Structural Change And Economic Convergence Across The Eu-15 Regions: Can The Agricultural Sector Play a Role?

Economic and agricultural convergence across the EU regions has for a long time attracted the attention of economists and more so in the recent decade following the EU enlargement. Empirical contributions have referred explicitly or implicitly to the Solow's model of economic growth testing absolute and conditional b-convergence. The recent literature suggests that the prevailing neoclassical and sectoral approach is not suitable to face the implication of structural change on economic convergence whose understanding is key within the current process of significant marginalization of agriculture and partly of industry in favour of the service sector. In this context the aim of the paper is the understanding the size and evolution of this change, the way in which it has affected aggregate economic convergence and if the agricultural sector has influenced the process despite its small and decreasing contribution to total GDP comparing the results from the neoclassical and Paci, Pigliaru approac