Regional dynamics of economic performance in the EU: To what extent do spatial spillovers matter?
In: Region: the journal of ERSA, Band 5, Heft 3, S. 75-96
ISSN: 2409-5370
This paper investigates the main determinants of economic perfor-mance in the EU from a regional perspective, covering 253 regions overthe period 2001-2008. In addition to the traditional determinants of eco-nomic performance, measured by GDP per capita, the analysis accountsfor spatial e¤ects related to externalities from neighbouring regions. Thespatial Durbin random-e¤ect panel speci…cation captures spatial feedbacke¤ects from the neighbours through spatially lagged dependent and inde-pendent variables. Social-economic environment and traditional determi-nants of GDP per capita (distance from innovation frontier, physical andhuman capital and innovation) are found to be signi…cant. Overall, our…ndings con…rm the signi…cance of spatial spillovers, as business invest-ment and human capital of neighbouring regions have a positive impact–both direct and indirect –on economic performance of a given region.