In this paper we put to test the impact of the European Structural Funds on the economies of the 20 Italian administrative regions for the 1989-2006 period. The main elements of novelty are that the empirical analysis is carried out by considering separately four sectors (agriculture, energy and...

The economic integration process requires appropriate understanding of the degree of vulnerability of member states to various kinds of shocks as well as identification of appropriate measures to mitigate the impact of these shocks on macroeconomic performance. Consequently, this study seeks to...

This paper establishes eight stylized facts on the evolution of the localization of economic activity across industries and regions in the EU-15 since 1980. Localization, which nests concentration and specialization, is measured by a Theil index. The stylized facts reveal a broad aggregate trend...

This paper employs a multidimensional approach to gauge the degree of regional integration and analyze impact on growth, inequality, and poverty. It constructs a multidimensional regional integration index (MDRII) series that embodies six key facets of regional integration: (i) trade and...

There have been many discussions about sustained growth. However, no quantitative model has been created for sustained growth. This paper is the first of its kind to propose a mathematical model to defined sustained growth. The data from ten countries in the ASEAN have been used to test and...

This paper proposes a framework to construct indexes of activity which links two strands of the index literature – the traditional business cycle analysis and the latent variable approach. To illustrate the method, we apply the framework to Australian regional data, namely to two resource-rich...

In the light of the current economic debt crisis within the Euro zone, the heterogeneity of EU members has becoming increasingly apparent. This heterogeneity is evident not only in some single macroeconomic variables but also in the level of economic integration with the other EU members....

The concept of European integration is often investigated in scientific papers and political debates, a uniform definition of this concept does not exist, however. Thereby, different steps and processes of European integration are hardly quantifiable. Moreover, it is hardly ever discussed that...