La crescita economica delle regioni europee NUTS3: un'analisi delle economie alpine nel contesto dell'Unione Europea

Objectives. The present paper aims at providing an analysis on the economies of European NUTS3 regions and in particular of Alpine NUTS3 regions. The aim of the analysis is to verify whether there are differences in the structure and in the performance of Alpine and non-Alpine regions, and to study the convergence dynamics of European NUTS3 regions. – Methods and results. The structure of the regional economies and their performance are analysed according to the contribution of six macro-sectors (agriculture; constructions; manufacturing; transport, distribution, hotel and restaurants; finance and service industry; non-market services) to the regional gross value added (GVA) and to the regional GVA growth rate respectively. Alpine and non-Alpine regions are compared according to their degree of urbanisation and their level of per capita GDP. The convergence of regional NUTS3 economies is studied by means of a panel on 1186 regions between 2003 and 2012 which allows for both spatial effects on the dependent variable and serial autocorrelation in the error term. This permits to model and evaluate the role that interaction between neighbouring economies has on the convergence process of per capita GDP. The degree of interdependence amongst neighbouring regions is analysed in order to delimit geographically the area of influence of the economies of the Alpine area. – Conclusions. The results show that the economies of NUTS3 Alpine regions are markedly different from other regions both in terms of structure and performances. The estimates suggest that on average NUTS3 economies tend to converge in terms of per capita GDP; moreover the process is stimulated and accelerated by the interdependence amongst neighbouring regions.