What is region? From an economic point of view, a region is a unit in which capital and labour move freely and goods and services are totally open to trade with other regions without any frontiers or limitations. The openness of the regions and their interaction with other regions are their main...

We investigate the effectiveness of European Structural Funds on employment, population and house prices in Local Labor Markets (LLM) located in Southern Italy. We exploit the variability in disbursements between 2007 and 2013 and estimate the impact of the interventions by allowing for...

This paper reconsiders the theoretical foundations of EU regional policy in economics. It begins with a discussion of the line of thought of its prevalent explanation in equilibrium economics which is focusing on market failures as its key underpinning and which is the major toolkit of...

The economic crisis and the declining competitiveness of Europe, led to the orientation of cohesion policy for smart growth based on knowledge and innovation. Poland and its regions are in a specific socio-economical position characterized by a low share of higher value-added products and high...

In European and national policies it is by now evident that the approach to spatial issues favours "economic reasons" over "territorial reasons". The recent emphasis on "cities as drivers of development", although an improvement over previous programming periods, remains fully situated within...

A common phenomenon of development is the big difference in its levels, especially between metropolitan areas and other areas, called peripheries. There are also big differences in opportunities for development, including the location of new investment. Peripheral areas are characterized by...

There is a high research and political interest in regional disparities now. Regional disparities are at the heart of prominent theories of regional development as well as of the ambitious project of European integration. Moreover, regional policies at various spatial levels are formulated in...

Territorial Cooperation (TC) has been possible because there is a trajectory of many years of work invested by the local actors, participants who have become the architects of TC through the city or region involved. Transcontinental cooperation as studied by the European Union TERCO project is...

European Cohesion Policy has traditionally been considered as a useful tool to advance in the economic integration of the European Union by helping less developed regions in their convergence process with more developed ones. Nowadays European Cohesion Policy and Structural Funds are one of the...

Clusters and cluster policy has become a widespread phenomena. The general thought shows that, somehow, clusters are directly related to business competitiveness and regional growth. In this context, the Spanish Ministry of Industry has implemented a cluster policy since 2007 known as the AEIs...