The Impact of Transition and Economic Integration on Manufacturing Employment Change: An Assessment for the Regions of the European Union New Member-States.

The spatial and structural dynamics generated (or released) in the contexts of the parallel and interacting processes of transition and economic integration have already left a clear mark in the economic landscape of the EU new member-states. The paper re-evaluates the experience of these countries with respect to shifts in their territorial structures and balances since despite the increasing portion of transition-integration literature many parameters remain of limited research. The analysis is conducted at the NUTS III spatial level on the basis of manufacturing data according to NACE classification for the period 1991-2000. This is a period of extreme importance since it includes both the shocks and the upsets of the early transition and the more recent trends of the pre-accession period. The analysis focuses on the manufacturing sector due to its significance in the former politico-economic regime and due to the high pressures that this sector has encountered afterwards. Regional-industrial data limitations restrict the analysis in the regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia. These regions still constitute a highly heterogeneous group since areas with different economic, demographic and geographic characteristics are represented. The trade-adjusted shift-share analysis, an extension of traditional shift-share analysis, is performed in order to evaluate the impact of transition and economic integration on regional manufacturing employment change. Despite its non-theoretical character, the method allows for valuable results to be drawn on the issue.

Regional inequalities and convergence clubs in the European Union new member-states

The paper assesses on empirical grounds the level and the evolution of regional inequalities in each European Union new member-state (EU NMS) and examines the possibility for the emergence of regional convergence clubs. The experience of the EU NMS is a unique situation, where relatively closed economic systems opened, almost at once, to the world economy and, at the same time, market mechanisms replaced central planning. Thus, understanding the spatial pattern of regional growth in the EU NMS may provide valuable insight for theory and policy. The application of non linear econometric models, which transcend the "all or nothing" logic behind conventional convergence analysis, has shown the existence of regional convergence clubs in many EU NMS. The identification of regional convergence clubs, irrespective of the pattern that emerges in each EU NMS, highlights the heterogeneous spatial impact of the EU economic integration process.new European Union member-states, regional inequalities, convergence clubs, Weighted Least Squares (WLS), integration

Determinants of Industrial Performance in the EU-15 Countries, 1980-2003.

The process of EU integration has been associated with a variety of outcomes in time and space. A critical question has to do with the impact of open markets on the differences, in economic performance, among more and less advanced countries. Given that industrial activity is more exposed to the forces of integration than any other productive activity, this discussion is more interesting when it focuses on industry. The paper aims to detect the determinants of industrial performance in the EU-15 countries covering the period 1980-2003 in the ongoing process of EU integration. Understanding the factors behind success and failure may have an added value for policy-making at a time when EU structural and cohesion policies are under scrutiny.

Peripherality and Integration: Industrial Growth and Decline in the Greek Regions

An empirical model has been deployed to account for regional industrial growth and performance in Greece’s post EU-accession period. The results obtained suggest that the effect of European integration on manufacturing has been rather adverse across Greek regions. Regions that are more industrialised, whose structure was more similar to the European average and which have been more exposed to European competition are those that have been more adversely affected. In contrast, higher diversity, higher presence of capital intensive sectors and higher tertiarisation of the regional economies were found to be beneficial to regional industrial growth and performance.

Patterns of Regional Specialization and Sectoral Concentration of Industrial Activity in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia.

The process of Central and Eastern European Countries’ (CEEC) transition from central planning to market economy has resulted in industrial restructuring and labor reallocation across branches and regions. The paper identifies patterns of industrial activity in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia on a basis of employment data, as a proxy for regional industrial structures, at NUTS III spatial level, disaggregated by manufacturing branches according to NACE rev. 1 two – digit classification. Theil entropy index is used in the analysis in order to evaluate patterns of regional specialization (defined as the distribution of the shares of a sector ? in a region ?) and sectoral concentration (defined as the distribution of the shares of a region in a sector ?). The over time evolution of the process of industrial restructuring represents a proper baseline for the likely distributional implications of the EU enlargement for these countries. Key Words: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia, industrial restructuring, industrial mix, competitiveness and growth. JEL Classification: L16, R11, R12.

Economic integration, regional structural change and cohesion in the EU new member-states

The European economic landscape has changed dramatically during the last decade, following the collapse of the bi-polar world. The parallel and interacting processes of economic integration and transition are the driving forces of these changes. In this context, the EU new member-states (including the candidate countries of Bulgaria and Romania) have experienced, often forcefully and painfully, the impact of these processes as a pre-condition for catch-up and integration with the prosperous EU-15 countries. Being still in progress, these processes have altered the intraregional division of labor, affecting the patterns of regional specialization and industrial concentration and increasing the level of interregional competition and inequalities, in a newly emerged internationalized environment. The extent and the impact of these changes, however, are still issues of major scientific dialogue and concern, with many unknown parameters. The need for this first period of transition and economic integration (decade of 90s) to be re-evaluated is evident concerning the mobility of economic activities and possible re-location of industries, the behaviour of the individual regions, the dynamics of regional discrepancies and the stability of the territorial structures. The overall scientific objective of this paper is to identify and explain in a cross-country and comparative analysis the structural industrial patterns in the area of EU new member-states bringing together the findings and reports of the scientific bibliography. Furthermore, a static and dynamic analysis takes place in order to uncover in more depth the possible relation between economic integration, regional structural change and cohesion in these countries. To this direction, a number of research questions are addressed: What is the impact of economic integration to the evolution of regional industrial patterns? Have advanced and lagging-behind regions developed similar or different types of specialization? What is their mix of activities? Over time, do they become more similar or dissimilar? Have metropolitan regions the same mix of activities with peripheral and border regions? Do their economic structures become more similar or dissimilar over time? Are there particular types of structural change more closely related to strong growth performance? The main part of the analysis is conducted on a basis of employment data, as a proxy for industrial structures in NUTS III spatial level, disaggregated by manufacturing branches according to NACE rev.1 two-digit classification. Emphasis is given to the countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia due to lack of statistical information (regional-structural figures) for the other countries under research. However, despite this shortcoming, the country sample of our analysis can be considered representative of the whole area since it covers all its parts i.e. Southeastern Europe–Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania), Central Europe (Slovenia, Hungary), Eastern Europe–Baltic (Estonia). The research covers the period between 1990 and 1999, a period of extreme significance since it includes both the shocks and the upsets of the early transition (sub-period 1991–1995) and the recent, more independent, trends (1995–1999). The reported findings and conclusions of this research may be a valuable basis for the understanding of the impact of economic integration on regional structure change and cohesion and, as a result, be the basis for the discussion of the appropriate policies of cohesion in the enlarged EU-27.

A Generalized Model of Regional Economic Growth in the European Union

Understanding the forces driving regional growth in the EU is a major challenge for theory and policy. The opening of national borders, together with the rapid technological and scientific progress, has exposed regional economies to an extremely competitive, free-market, integrated economic environment, affecting their patterns of development. EU regions should, thus, be understood not only as national, geographic and administrative sub-divisions, but also as integral parts of the EU economic space. The paper develops a generalized econometric model for the investigation of the determinants of regional economic growth in 249 EU NUTS II regions, for the period 1990-2003. The model provides critical insight with important implications for theory and policy.DYNREG, regional economic growth, EU regions

The Efficiency of Tourism Sector in EU Mediterranean Coastal Regions: The Effects of Seasonality and Spatiality of Demand

The present paper studies the effects of seasonality and spatiality of tourist flows on the regional performance of tourism sector. The empirical analysis is conducted for 37 coastal North Mediterranean EU NUTS II regions, for the period 2010-2016, and is based on a triplet of quantitative indices and on a two-version regression model. The empirical analysis demonstrates that a typical linear function seems to be inappropriate to describe the relationships of these tourism features, as an N-shaped relationship between performance and seasonality and a U-shaped relationship for performance and spatiality were found

Detecting the Growth Pattern(s) of the EU Border Regions: A Convergence Clubs Approach.

The EU regions have been experiencing a period of unprecedented change. The ongoing (and parallel) processes of EU integration and enlargement have progressively transformed regional economies to integral parts of the emerging (European) socio-economic space, exposing them to the forces and the dynamics of a more competitive environment. Border regions, in particular, have been put in a state of flux since the re-(al)location of activities, opportunities and threats has changed over (the significance of) their role in the respective emerging (European) socio-economic map. Within the context of the aforementioned milieu, the paper aims at detecting and assessing growth determinants at the EU borderlands. This is an issue that has attracting increasing attention, especially after the creation of the Single European Market and the advent of the euro currency. However, the majority of border studies are enclaved in the “unitary case syndromeâ€Â, without providing substantial added value on border theory. Thus, the present study, following an interdisciplinary approach, compiles a spatial econometrics growth model, incorporating a series of inherent and acquired growth determinants (initial conditions). These determinants are not only quantitative (“hardâ€Â, “traditionalâ€Â) but also qualitative (“softâ€Â, “non-traditionalâ€Â), accentuating the complexity of border issues. The study area covers 349 EU NUTS III border regions, as they are specified by ESPON. The findings of the paper are going to provide valuable insight for the understanding of the determinants of growth in EU border regions, having important implications for both theory and policy-making.