Economic centrality, per capita income and human capital: some results at regional level and local level in 275 counties of Portugal

Abstract

It has been shown that countries located further from global economic activity will have lower levels of per capita income and human capital. We evaluate, for the Portuguese case, the validity of the positive relationship of economic centrality with per capita income and with human capital at the regional level (275 regions). Results show that more central regions - in terms of proximity to the location of the economic activity - appear to have higher levels of per capita income and human capital. Some regions suffer a permanent penalty resulting from their disadvantage as regards the relative geographical position.