Regional convergence dynamical clubs in UE: Integration before and after the financial crisis

This paper presents the application of a new dynamical model with a statistical procedure to identify convergence clubs in the European Union economies at the NUTS1 level. In testing the convergence clubs the present study uses the income per capita in the EU-28 NUTS1 regions. As a result, we find that the GDP/cap distribution show a tendency to cluster around two poles of attraction, defined as LEADERS of two dynamical convergence clubs, characterized by different dynamics, own steady states, and different mobility described by the specific time to reach the half-distance to the steady state. The changes of the dynamic convergence clubs membership in the two analysed periods (2000-2007 and 2010-2016) reflect the short time effect of a global event, in this case the financial crisis. Furthermore, the dynamic model allows for evaluate the long term effect of the European integration process going on after the EU enlargement.