Romania has the highest share of European Union rural areas (44.9% in 2009), which generates and maintains a long series of regional disparities. Because of these disparities, the economy faces a number of elements that undermine the quality of human and social capital and reduces the potential...

According to the Treaty of the European Union of 1992 and the Constitution actually in process to be accepted by all Community members, the accomplishment of a higher economic and social cohesion is one of its main objectives. This aim includes a variety of aspects, but not clearly well defined...

Regional policy has been on the agenda of Turkey since the First Five-Year Development Plan (1963−1967), and so far, Turkey has put into practice to overcome regional disparities, one of the most important is regional-sectoral incentives. Thus, the incentive system, which has undergone many...

The paper aims at analysing the way the model developed by European Union for the European regions can be applied to Romanian regions using a regional competitiveness definition pointed out in the 6th Periodic Report on regions. The paper presents in the beginning a short economic analysis of...

Ezcurra R., Gil C., Pascual P. and Rapun M. (2005) Regional inequality in the European Union: does industry mix matter?, Regional Studies 39 , 679-697. The aim of this paper is to test for the respective roles of regional and sectoral factors in productivity convergence in the European Union...

This paper aims to shed light on the evolution of regional disparities with respect to economic activity, productivity and employment across the European Union. While the "multiple Speeds of Europe" are a buzzword often quoted to underpin different political strategies and visions, they are...

Regional policy has been on the agenda of Turkey since the First Five-Year Development Plan (1963−1967), and so far, Turkey has put into practice to overcome regional disparities, one of the most important is regional-sectoral incentives. Thus, the incentive system, which has undergone many...

Significant disparities still exist between regions of the European Union, even though substantial Cohesion investments are directed to address this issue. To adjust the Cohesion Policy (CP), researchers assess the returns of the CP, but almost all studies are carried out at NUTS1&2 or a country...

The main objective of this work is to review the recent achievements on the mechanisms explaining local and rural development, which underpin the current definition of rural areas in the European literature. The analysis carried out in this article acknowledges a gap between local development...

In economic theory, one can distinguish between variety as a source of regional knowledge spillovers, called Jacobs externalities, and variety as a portfolio protecting a region from external shocks. We argue that Jacobs externalities are best measured by related variety (within sectors), while...