Stages of the Convergence in the Developed European Economies

Over the last two decades, research into regional convergence has raised particular interest which is a consequence of the discussion on the role of regions in economic policy. newly emerged institutions, and the transformations Europe has experienced.

The questions of economic growth and its outcome in the form of regional convergence are extensively discussed among economists all over the world as they allow the phenomena of regional disparities and the sources of their growth to be better understood.

The issues discussed in this study are highly up to date and very promising in terms of research. The study is a very compact presentation, where  each chapter introduces new crucial content produced either as a result of an extensive  overview of literature, or as that of empirical studies conducted by the authors.

Introduction (Małgorzata Kokocińska)
Chapter 1 ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE AT THE MESOECONOMIC LEVEL (Małgorzata Kokocińska)
1.1. Sectors and regions in processes of economic convergence
1.2. The region as an object of economic studies
1.3. The factors and measurement methods of regional competitiveness
1.4. Dilemmas concerning cohesion policy
Chapter 2 CONVERGENCE AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION’S REGIONS (Michał Kruszka, Marcin Puziak)
2.1. Objective and scope of study
2.2. Method of testing classical hypotheses of convergence and income distribution
2.3. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions of the EU-27
2.4. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of the EU-15
2.5. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the ‘poor’  regions of the EU-15
2.6. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the ‘rich’  regions of the EU-15
Chapter 3 CONVERGENCE AND REGIONAL INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE ‘LARGE ECONOMIES’ OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (Michał Kruszka, Marcin Puziak)
3.1. The scope and time frame of the study
3.2. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of Germany
3.3. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of France
3.4. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of Italy
3.5. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of Great Britain  
3.6. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of Spain
3.7. Classical ß-, and .-convergence and income distribution in the regions  of Poland
Chapter 4 THE APPLICATION OF BAYESIAN METHODS IN STUDIES  ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN REGIONS (Marcin Błażejowski, Jakub Gazda, Jacek Kwiatkowski)  
4.1. The Bayesian pooling approach in linear regression models
4.2. The elements of Bayesian inference
4.3. Regression model and its estimation
4.4. The MC3 algorithm
4.5. The issue of the collinearity of explanatory variables
Chapter 5 THE SOURCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE REGIONS (Jakub Gazda, Marcin Puziak)
5.1. Analysis of the sources of economic growth in the regions of the EU-15
5.2. Analysis of the sources of economic growth in the regions of the EU-5
5.3. Analysis of the sources of economic growth in the ‘rich’ regions of the EU-15
5.4. Analysis of the sources of economic growth in the ‘poor’ regions   of the EU-15
5.5. Analysis of the sources of economic growth in the regions of Poland
Conclusions
Bibliography
List of tables
List of figures