Abstract. This paper provides new evidence of the impact of government spending on economic growth in the European Union countries. Governments can adjust their levels of spending in order to influence their economies, although the relationship between these variables can be positive or negative, depending on the countries included in the sample, the period of estimation and the variables which reflect the size of the public sector. The results obtained based on regression and panel techniques suggest that government expenditure is not clearly related with economic growth in the European Union countries over the period 1994-2012.

The objective of this work is to analyse the income inequality in the 15 EU countries during the convergence process to the Monetary Union. Using the information contained in the European Community Household Panel, corresponding to the four first waves. Using the inverse second order stochastic dominance concept, we have carried out an ordering of these countries. Furthermore, this ranking allows us to determine if the differences among EU country members have increased or decreased during this particular period. We have studied whether the inequality of income has diminished within and between countries over time. Gini's generalised family indices proposed by Donaldson and Weymark (1980 and 1983) and Yitzhaki (1983) have been used. This allows us to test the sensitivity of the results obtained to different degrees of inequality aversion and to different equivalence scales, taking into account household sizes.

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