Ezcurra R., Gil C., Pascual P. and Rapun M. (2005) Regional inequality in the European Union: does industry mix matter?, Regional Studies 39 , 679-697. The aim of this paper is to test for the respective roles of regional and sectoral factors in productivity convergence in the European Union between 1977 and 1999. The methodology used for this is a new one that combines an alternative version of shift-share analysis with various results quoted in the literature on personal income distribution. The empirical evidence suggests that regional disparity in productivity in the European Union is closely related to intrinsic differences between regions. Whatever the case, the results that emerge also reveal the fundamental role of the country effect in accounting for regional disparities in income per worker in Europe. In addition our empirical results support the relevance of one-sector growth models to explicate per-capita income disparities in the European regions.Regional disparities, Productivity, Shift-share analysis, European Union, Inegalites regionales, Productivite, Analyse redistribution-repartition, Union europeenne, Regionale Ungleichheiten, Produktivitat, Shift-share Analyse, Europaische Union, Disparidades regionales, Productividad, Analisis shift-share, Union Europea, JEL classifications: R10, R11, R58,
The study of the influence of decentralisation on economic growth has received some attention in recent years, but very few studies deal with its impact on regional inequalities. This paper analyses the impact of both fiscal and political decentralisation on regional inequalities using alternative measures for a sample of 17 OECD countries. In order to check for other possible influences, the study also includes measures of public-sector size and the type of party in government. The final section studies the relevance of fiscal decentralisation in the regional convergence process observed by several authors during the past two decades. The research reveals a strong negative correlation between decentralisation, especially fiscal decentralisation, and regional inequalities, and also a positive influence of decentralisation on regional convergence.
The beef sector has undergone a series of changes as a result of successive food scares and agricultural policy reforms. The purpose of the paper is to analyse technical efficiency and profitability in Spanish livestock enterprises during the 1990s, focusing on the possible impact of the BSE crisis and the 1992 CAP reform on each of these variables. The main findings reveal the existence of technical inefficiency during the sample period. Some factors have a positive impact, others a negative impact, on efficiency. As far as the effects of CAP reform and the BSE crisis are concerned, the results show the ineffectiveness of agricultural policy regulation to promote efficiency in the sector and the improvement in the efficiency as a consequence of the BSE crisis. The profitability analysis reveals the importance of direct subsidies, however. In their absence, a large percentage of holdings is unable to remunerate either own or rented factors. Analysis shows, therefore, that there are two counteracting effects from subsidies. On the one hand, they form a major part of the resources of livestock farmers, allowing them to meet input costs and preventing land abandonment. On the other hand, they have a significant negative impact on the level of technical efficiency estimated.
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