Resumen de Regional mobility in the European Union

Roberto Ezcurra Orayen, Pedro Pascual Arzoz, Manuel Rapún Gárate

• This article examines mobility in the regional distribution of per capita income in the European Union between 1977 and 1999. The methodology used to investigate this issue combines a series of measures taken from the literature devoted to the dynamic study of personal income distribution with a non-parametric analysis. The results obtained show limited mobility in the distribution considered, and a decline in mobility over time. The empirical evidence presented indicates, moreover, that mobility patterns vary as a function of the regional development level. The analysis carried out also highlights the important role played in explaining changes in the regional relative positions by variables such as the initial per capita income, the share in total employment of agriculture, advanced services and non-market services.