IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifsowp/311852.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic polarization in the European Union: Development models in the race for the best location

Author

Listed:
  • Dominy, Jonas
  • Gräbner-Radkowitsch, Claudius
  • Heimberger, Philipp
  • Kapeller, Jakob

Abstract

This paper analyzes developmental trajectories in the EU. In doing so, it diagnoses economic polarization on two different levels: for one, we observe a divergence of average incomes across EU countries as a persistent empirical feature associated with European integration. For another, European economic integration in general and the introduction of the Euro in particular are associated with the emergence of heterogeneous developmental trajectories, which build on, and intensify differences in technological capabilities, institutional and legal setups, as well as labor market characteristics. When clustering countries with reference to similarities in terms of macroeconomic and institutional characteristics across countries, we find evidence for the existence of four distinct development models: core, periphery, and workbench economies, as well as financial hubs. Each of these groups is defined by distinct technological, institutional, and macroeconomic characteristics. Our findings point to suitable ways for extending and refining existing typological approaches, such as the Varieties of Capitalism or the growth model approach, thereby allowing us to better account for the heterogeneity of developmental pathways emerging in the course of an intensifying European race for the best location.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominy, Jonas & Gräbner-Radkowitsch, Claudius & Heimberger, Philipp & Kapeller, Jakob, 2025. "Economic polarization in the European Union: Development models in the race for the best location," ifso working paper series 46, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifsowp:311852
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/311852/1/1917766645.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Javier Garcia-Bernardo & Jan Fichtner & Eelke M. Heemskerk & Frank W. Takes, 2017. "Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network," Papers 1703.03016, arXiv.org, revised May 2017.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Franz Reiter & Dominika Langenmayr & Svea Holtmann, 2021. "Avoiding taxes: banks’ use of internal debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 717-745, June.
    2. Sébastien Laffitte & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Firms, Trade and Profit Shifting: Evidence from Aggregate Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 7171, CESifo.
    3. Pamela Pogliani & Goetz von Peter & Philip Wooldridge, 2022. "The outsize role of cross-border financial centres," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, June.
    4. Gerner-Beuerle, Carsten & Mucciarelli, Federico M. & Schuster, Edmund & Siems, Mathias, 2018. "Why do businesses incorporate in other EU Member States? An empirical analysis of the role of conflict of laws rules," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 14-27.
    5. Catalin Dragomirescu-Gaina & Leandro Elia, 2022. "A look offshore: unpacking the routes of misinvoicing in international trade," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-156, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Samuel Weeks, 2024. "Channeling the capital of others: How Luxembourg came to be asset managers’ “plumber†of choice," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 627-644, March.
    7. Woodgate, Ryan, 2021. "Multinational corporations and commercialised states: Can state aid serve as the basis for an FDI-driven growth strategy?," IPE Working Papers 161/2021, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    8. Meng, Bo & Gao, Yuning & Ye, Jiabai & Zhang, Meichen & Xing, Yuqing, 2022. "Trade in factor income and the US-China trade balance," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Delatte, Anne-Laure & Guillin, Amelie & Vicard, Vincent, 2022. "Grey zones in global finance: The distorted geography of cross-border investments," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    10. Leonard Seabrooke & Saila Stausholm, 2024. "The firm-territory nexus in a fragmented economy: Scales of global value and wealth chain entanglement," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(8), pages 2213-2231, November.
    11. Albrese, Eleonora & Casella, Bruno, 2019. "The Blurring of Corporate Investor Nationality and Complex Ownership Structures," MPRA Paper 95202, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Jul 2019.
    12. Petr Janský & Miroslav Palanský, 2019. "Estimating the scale of profit shifting and tax revenue losses related to foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(5), pages 1048-1103, October.
    13. Vijay Pereira & Yama Temouri & Chris Jones & Ashish Malik, 2019. "Identity of Asian Multinational Corporations: influence of tax havens," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 325-336, November.
    14. Petr Janský & Jan Láznička & Miroslav Palanský, 2021. "Tax treaties worldwide: Estimating elasticities and revenue foregone," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 359-401, May.
    15. Dmitry Erokhin, 2023. "Tax effects on foreign direct investment—Just a rerouting," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(9), pages 2808-2834, September.
    16. Aiyar, Shekhar & Ohnsorge, Franziska, 2024. "Geoeconomic Fragmentation and "Connector" Countries," MPRA Paper 121726, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Giacomo Bressan & Anja Đuranović & Irene Monasterolo & Stefano Battiston, 2024. "Asset-level assessment of climate physical risk matters for adaptation finance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Siranova, Maria, 2024. "Statistical omissions as the stabilizing factor of net foreign assets in EU countries," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. Richard Bůžek & Christoph Scheuplein, 2022. "The Global Wealth Chains of Private‐Equity‐Run Physician Practices," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 113(4), pages 331-347, September.
    20. Kirsten Martinus & Thomas Sigler & Iacopo Iacopini & Ben Derudder, 2021. "The brokerage role of small states and territories in global corporate networks," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 12-28, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic polarization; European integration; Development models; growth models; European Union;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • F6 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:ifsowp:311852. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isduede.html .

    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.