| Abstract: |
In recent decades, the ethnic composition of the European population has
changed substantially, leading to a rapid increase of cultural diversity in
the EU as a whole, at the level of individual member states, and at the
regional level. This paper focusses on the regional level and investigates the
relationship between cultural diversity and regional economic performance for
the EU 27. Giving particular attention to regional innovation, GDP per capita,
and its development over time, the paper finds that culturally more diverse
regions are on average more innovative, which translates into higher growth
and better economic performance. An important finding of this study is,
however, that the positive effect of cultural diversity on regional economic
performance is not present in all sub-samples of the European regions alike. |