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Convergence or Divergence? Types of Regional Responses to Socio‐Economic Change in Western Europe
Author(s) -
RodríguezPose Andrés
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9663.00079
Subject(s) - divergence (linguistics) , convergence (economics) , economic geography , restructuring , western europe , space (punctuation) , geography , economics , kernel (algebra) , convergence clubs , economic system , development economics , regional science , economic growth , international trade , european union , philosophy , linguistics , finance , mathematics , combinatorics
Testing for convergence or divergence has recently become the kernel of the studies dealing with regional growth in Western Europe. The contradictory results of these analyses, however, still do not allow us to determine which is the dominant trend. This paper shows that our understanding of these processes depends on factors such as the way growth is measured and the influence of national growth on regional growth patterns. When these factors are taken into account, the analysis of the evolution of regional disparities in Western Europe in the last two decades uncovers the emergence of growth patterns that are closely related to the capacity of every space to respond to the challenges generated by the process of socio‐economic restructuring.