期刊名称：Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence
电子版ISSN：2558-9652
出版年度：2021
卷号：15
期号：1
页码：824-837
DOI：10.2478/picbe-2021-0076
语种：English
出版社：Sciendo
摘要：One of the fundamental pillars of the European Union aims the convergence of economic performances between countries and regions. This objective has proved to be increasingly difficult to achieve with the expansion of the regional group towards the Central and East of the continent. The aim of this paper is to study real convergence in the New Member States from Central and Eastern Europe, by taking into consideration the evolution of GDP per capita between 2000 and 2018. In this respect, we have conducted a comparative analysis between countries and regions using β- and σ-convergence. By applying cross-sectional regressions, we have identified a strong relationship between the initial level of income of the Central and Eastern European countries and the subsequent growth rates, the average catching-up speed reaching 3.6%. Moreover, β-convergence was accompanied by a reduction of income divergences between Central and Eastern European Members. In contrast, our analysis suggests a weaker process of convergence between regions compared to countries, the convergence rate reaching 1.7% per year. Furthermore, by studying the intra-national patterns, we have illustrated that the capital regions have consolidated their relative position in the majority of the Central and Eastern Member States to the detriment of the other territorial units. Consequently, the paper suggests that convergence across countries was accompanied by an increase of intra-national disparities between regions in Central and Eastern Europe.
关键词：European Union;Central and Eastern Europe;real convergence;NUTS 2 regions;β-convergence;σ-convergence
