"Convergence or twin peaks? The Spanish case" (together with José Villaverde), in Meeusen, W. and Villaverde, J. Convergence issues in the European Union,  Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2002, (forthcoming)

The aim of this paper is to explore the dynamics of per capita income among Spanish provinces, during the period 1955-1997. Following the seminal contribution of Quah, the technique employed - the Markov Chain’s approach- conducts to basic results that tend to predict a pattern of convergence. Other preliminary conclusions of the paper are the high level of persistence in the relative position of provinces, consistent with a low degree of mobility in the income distribution. Notwithstanding this fact, some particular changes in the placement of provinces are noticed: it seems that the richest provinces concentrate gradually in the NorthEast of the country. This phenomenon may be attributed, in turn, to location externalities while the mobility between classes seems to be associated both to the industrial mix reallocation and to the vicinity to rich provinces.

Key words: provincial convergence, twin peaks, Markov’s chains, spatial mobility.