INCOME DISPERSION DYNAMICS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AFTER THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

This study examines the dynamics of income dispersion among European Union member states during the post-crisis decade. Focusing on the period from 2010 to 2019, the analysis investigates whether income differences across EU economies narrowed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Using annual data for 27 EU member states, we evaluate sigma-convergence by tracking the evolution of cross-sectional dispersion in real GDP per capita. The results indicate a statistically significant decline in income dispersion over the examined period, suggesting the presence of sigma-convergence. However, complementary panel estimations do not provide evidence of conditional beta-convergence once structural controls are included. These findings imply that the observed reduction in dispersion may reflect broader macroeconomic adjustment mechanisms rather than systematic catch-up growth among lower-income member states. The results contribute to the literature on European integration by highlighting the distinction between dispersion