Given its unpredictable nature, urban sprawl in the Mediterranean region is considered an intriguing (and intricate) socioeconomic issue. Since the 1970s, urban dispersion advanced rapidly in southern Europe-irrespective of a city's size and morphology-with urbanization rates growing faster than...

This paper investigates the cross-section growth preformance of 107 European Regions from 1970 to 1990. While previous work has traditionally focused on the cross-section or the time series dimension of the data, this study uses a more general approach based on Markov chains. The observed...

In this paper, I identify some stylized facts characterizing regional evolution in Europe during the eighties. In particular, I provide evidence of the existence of convergence clubs based on regional specialization. Afterward, I give an explanation of this empirical evidence based on the...

This paper explores the evolution of Italy's regional inequality in the long run, from around Unification (1871) until our days (2011). To this scope, a unique and up-to-date dataset of GDP per capita, GDP per worker (productivity) and employment, at the NUTS II level and at current borders, for...

Using meta-analytical techniques, we focus on 11 studies that explicitly measure the effect of a net migration variable in neoclassical convergence models and derive 57 comparable effect sizes. The data suggest that an increase in the net migration rate of one percentage point increases on...

There is increasing evidence that our societies are polarizing. Most studies focus on labour market and educational outcomes and show a socioeconomic polarization of the bottom and top ends of the population distribution. Processes of social polarization have a spatial dimension which should be...

We analyse the impact of internal migration in China on natives' labour market outcomes. We find evidence of a large positive correlation of the city share of migrants with natives' wages. Using different sets of control variables and instruments suggests that the effect is causal. The large...

Western cities are increasingly ethnically diverse and in most cities the share of ethnic minorities is growing. Studies analyzing changing ethnic geographies often limit their analysis to changes in ethnic concentrations in neighborhoods between two points in time. Such a static approach limits...

This research project ranks German regions with help of interregional migration data instead of gross domestic product, household incomes, unemployment or quality of life estimates. Therefore we estimate regional utility differentials for German states and planning regions following the approach...

Many studies of urban and neighbourhood change investigate changes in the relative positions of neighbourhoods within an urban region, without looking at the underlying processes. Often, changes in socio-spatial structures reflect intensifying socio-spatial divisions caused by both increasing...