DPP Professor Martin Kahanec, together with Kamila Borseková and Samuel Korony (both Matej Bel University), has published a new article in Environment & Planning A: Economy and Space (EP-A):
Decision Tree Insights into Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Convergence in EU Labour Markets
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X251352697
This study, developed within the BRRIDGE project -- a collaboration among Matej Bel University, Central European University, the European University Institute, and the University of Galway -- demonstrates how international research networks can accelerate top-tier, policy-relevant science.
What the authors did:
- Analyzed 258 NUTS-2 regions across 25 EU countries for 2010 and 2019.
- Applied decision-tree methods instead of traditional linear approaches, letting the data reveal meaningful “convergence clubs” rather than assuming a single path.
- Examined labour market efficiency (employment, unemployment, gender gaps, productivity) as the key lens for regional convergence.
What they found:
- Productivity consistently sits at the root of convergence patterns, highlighting its central role in prosperity.
- By 2019, gender balance in employment gained more explanatory weight than headline employment rates, underlining that the quality and distribution of work matter as much as quantity.
- Catch-up dynamics are highly uneven: while capital-city regions such as Bratislava or Ljubljana surged ahead, many hinterlands lagged, and some Western peripheries resembled post-socialist patterns.
Why it matters:
As Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (LSE) aptly commented, this research reframes the EU convergence debate:
“What emerges [from this study] reframes the conversation. ... the policy implication raises a word of warning to researchers and decision-makers alike: manage to the map, not the mean. If convergence is club-based and conditioned by structure, then Cohesion Policy must be place-sensitive: raising productivity where it is systemically low, tackling stubborn unemployment where traps threaten, and minding the widening gap between capitals and their countrysides.”
The findings make a strong case for region-specific, evidence-based policy interventions rather than one-size-fits-all fixes.
Read the full article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X251352697
More on BRRIDGE: https://research.ceu.edu/en/projects/building-capacities-for-excellent-research-and-innovation-in-demo