TESTING FOR CONVERGENCE OF THE EU REGIONAL ECONOMIES

We examine changes in the economic performance of Western European reg ional economies, in particular, the degree of convergence in their eco nomic performance (as measured by the growth of GDP per capita) since the mid 1970s when the larger European Union was established. Although results of simple model specifications suggest convergence has occurr ed, a move completely specified model, which includes structural varia bles, country dummies and an ERM dummy, shows no significant convergen ce across the European Union's regions in the 1980s.