Polarization of Living Standards among Administrative Units Engaged in Cross-Border Cooperation—The Example of Polish Municipalities of Euroregion Baltic

Marcin Janusz

doi:10.3390/su14020680

Abstract

The present work examines the standard of living among the Polish municipalities of the Euroregion Baltic—an institution engaged in cross-border cooperation which is striving to improve the standard of living in border areas. The time span of the study extended to the first full year after Poland’s EU accession (2004), and to the 15th anniversary of the accession and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Euroregion Baltic (2019 in both cases). All 38 Polish municipalities (NUTS 5) of the Euroregion were covered by the study. Using a synthetic index of standard of living based on Hellwig’s development pattern method, the municipalities were grouped into four classes according to their index value. Hierarchical methods were used to identify which municipalities had the most similar standards of living. The highest standard of living was recorded for the small, tourism-oriented town of Jastarnia and for strong urban centers (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Olsztyn, and Elbląg). Rural municipalities, especially those situated near the Polish-Russian border (Kaliningrad Oblast), had lower standards of living. The results show a progressing polarization in the standard of living, manifested by a widening gap between first-class municipalities and the other classes. This stratification was attributed to multiple factors, including the endogenous potential of the communities.

Highlights

There have been many different approaches to the idea of promoting social/economic development, and they have been actualized at multiple levels
The present study examined the standard of living in the municipalities of the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, an organization that groups Polish local government authorities that operate within this Euroregion
The standard of living is shaped by many factors, most of them social and economic in nature

Summary

Introduction

There have been many different approaches to the idea of promoting social/economic development, and they have been actualized at multiple levels (micro-, macro-, and mesoeconomic). The national cohesion policy was mostly implemented at the regional level (NUTS 2), as it was (and is) not uncommon for living conditions to be strongly polarized across different regions. This differentiation has often been much more pronounced in border regions, especially in cases where the neighboring region was part of a non-EU country. The development of cross-border cooperation dates back to the 1950s [1], and is believed to have been first formally defined by the Madrid Convention of 1980 [2] This form of cooperation was not a novel idea in itself, but EU programs did lay the groundwork for institutionalized development of these entities.

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Conclusion