Measures of well-being and convergence in the regions

Abstract

The article addresses “Measures of well-being and convergence in the regions”, placing the theme in the economic, social and territorial framework discussed by the authors. The first analysis considers the measurement of well-being at European regional level using indicators mainly extracted from Eurostat databases. Looking at the trend of three different sub-indicators dispersion measures and the overall synthetic indicator of well-being (convergence σ) it is possible to verify, moreover, if the differences between the regions have been reduced over time (Friedman, 1992). Considering, therefore, what indicators of dispersion the coefficient of variation, the index of Theil and the index of Gini (Jordà and Sarabia, 2014), the results are consistent in showing a trend towards convergence, during the eleven years considered, of the European regions in terms of EWB. This means that despite the occurrence of the σ-convergence process, the European regions have substantially unchanged their relative position in the ranking in terms of well-being in the time interval considered. However, it is possible to note that convergence in terms of well-being has been more intense and high than that found by observing only the dynamics of the pro-capite GDP.

Keywords

territorial disparities; quality of life; territorial indicators; Networks of enterprises; Italy; Europe

JEL codes

R12; D63; R58