In recent years the EU has intensified economic and institutional integration with its neighbouring countries, though with different intensity. Some countries have become EU members, some are candidate for membership and some others are part of the European Neighbouring Policy. In this scenario...

The paper aims at understanding the balance between “endogenous†factors and “external†knowledge flows in the process of innovation and growth of EU regions. Research on the impact of innovation on regional economic performance in Europe has fundamentally followed three...

The debate over the EU budget 2007-2013 made clear the need of an in-depth understanding of the distribution of the EU development funds. The scarce resources available need to be targeted more effectively towards the real needs of EU countries and regions in order to deliver the expected...

While it is clear that the ability of firms to introduce new products or processes is crucially affected by their choice of innovation partners, the geographical dimension of these partnerships has until fairly recently attracted relatively little attention. Yet, the factors which drive firms to...

This paper analyses whether the different powers and resources at the disposal of local and regional governments across Europe deliver greater satisfaction with political institutions and lead to greater personal happiness. The analysis uses microdata from the four available waves of the...

Does the nationality of migrants arriving in any particular territory make a difference for long-term economic development? Have Irish, German or Italian settlers arriving in the US at the turn of the 20th century left an institutional trace which determines economic development differences to...

European regional growth patterns have undergone two important changes in recent years. First, the process of convergence that dominated regional growth until the late 1970s and early 1980s has progressively given way to stability and divergence. Economic dynamism is increasingly concentrated in...