Industrial concentration patterns of the European union

Abstract

The analysis of concentration patterns at both the national and the regional levels in the European Union (EU) initially reveals contradictory results of concentration and deconcentration trends. However, these industrial concentration trends in the two spatial dimensions are, in essence, complementary, because further analysis indicates that industrial activities continue to move towards the most dynamic countries but not towards the same powerful regions. This outcome is verified by an econometric approach which, by studying the EU-15 and new EU member states, aims to reveal the characteristics of two deviated productive systems and two different levels of maturity. The empirical analysis shows the existence of a non-monotonic relation between concentration and integration. © FrancoAngeli.