摘要：We investigate the robustness of economic growth determinants for European regions in the
period from 1995 to 2005. In particular we focus on the systematic differences in growth trig-
gers for Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions as compared to regions belonging to the
older EU Member States. Our method is based on the Bayesian model averaging of cross-
sectional growth regressions, where we draw attention to (1) the spatial correlation structure
of economic growth among European regions and (2) model uncertainty. The spatial autore-
gressive model (SAR) is employed to capture growth spillovers among European regions. We
f ind that the regional income convergence process between countries is dominated by the
catching-up process of CEE regions. Human capital, measured as the population share of
highly educated workers, and income convergence appear to be robust driving forces of in-
come growth. Capital cities grow faster, on average, with an additional growth
bonus for those located in CEE. On top of this, the spatial model specif ication reveals a range
of infrastructure variables as important growth determinants. Our results are robust with
respect to different econometric model specif ications.
关键词：Model uncertainty, spatial autoregressive model, determinants of economic growth,
European regions
