Are Lombardy’s mountain areas converging with its plains?

Abstract

The contribution analyses «The Lombard mountain towards convergence with the plains?», with attention to the context, the reading tools and the implications for policies. Convergence analysis is usually carried out for large geographical units, while less frequent are sub-regional studies (Bollino and Polinori, 2007, Espa and Taufer, 2015). In our study, in order to approximate the level of development of the Lombard mountain communities we used the income resulting from the tax statements IRPEF, available at the municipal level. The data, properly defined, were subsequently aggregated in the 23 homogeneous mountainous zones that coincide with the territories administered by the Lombardy Mountain Communities, as well as reorganized by regional law n.19 of 2008. By applying the Barro and Sala-I-Martin model (1995), a convergence analysis was carried out on the incomes of Lombardy Mountain Territories in the period 2007-2015. The results obtained from the spatial econometric models show that the effect of convergence is still not significant, however the factor of proximity is highlighted: the areas growing faster have positive effects on the growth of the contiguous mountainous territories.

Keywords

territorial disparities; Lombardy; Internal areas; urban economy; governance; Local development

JEL codes

R58; R12; R11