The following article deals with the conditions under which regional associations in the Third World can improve the economic situation of the developing countries and the question how suitable they are for this purpose.

A great deal would suggest that the process of urbanisation in developing countries leads to both negative allocation effects and to an increase in income inequality between urban and rural districts. Regional policy measures almed at improving the lot of rural areas would seem called for. Which...

Since their accession to the European Union in 1986, both Portugal and Spain have benefited from strong financial support. Both countries have experienced considerable growth in income per capita, converging towards average European levels. However, several studies suggest a high degree of...

The priority previously given to urban areas by development programmes was replaced in the 1980s by efforts to implement deliberately targeted rural development. These often relatively complex projects showed less sustainable success than had been expected, however. What are the requirements for...

Government intervention in developing countries has often been biased towards the support of urban industries and the urban population. The resulting distortions in exchange rates and in the prices of the factors of production have had serious detrimental effects on rural areas. A gradual...

Convergence among regions is explicitly defined as a political aim of the European Union. Overall, NUTS3 regions have indeed shown a path of convergence since the year 2000, but there are huge differences among the regions. Many Eastern European countries as well as several regions in Spain and...

The existence of constraints affecting the social services in developing countries is only too obvious. Neither donor nor recipient countries have yet paid sufficient attention to this sphere in the context of development policy. Practicable planning proposals are therefore put forward in the...

Although regional development banking is a recent institution in the field of international cooperation, the author asks the question whether in the light of current and possible events in the 1970s its fundamental policies are appropriate to those developments in particular, and to economic...