of agriculture, the rise and fall of industry, and the long rise of services. We show how 'fundamentals' of institutions and geography affected income levels over the twentieth century, and describe how regional growth after 1945 turned from convergence and adjustment to shocks to divergence. In the long run we observe a U-shaped pattern of regional convergence followed by divergence, not unlike recent observations on personal income and wealth distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Roses, Joan R. & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2021. "Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900-2015," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108624, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:108624
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Fransham & Max Herbertson & Mihaela Pop & Margarida Bandeira Morais & Neil Lee, 2023. "Level best? The levelling up agenda and UK regional inequality," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(11), pages 2339-2352, November.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Javier Terrero-Dávila & Neil Lee, 2023. "Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 951-977.
    3. Miriam Fritzsche & Nikolaus Wolf, 2022. "Fickle Fossils. Economic Growth, Coal and the European Oil Invasion 1900-2015," Working Papers 029, The Productivity Institute.
    4. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clement & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Gregory, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119922, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Nataliia Letunovska & Rafis Abazov & Yang Chen, 2022. "Framing a Regional Spatial Development Perspective: The Relation between Health and Regional Performance," Virtual Economics, The London Academy of Science and Business, vol. 5(4), pages 87-99, December.
    6. Berbée, Paul & Braun, Sebastian Till & Franke, Richard, 2022. "Reversing Fortunes of German Regions, 1926–2019: Boon and Bane of Early Industrialization?," IZA Discussion Papers 15463, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Cutrini, Eleonora & Mendez, Carlos, 2023. "Convergence clubs and spatial structural change in the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 167-181.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    regional inequality; Europe; long-run;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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