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PDF Download WIFO 1030 WIEN, ARSENAL, OBJEKT 20 TEL. 798 26 01 • FAX 798 93 86 ÖSTERREICHISCHES INSTITUT FÜR WIRTSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG CENTROPE Regional Development Report Technical Report on Comparing Cross- border Regions Peter Huber May 2011 CENTROPE Regional Development Report Technical Report on Comparing Cross-border Regions Peter Huber May 2011 Austrian Institute of Economic Research Commissioned by ARGE Centrope Internal review: Peter Mayerhofer • Research assistance: Andrea Grabmayer, Andrea Hartmann, Maria Thalhammer Abstract Consistent with previous results, we find that CENTROPE has grown faster than could be expected from an average polycen- tric cross-border region in the period 2004-2008. Furthermore – also consistent with previous results – CENTROPE also in com- parison to other polycentric cross-border regions is a region which is highly attractive to FDI and whose comparative advan- tage primarily seems to be rooted in medium skills while the share of high skilled in the population is low in CENTROPE also relative to other polycentric cross-border regions. Although regional disparities in terms of per-capita GDP are high in CENTROPE, CENTROPE is not the polycentric cross-border region with the largest internal disparities, and relative to this com- parison group (and in contrast to a comparison with the EU average) the share of R&D expenditure in GDP has increased more than average in the last decade. Please refer to: [email protected], 2011/386-1/S/WIFO project no: 5601 © 2011 Austrian Institute of Economic Research Medieninhaber (Verleger), Herausgeber und Hersteller: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, 1030 Wien, Arsenal, Objekt 20 • Tel. (+43 1) 798 26 01-0 • Fax (+43 1) 798 93 86 • http://www.wifo.ac.at/ • Verlags- und Herstellungsort: Wien Verkaufspreis: 20 € • Kostenloser Download: http://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/59413 CENTROPE Regional Development Report Technical Report on Comparing Cross-Border Regions List of contents List of tables 2 List of figures and maps 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Deriving a group of comparison regions 5 2.1 Defining cross-border poly-centric urban regions in the EU 27 5 2.2 Characteristics of cross-border metropolitan regions 8 3. Comparing CENTROPE to poly-centric cross-border regions in the EU 14 3.1 GDP per capita and GDP per capita growth in the CENTROPE in comparison of poly- centric cross-border regions 14 3.2 Development and level of internal disparities in the CENTROPE in comparison of poly- centric cross-border regions 16 3.3 Unemployment rates in the CENTROPE in comparison of poly-centric cross-border regions 18 3.4 High FDI’s to the CENTROPE 20 3.5 Indicators on human capital, innovation and regional specialisation in CENTROPE in comparison 20 4. Conclusions 24 Literature 25 – 2 – List of tables Table 1: Cross-border Metropolitan Regions 6 List of figures Figure 1: Area Population and Population Density of original cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 (2009) 10 Figure 2: Area Population and Population Density of larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 (2009) 12 Figure 3: Area Population and Population Density of NUTS 2 level proxy regions of larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 (2009) 12 Figure 4: GDP per capita at purchasing power parities of original and larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 (2008) 14 Figure 5: Growth of GDP per capita at purchasing power parities of original and larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 (2008) 15 Figure 6: Growth of GDP per capita at purchasing power parities of original and larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 16 Figure 7: Coefficient of variation and range of GDP per capita at PPS in original and larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 17 Figure 8: Unemployment rate in original and larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 27 19 Figure 9: Foreign Direct Investments (Projects per 1.000 Inhabitants, January 2003 to March 2010) 20 Figure 10: Research and Development Expenditure as a share of GDP in NUTS 2 proxy poly-centric cross-border regions in the EU 21 Figure 11: Patents per 1000 inhabitants in NUTS 2 proxy poly-centric cross-border regions in the EU 22 Figure 12: Population Share by Educational attainment in NUTS 2 proxy poly-centric cross-border regions in the EU 23 List of maps Map 1: Location of original cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 9 Map 2: Location of larger cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 11 Map 3: Location of NUTS 2 level proxy regions of cross-border poly-centric regions in the EU 13 – 3 – 1. Introduction In the course of the pilot project “CENTROPE Regional Development” a large number of analyses will be and have already been conducted, in which the economic development of CENTROPE is compared to other EU regions and even more often to the average of the EU 27. These comparisons are informative as to the level and dynamics of economic development in CENTROPE from an EU wide perspective, which may for instance be the relevant information for an entrepreneur, who is looking for an optimal location for investment, and is in general not concerned about the type of region he (or she) is investing in. For regional policy makers interested in benchmarking the progress of their region, however, this information may be too little. Here comparing cross-border regions to the “average EU regions” may generate misleading results given the particular institutional situation in cross-border regions, which are characterised by institutional differences, determined by national borders, as well as severe impediments to cross-border exchange. This therefore calls for comparing similar (in terms of institutions and resources) regions to each other. This report first of all – based on the results of an ESPON project – suggests a set of regions that are better comparable to CENTROPE than the average EU region in terms of institutional framework conditions, and second of all explores – at the example of a limited set of indicators – how some of the findings of the previous reports in the CENTROPE regional development report project and other studies are influenced by this change of comparison group. In contrast to previous reports this report thus asks “how does CENTROPE compare to other comparable cross-border regions in the EU?” rather than “How does CENTROPE compare to the EU average?” In this sense our results are complementary to those of the remainder of the project, since they allow policy makers to assess to what degree the particular features of the region identified so far (such as the substantial internal heterogeneity and the weak linkages between the regions’ individual parts but also its rapid growth) are features that are typical to a particular kind of cross- border regions, or specific to CENTROPE even among border regions. The next section presents the methodology on which we base our analysis and describes the set of proposed regions comparable to CENTROPE. Section 3 then describes a set of findings on the specifics of CENTROPE relative to the EU-average that have been identified in previous work and compares a set of indicators among the comparable regions identified to benchmark CENTROPE. Our primary interest here is with analysing to what degree previous results are changed by our change of reference group. Section 4 finally concludes by clarifying that the additional comparisons among cross-border regions while changing – 4 – previous results only marginally does provide additional information for policy makers in the region. – 5 – 2. Deriving a group of comparison regions 2.1 Defining cross-border poly-centric urban regions in the EU 27 The starting point of our analysis is that two overriding particularities characterise CENTROPE and will shape its development path in the future. The first one is that CENTROPE is a cross-border region, the second one is that it is characterised by a number of large urban agglomerations, which by definition makes it poly-centric. Clearly, there are also other aspects which make CENTROPE unique. For instance one could argue that CENTROPE is also a region that is located at the borders between the formerly socialist economies and developed market economies that existed until the late 1980’s. Indeed previous literature on border regions has sometimes built on these differences. For instance Longhi (2002) divides the border region of the 12 EU-member states that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 (the EU 12) into border regions bordering on the pre- existing EU member states (EU 15), on other EU 12 countries and on third countries. We, however, give preference to these two features (over all thinkable other features) for a number of reasons. The first of these is that according to previous literature on the CENTROPE national differences and differences between urban centres and more rural regions have been shown to be the most relevant division lines among regions. These also predict long run developments in the region better than a simple new member state – old member state differentiation (see Rozmahel, 2011, Feldkircher, 2004, Krajasits et al., 2003). The second reason for choosing these features for defining a comparison group, is that while differences between the EU 15 and EU 12 parts of CENTROPE in terms of many indicators have been shown to diminish in the past and may thus be expected to be of lesser importance for future developments. The transnational and poly-centric nature of the region, by contrast, is likely to be an important determinant of future development of the region. Finally, the third reason for focusing on these aspects is that from a pragmatic point of view this allows us to compare CENTROPE to a sufficiently large but handleable and well deliminated set of other cross-border regions, where integration processes have been in progress for a longer time period than in CENTROPE, thus providing analysts and policy- makers with a potential for learning from other regions.
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