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This paper analyses the long‐term relationship between regional inequality and economic development. Our data set includes information on national and regional per capita GDP for four countries: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, compiled on a decadal basis for the period 1860–2010. Using parametric and semiparametric regressions, our results confirm the rise and fall of regional inequalities over time although in recent decades they are on the rise again. Finally, we identify structural change as being a significant transmission mechanism of the inverted‐U relationship. The arrival of technological shocks, beginning during the onset of industrialization, and the transition from agrarian to industrial economies, would explain this result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female labour force participation (FLFP) increased significantly in the 20th century. Nevertheless, there are persisting spatial differences in FLFP. Using data from Germany, this paper demonstrates that regional differences in the degree of industrialization in the 1920s explain spatial variation in FLFP at that time and almost 100 years later. The latter finding is not explained by persisting industry structures. Additionally, there is evidence that regions with historically high FLFP have a higher social acceptance of working women. Together these results suggest that policies to increase FLFP should account for the historical context of each region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper deals with industrialization in Italy between 1871 and 2001, and is based on data on the labour force per province (NUTS 3) from population censuses. Particular attention is devoted to long‐term trends and North–South disparities. After the analysis of the geographic spread of industry and its changes, we test the role of access to markets on the distribution of the labour force in manufacturing. The results show that access to markets played a main role in Italian industrialization and in the evolution of inequalities among Northern and Southern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions are considered one of the fundamental elements of economic growth. We analyse the impact of the feudal landlordship institution on regional economic growth in nineteenth century Prussia in order to help draw implications for the modern roles of institutions. To measure landlord power, we use three measures of feudal landlordship: landowner concentration, servant population share, and household‐servant population share. These proxies, measured in 1816, are associated with both faster regional population growth and agricultural productivity growth, but no impact on industrialization in the early nineteenth century. However, in the latter nineteenth century, these same proxies are associated with delayed industrialization and no influence on regional population. Thus, stronger feudal landlordship was beneficial to regional growth when agriculture was the dominant industry but became detrimental to growth when manufacturing became dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates how highways affected industrial development in China's peripheral regions between 1998 and 2007, a period during which China experienced rapid growth in highway mileage. Highways between major cities pass through some counties but not others. Based on this difference in counties' access to highways, we conduct a difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimation, with the treatment variables being counties' highway connection status and their industrial performance before and after being connected to a highway. We find that highways promote industrial development in counties with higher output and greater investment levels. Moreover, highways have differential impacts across industries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new industries demands access to local capabilities. Little attention has yet been paid to the role of spillovers from neighbour regions for industrial diversification, nor has the role of network linkages between neighbour regions been investigated. As the spread of capabilities has a strong geographical bias, we expect regions to develop new industries in which their neighbour regions are specialized. To test this hypothesis, we analyse the development of new industries in US states during the period 2000-2012. We show that a US state has a higher probability of developing a comparative advantage in a new industry if a neighbour state is specialized in that industry. We also show that neighbour US states have more similar export structures. This export similarity seems to be explained by higher social connectivity between neighbour states, as embodied in their bilateral migration patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a model of industrial location and endogenous growth with congestion costs. According to the interplay between knowledge spillovers and commuting costs, we are able to obtain both a Krugman-type and a bell-shaped agglomeration outcome. In the first case, the economy experiences a permanent income inequality in the steady state and income divergence in the transitional dynamics. In the second case, we observe an enlargement of the industrial core of the economy with a strong catching up by the periphery. Welfare analysis shows that congestion creates (in the bell-shaped agglomeration case) a negative welfare effect on peripheral unskilled workers and it renders the agglomerated equilibrium Pareto inferior to dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. This article aims to analyze the effects of trade policies on the pattern of regional inequalities within a country. It is inspired, firstly, by the debate concerning the role of protectionist policies in the development of a pattern of striking regional inequalities during the Spanish industrialization process and, secondly, by current evidence of an increase in these inequalities following Spain's entry in the EU, in 1986. We employ an economic geography model comprising three regions: two domestic and one external. Labor mobility is permitted between the domestic regions but not with the external region. The model shows that trade liberalization increases regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]