CONVERGING AND DIVERGING REGIONS IN THE EU: IMPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL POLICY

This paper investigates the extent of regional cohesion amongst European regions; an issue of emerging importance in the fast growing literature on regional economics. This paper aims toshed some further light on the question of regional cohesion by taking into account the impactof the existing technological gaps across regions. Regional cohesion is examined in terms oflabour productivity for the NUTS-2 regions of the EU-27 during the time period 1995-2006. The results suggest the existence of two separate groups or clubs. The first includes regions from advanced northern European countries, while the members in the second club are mainly found in the new member-states and in southern European countries, putting the issue of European regional policy into a fresh premise. To be more specific, the results have important implications for the (re) direction of regional policy in Europe towards a new set of objectives and instruments.