Our research aims to address the problem of inequality in income distribution from a different perspective than the usual. We intend to verify if geography influences the pattern of inequality, that is, if the standard of living varies from region to region and if, in the process of growth,...

This paper deals with the development of disparities in regional per capita GDP and convergence processes in the enlarged EU. A cross-section of 861 regions is analysed for the period from 1995 to 2003. Firstly, we apply Theil's index of inequality in order to show the development of between-...

The aim of this book is to contribute to the debate on the continuity/fracture of regional patterns of development and employment in old and new European Union (EU) regions. Several contributions in this book suggest that a factor common to all backward regions, often neglected in the...

This paper deals with the development of regional income disparities and convergence processes in the countries of the European Union. Overall, 861 regions – mainly at the regional level NUTS-3 – of the EU enlarged in May 2004 are analysed for the period 1995 - 2003. We use the two classical...

This paper studies the hypothesis of an inverted-U-shaped relationship between spatial inequality and economic development. The theory of Kuznets (1955) and Williamson (1965) suggests that (spatial) inequality first increases in the process of development, then peaks, and then decreases. To test...

This chapter examines the distributional effects of place-based policies in the EU. In a first step, it characterizes existing income inequalities in the EU and distinguishes between their interregional and intraregional dimensions. A key result is that inequalities within European regions make...

We propose a methodology to conciliate the distributions of incomes of Census 2010 and of DIRPF 2010 (personal income tax reports). Applying this methodology, we decompose inequality by classes, regions and sex, race and age groups. We use annualized incomes and detailed educational information...

This paper provides recent evidence on the contribution of the spatial dimension to inequality and more specifically accounts for the impact of the changes in the territorial distribution of the population on the recent dynamics of income inequality. We use LIS harmonized microdata for a...

Economic growth varies substantially across regions and over time. This paper shows that economic growth in a person's birth place is an important determinant for wealth in adulthood. We exploit a new dataset that oversamples wealthy individuals in Germany and includes information on birth...

The socioeconomic impact of spatial concentration has been receiving an increasing attention during the last two decades. Consequently, the necessity of effective measures of this phenomenon has increased too. This paper considers a population partitioned by subgroups and develops a...