Since the beginning of the 1990s, the issue of income convergence has received considerable attention in economic research. Although a vast number of empirical studies has emerged, evidence on the role of spatial interaction is still rather scarce. The present paper is an attempt to provide...

We investigate to what extent convergence in production levels per worker has been achieved in Germany since unification. To this end, we model the distribution of GDP per employee across German districts using two-component normal mixtures. While in the first year after unification, the two...

The neoclassical growth model predicts convergence of productivity or per capita output levels across regions. If participation in the labor force is constant, convergence of per capita income is implied. We investigate this hypothesis for the Iranian economy using data on demand deposits as a...

Convergence of EU regions is an often examined research question. However, there are no studies available which include in their analysis the New Member States from the former Eastern Bloc. We estimate several models of absolute convergence and of conditional convergence taking into account the...

The convergence of German regions represents a politically explosive question. Different studies examined convergence processes of Germany. We derive equations to estimate the convergence speed on basis of a Solow model, to which human capital is added. The geographically weighted regression...

In this paper, the process of productivity convergence is investigated for the enlarged European Union using regional (NUTS-2) data. The Solow model extended by human capital is employed as a workhorse. Alternative strategies are proposed to control for spatial effects. All specifications...

Since the beginning of the transformation of East Germany from a socialist planned economy to a market economy, there has been an ambitious political goal of fostering entrepreneurial activity in that part of the country. One of the most-hoped for results of this undertaking is the anticipated...

This paper uses nonparametric techniques to study GDP convergence across German labor market regions and counties during the period 1992-2004. The main result is that regional convergence in unified Germany has been substantial. In the first years after German unification the distribution of GDP...

The real convergence process within the European Union at regional level is the main goal of the cohesion policy. Less developed regions belong mainly to Central and East European countries and aim at catching-up with other EU regions. According to Eurostat, Romania has 28 predominantly rural...

Due to problems with existing methodologies that aim to identify the causal impact of European Union cohesion policy on economic growth, we adopted a novel methodology. We first estimated 'unexplained economic growth' by controlling for the influence of various region-specific factors, and then...