REGIONAL INCOME DIFFERENCES AND THEIR EVOLUTION AFTER EU ACCESSION. THE EVIDENCE FROM VISEGRAD COUNTRIES

The aim of this paper is to determine the regional convergence process in Visegrad (V4) economies after their accession to the EU at the NUTS3 level. The study uses kernel density estimation for 114 regions in V4 countries. The research period covered the years 2004-2015. The results show that all V4 economies except for Hungary reduced the distance to the EU-28 average over the period considered. The external convergence process was accompanied by an increase in income inequalities at the regional level. In all the countries, the estimated distributions of regional income were bimodal, with the clearly marked second mode related to the capital region. The obtained research results should be an indication of economic decisions in the context of regional (also known as cohesion) policy and economic competitiveness. This paper contributes to the existing literature in three ways. First, the study was conducted at the NUTS3 level, which is currently the lowest possible level of disaggregation. Second, the analysis covered both the period before and after the global financial crisis. Third, the results of the internal convergence study are not biased by the method used, as this method has already been tested in previous research for a group of large European economies.