Society and Economy
Volume/Issue:
Volume 34: Issue 3
Central and Eastern Europe: Catching up or lagging behind?
The Methodological Maze of the EU’s Method of Measuring Development
Author:
Zoltán Polyánszky University of Pécs Faculty of Economics Pécs France

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Pages:
399–421
Online Publication Date:
09 Aug 2011
Publication Date:
01 Sep 2012
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/socec.2011.0008
Keywords:
regional convergence; statistical effect; Central and Eastern Europe; R11
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The rosy reports of the EU on Central and Eastern European regional development and EU-wide regional convergence are based on the GDP per capita positions of NUTS-2 regions, expressed in percentage of the EU average. This approach is reflected also in the regulation of eligibility for Objective 1 structural transfers. The article analyses whether this relative measurement of catching up or lagging behind is realistic, or other methods yield different results. We reveal that by substituting absolute numbers (that is, GDP per capita in PPS) for percentages, the position of the Central and Eastern European regions related to the EU average turns just the opposite. Calculated in PPS, the difference between the per capita GDP of almost 90% of the new members’ NUTS-2 regions and the EU average increased between 1995 and 2006. This puts both EU cohesion policy and the prospects of the Central and Eastern European region into a different light.

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Cover Society and Economy
Society and Economy
Print ISSN:
1588-9726
Online ISSN:
1588-970X

Editor-in-chief: Balázs SZENT-IVÁNYI

Co-Editors:

  • Péter MARTON (Corvinus University, Budapest)
  • István KÓNYA (Corvinus University, Budapest)
  • László SAJTOS (The University of Auckland)
  • Gábor VIRÁG (University of Toronto)

Associate Editors:

  • Tamás BOKOR (Corvinus University, Budapest)
  • Sándor BOZÓKI (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • Bronwyn HOWELL (Victoria University of Wellington)
  • Hintea CALIN (Babeş-Bolyai University)
  • Christian EWERHART (University of Zürich)
  • Clemens PUPPE (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
  • Zsolt DARVAS (Bruegel)
  • Szabina FODOR (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • Sándor GALLAI (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • László GULÁCSI (Óbuda University)
  • Dóra GYŐRFFY (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • György HAJNAL (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • Krisztina KOLOS (Corvinus University Budapest)
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  • Lacina LUBOR (Mendel University in Brno)
  • Péter MEDVEGYEV (Corvinus University Budapest)
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  • László TRAUTMANN (Corvinus University Budapest)
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  • Zoltán CSEDŐ (Corvinus University Budapest)
  • Zoltán LŐRINCZI (Ministry of Human Capacities)

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Society and Economy
Language English
Size B5
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Foundation		 1972
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ISSN 1588-9726 (Print)
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