Spatial differentiation of GDP and unemployment in Poland and Italy with its determinants

Abstract

The paper aims to identify the scale of spatial differentiation of GDP per capita and unemployment rate in Poland and Italy, as well as to indicate changes in the differentiation trends. The research was carried out at the level of Polish voivodships and Italian regions, forming the territorial units NUTS 2. The elementary methods of descriptive statistics and spatial econometrics (fixed effects) were applied for the research purpose. Data for the years 2002—2014, published by the CSO, Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) and Eurostat, were used for the analysis. The results of the research show that Poland and Italy are characterized by a similar, high level of regional diversity of GDP per capita. On the other hand, differences in the level of unemployment among Italian regions are much higher than among Polish voivodships. It was also stated that the differences in examined macroeconomic measures within the two countries are increasing, which in turn can lead to growing inter-regional disparities in the level of development.