Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions

This paper analyzes the growth pathways of 1,321 regions in the European Union from 2003 to 2017. The aim is to inform integrated territorial investments and other economic development initiatives in lagging regions. Using the definition of lagging...

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Main Authors: Kilroy, Austin, Ganau, Roberto
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/866111607609567114/Economic-Growth-in-European-Union-NUTS-3-Regions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34938
id okr-10986-34938
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-349382022-09-20T00:10:20Z Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions Kilroy, Austin Ganau, Roberto ECONOMIC GROWTH DEVELOPMENT POLICY NUTS-3 REGIONS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT CATCHING UP LAGGING REGION This paper analyzes the growth pathways of 1,321 regions in the European Union from 2003 to 2017. The aim is to inform integrated territorial investments and other economic development initiatives in lagging regions. Using the definition of lagging regions from the European Commission’s Catching Up Initiative, more than two-thirds of the European Union member states have lagging regions when defined at the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics-3 scale. These small lagging regions are often hidden within larger and more prosperous regions. The paper considers the roles of industrial structure, innovation, and inward foreign direct investment as growth-enhancing factors. The findings indicate that the growth dynamics in low-income regions are different from those in regions in other income groups: there is no overall pattern in the contribution of industry to growth but there is a strong association between foreign direct investment and growth. Among low-growth lagging regions -- the 171 small regions in the European Union with gross domestic product per capita less than 90 percent of the European Union average, and stagnant or negative growth performance -- growth is correlated with construction and innovation. There are also differences in the growth pathways of rural and non-rural regions: growth is associated with moving away from agriculture in rural regions, and it is associated with construction and innovation in non-rural regions. The results imply that a finer geographic scale can be important in policy making and programming of Cohesion Policy Funds, to cater to different needs and opportunities at the scale of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics-3 regions. 2020-12-17T14:49:48Z 2020-12-17T14:49:48Z 2020-12 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/866111607609567114/Economic-Growth-in-European-Union-NUTS-3-Regions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34938 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9494 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Europe and Central Asia European Union
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ECONOMIC GROWTH
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
NUTS-3 REGIONS
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
CATCHING UP
LAGGING REGION
spellingShingle ECONOMIC GROWTH
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
NUTS-3 REGIONS
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
CATCHING UP
LAGGING REGION
Kilroy, Austin
Ganau, Roberto
Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
European Union
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9494
description This paper analyzes the growth pathways of 1,321 regions in the European Union from 2003 to 2017. The aim is to inform integrated territorial investments and other economic development initiatives in lagging regions. Using the definition of lagging regions from the European Commission’s Catching Up Initiative, more than two-thirds of the European Union member states have lagging regions when defined at the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics-3 scale. These small lagging regions are often hidden within larger and more prosperous regions. The paper considers the roles of industrial structure, innovation, and inward foreign direct investment as growth-enhancing factors. The findings indicate that the growth dynamics in low-income regions are different from those in regions in other income groups: there is no overall pattern in the contribution of industry to growth but there is a strong association between foreign direct investment and growth. Among low-growth lagging regions -- the 171 small regions in the European Union with gross domestic product per capita less than 90 percent of the European Union average, and stagnant or negative growth performance -- growth is correlated with construction and innovation. There are also differences in the growth pathways of rural and non-rural regions: growth is associated with moving away from agriculture in rural regions, and it is associated with construction and innovation in non-rural regions. The results imply that a finer geographic scale can be important in policy making and programming of Cohesion Policy Funds, to cater to different needs and opportunities at the scale of Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics-3 regions.
format Working Paper
author Kilroy, Austin
Ganau, Roberto
author_facet Kilroy, Austin
Ganau, Roberto
author_sort Kilroy, Austin
title Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
title_short Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
title_full Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
title_fullStr Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
title_full_unstemmed Economic Growth in European Union NUTS-3 Regions
title_sort economic growth in european union nuts-3 regions
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/866111607609567114/Economic-Growth-in-European-Union-NUTS-3-Regions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34938
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