Regional productivity growth in the EU since 2000: something is better than nothing

摘要

This paper examines productivity growth across NUTS 2-regions in the EU during the period in which the Lisbon Strategy was rolled out (period 2000-2011). A robust nonparametric production frontier estimation technique is used to estimate and decompose regional productivity growth. Results show that in spite of the increased focus on improving competitiveness and productivity in European programs such as the Lisbon Agenda, regional productivity growth has been relatively limited for the whole EU. However, behind the modest average regional growth rate, there are high interregional differences in growth rates. Results also show evidence of a limited convergence trend in the EU-region since 2000.