Resumen de Agricultural Productivity in the European Regions: Trends and Explanatory Factors
Roberto Ezcurra Orayen, Belén Iráizoz Apezteguía, Pedro Pascual Arzoz, Manuel Rapún Gárate
This paper examines the spatial distribution of agricultural productivity in the European regions for the period 1990-2000, using a twofold descriptive and explanatory approach, which allows us to overcome the drawbacks of conventional convergence analysis. The spatial distribution of agricultural productivity is summarized in a regional typology that enables us to evaluate the different trends of the European regions. The various inequality indices and estimated density functions reveal a decrease in regional agricultural productivity disparities, while intra-distribution mobility is found to be relatively limited during the study period. Additionally, the results obtained from the regression analysis are in line with those obtained at the national level. Finally, our nonparametric approach allows us to assess the role of variables such as economic development, agricultural structure and productive specialization in the dynamics of the distribution under analysis.
