Is There Increasing Regional Specialisation within the General Process of Deindustrialisation?

Trade theory and economic geography suggest that the removal of trade barriers is likely to bring about more economic specialisation and potentially more diverse development paths between countries and regions. Thus, the deepening and extending European integration should be accompanied by an increasing regional specialisation. In contrast, our results for the period from 1995 to 2004 show considerably declining differences in the share of manufacturing in total value added across nations and regions of the EU. The decrease in sectoral specialisation is accompanied by a strong and almost uniform process of deindustrialisation. However, this trend is slowing down and manufacturing shares appear to be gradually approaching lower limits. These bounds are specific according to national affiliation and settlement types of regions.