Effects of Poland's Integration with the EU: Structural Interventions and Economic Development in the Eastern Border Regions

In this paper, we discuss the possible effects of Poland's accession to the European Union (EU) on the economic development of the Polish eastern border regions. In accordance with the theoretical previsions, economic integration may have a great impact on the spatial allocation of economic activity. As a result, it is likely that regional income divergence in Poland will increase within the next few years. Structural interventions, accomplished in the framework of the EU Cohesion Policy programmes, are expected to offset this negative tendency. In our study, we attempt to evaluate the possible outcome of the different kinds of infrastructural projects. We show that similar investments may have a diverse impact on production and employment in different regions. Further, we demonstrate that certain transport infrastructure projects may in fact decelerate economic growth in the eastern border regions.