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Ann Reg Sci (2002) 36:519529Gabriele Tondl: Convergence After Divergence? Regional Growth in Europe.
Springer: Berlin Heidelberg NewYork 2001.XXII, 347pp., Maps, Diagrs., Notes, Bibliography, EUR 92, 02.
ISBN 3-211-83672-1(pbk)This book makes an important empirical contribution to the literature on
regional economic growth focused mainly on the case of member nations of
the European Union. It provides a comprehensive reviewof the literature
on European regional economic convergence and newempirical evidence of
regional economic growth in European Union (EU). The theoretical basis
for the analysis presented in the book includes both the neoclassical growth
theory but also endogenous growth theories and new economic geography
models.The book consists of three parts that are further divided into 10 chapters.
Part I discusses major regional theories in regional economic growth and
provides an empirical study of European economic convergence across EU
NUTS II regions1 in the tradition of neoclassical growth models. Part II
focuses on the determinants of regional economic growth and provides an
empirical study of the growth sources of Europes lagging regions. The last
major section of the book assesses howEU regional policy has impacted
growth in the member nations and to what extent it has contributed to cohesion amongst the nations.Income and unemployment disparities at various geographical scales in
Europe are discussed in Chapt. 1. Signicant income disparities are shown
across and within countries, including rather large disparities in per capita
income across EU regions. A signicant change in spatial income inequality in the EU is identied over the period 19601990: where richer areas
are concentrated close to the center of Europe in the 1990s rather than dispersed over dierent parts of Europe as in 1960; and a large portion of
lagging areas converging to the European average income level. Dierent
patterns of regional income inequalities over the period 19751993 are identied at various groups of countries based on the timing of their entry into the
EU.Theories of regional economic growth and the convergencedivergence
debate are thoroughly discussed in Chapts. 2 and 4 and an empirical study of
European convergence provided in Chapt. 3. Starting from the neoclassical
growth model, the concepts and measures of convergence, the factors driving
convergence, and the methodologies of empirical convergence analysis are
systematically discussed. Based on a comprehensive reviewof convergence1 NUTS is...