Recent research has highlighted that in the last few years the evolution of regional disparities in many European states has become pro-cyclical. This represents a change with respect to the predominantly anti-cyclical pattern of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper addresses the question of whether...

This important book explores original and alternative directions for economic geography following the revolution precipitated by the advent of so-called ‘new economic geography’ (NEG). Whilst, to some extent, the volume could be regarded as part of the inevitable creative...

Recent research has highlighted that in the last few years, the evolution of regional disparities in many European states has become pro-cyclical. This represents a change with respect to the predominantly anti-cyclical pattern of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper addresses the question of whether...

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...

This paper explores the role of imports as a mechanism of transmission of international technological spillovers and the significance of these for the growth and economic convergence of the OECD countries. For this purpose a growth model is estimated that includes amongst its determinants a...

In this article we analyze the determinants of the functional distribution of government expenditure using for this purpose the models of the median voter's demand common in public choice literature. First of all, we review the economic literature on the factors affecting each component of...

Investment incentives targeted at attracting multinational firms have been extensively documented and researched, and empirical evidence has shown them to be influential. The same is not true of exit costs. Yet, as recent theory suggests, there may be a trade-off between entry incentives and...

The aim of this study is to assess possible reforms for the future financial framework of the Community Budget for the period 2007-2013, attaching special importance to their impacts on the Spanish economy. We analyze the fiscal balances of each of the Fifteen with the Union budget and reveal...

Recent evidence on the impact of fiscal policy, taxes, public expenditures and budget deficits on long-run growth in OECD countries has adopted the Barro (1990) framework to distinguish between ‘productive’ and ‘unproductive’ expenditures, and ‘distortionary’ and...

Following the present atmosphere of budgetary cuts in the OECD countries we analyze the effects of fiscal consolidation in the composition of government expenditures by functions. We modify a standard median voter demand model to incorporate a form of fiscal illusion based on the idea that...