This assessment provides a long-term analysis of Hungary's economic trajectory under the administration of Viktor Orbán since 2010. Taking the start of the European financial crisis in 2009 as a baseline, it evaluates the impact of 'Orbánomics' - a policy mix defined by deterioration in...

This paper reassesses whether the euro area satisfies the criteria of an optimum currency area. It contrasts early hopes of convergence with subsequent developments marked by persistent heterogeneity across member states. Differences in economic structures, fiscal policies, and financial cycles...

This paper analyzes the inequalities and convergence across countries using data on the top 100 players in chess and tennis. We explore the impact of time trends and exogenous global shocks on countries' representation in the top 100 players' lists in a manner akin to a natural experiment,...

This study reveals that, over the past six decades, development towns have improved their socio-economic status both in terms of absolute mobility (compared to their past position) and relative mobility (progressing at a faster rate than other Jewish cities and towns). Between 1961 and 2019,...

This study presents a bibliometric and thematic analysis of economic convergence analysis from 1982 to 2025, based on a corpus of 2924 Scopus-indexed articles. Using VOSviewer and the bibliometrix R package, this research maps the field's intellectual structure, identifying five main thematic...

The two groups of EU economies, the euro area and the non-euro area, are statistically analyzed taking into account the fulfillment of the euro area financial criteria and economic performance over the period 2000-2023. Compliance with financial criteria, economic performance, and their...

We discuss past performance and future challenges for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We highlight the successful convergence process of those countries, not least thanks to their integration into European and global value chains. As the external environment changes, so...

This study examines global econo-environmental capability for 118 countries over 1995 to 2024 using a five-lens framework covering productive capacity (PC), developmental momentum (DM), resource efficiency (RE), degradation and depletion ratio (DDR), and remaining development potential (RDP)....

Many countries and regions remain below the level of economic activity of the world’s most advanced economies. Some countries form growth clubs, some are stuck in the middle-income trap, and some stay on a very low level of economic activity. Although this situation is well documented on the...

This paper examines economic and institutional convergence between EU Core, EU New, and Western Balkan countries over the period 2004-2023 using a comprehensive panel dataset and multiple convergence frameworks. Evidence of absolute β-convergence is found, although at a slow pace, while...

This paper examines the implications of heterogeneity in construction productivity on cross-country income disparity. Using a sample of 168 countries, we estimate the 10:1 spread in construction productivity as a factor of 49-fold in 2017. The construction productivity gap falls by 46 percent...

This introduction grounds the middle-income (MI) trap by looking at the empirical realities of firms, sectors, national, and subnational institutions embedded in global value chains (GVCs). While MI-trap scholarship has shed light on macro-structural constraints, it often overlooks international...

This paper examines the evolution of labour earnings distribution across 25 countries, comparing two reference years: 1995 and 2023. The study seeks to understand how labour earnings distribution has shifted over time in each country, highlighting changing patterns of inequality. The data are...

Because of convergence, initial income is an important explanatory variable in many growth regressions. Its omission can lead to misspecification bias that may seem to – but still does not – contradict the common albeit somewhat controversial empirical finding that natural resources, if not...

This paper provides a critical examination of the empirical basis of the output convergence debate in the light of recent developments in the analysis of dynamic heterogeneous panels with interactive effects. It shows that popular tools such as Barro's cross-country regressions and two-way fixed...

How do conflicts shape territories in the long run? To answer this question, this paper dissects population dynamics within Normandy throughout the 20th century. Despite the destruction caused by the 1944 Allied Landings, Normandy reversed the demographic decline it had experienced until 1940 -...

Although there is no general theory that explains depopulation processes, this research has enabled the development of an innovative and adapted gravitational model at the interprovincial level in Spanish provinces experiencing depopulation. These model and results could be applied to other...

Cross-border regions usually suffer from barriers hindering networking and creating contact among people. On a sample of 244 non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the Upper-Rhine region at the French, German, and Swiss borders, the research used partial least squares structural equation modeling...

Cohesion Policy (CP) is the European Union's main instrument to address regional disparities and promote convergence. Yet, over the past two decades, spatial inequalities within the Union have widened, raising concerns about the effectiveness of CP and its ability to confront the structural...

Metropolitan regions are considered as major drivers of economic growth due to the significant productivity gains resulting from their agglomeration economies. This article examines the level, growth, convergence and clustering of productivity in metropolitan EU regions, as defined by Functional...

The article refers to the new Synthetic Efficiency Indicator for Economic Growth (SEI-EG) proposed in an earlier publication. Research from 2016-2018 in 11 EU countries revealed small nations were notably more effective at sustainable growth than their larger counterparts. This prompted the...

Understanding the structural change in catching-up regions and the spatial distribution of economic sectors is essential for designing comprehensive policy strategies to promote balanced economic development. This study examines the economic restructuring of the 11 central and eastern European...

First-class universities play an extremely important role in cultivating high-quality talents and technological innovation, serving as a significant indicator of a country's level of higher education development, developmental strength, and potential. However, there is little literature studying...

The enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans is experiencing unprecedented dynamism, supported by the launch of a tailored Euro 6 billion growth plan. This renewed momentum offers an important opportunity for the Western Balkans to accelerate economic convergence with the...

In this work we analyze the evolution of productivity, in terms of the convergence of per capita income, of all the Spanish provinces, based on data from the previous decade. On the one hand, a cluster analysis allows us to group the Spanish provinces according to four income levels (low,...