Reduction Of Regional Disparities Research Articles

(Re-)exploring the link between decentralization and regional disparities in Italy

Previous research has suggested that after 1996 devolution caused a reduction in regional disparities in Italy. However the analysis presented here suggests that the decline in regional disparities in Italy between 1996 and 2006 was driven by population dynamics and, to some extent, by the loss of competitiveness and consequent poor relative performance of northern regions. We conclude that links between devolution and the reduction of spatial disparities is unproven and its benefits are temporally and geographically uneven.

The Kerala Regime and Regional Disparities in Health Infrastructure Versus Outcomes

Conventional wisdom holds that although at the time of Kerala state formation in 1956 the northern region (Malabar) lagged behind the southern region (Travancore-Cochin) in development indicators, inter-regional disparities reduced considerably in ensuing decades. The reduction in regional disparities is typically attributed to modern Kerala's welfare policy regime, which emphasized greater growth of infrastructure facilities in Malabar. This study presents evidence for health that suggests that while disparities in outcomes reduced over time, disparities in key infrastructural inputs did not reduce. These differing trends for infrastructure and outcomes are consistentwith a diminishing returns argument that may have little to do directly with the Kerala regime. Rather, the potency of the Kerala regime lays in its ability to increase development inputs throughout the state (albeit without favoring the lagging region) and consolidate the conditions for “public action” to effectively demand and utilize these inputs.

The development of regional disparities in Czech Republic over the 2005-2010 years

Reduction of regional disparities and securing equal conditions of living for the population belong to the fundamental targets of regional policies both within the limits of European Union community and of Czech Republic. Assessment of changes in the progress of regions presents a comparatively complex task since a large number of indicators have to be taken into question, both those collected objectively (usually of quantitative shape) as well as those reflecting the subjective views of the population. The paper aims at assessment of changes in the sizes of regional disparities over 2005–2010 in the CR regions and it offers a discussion on chances of application of the aggregated indicators for such assessment.

Cohesion Policy vs regionalisation: an unexpected inner conflict?

Alexandru F Ghiţa argues that although the reduction of regional disparities is one of the main objectives of EU cohesion policy, conflicts can arise between the policy and its main means of implementation: the regionalisation process.

Convergência espacial do PIB <i>per capita</i> no estado do Ceará

Políticas públicas regionais no Estado do Ceará têm sido implementadascom o objetivo de descentralizar a atividade econômica da Região Metropolitana deFortaleza. O que se espera dessas políticas é uma redução da concentração do PIBper capita entre os municípios com convergência de renda e a formação de clustersde atividades no interior do Estado. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principalidentificar as mudanças ocorridas na distribuição espacial da atividade econômicano Estado do Ceará no período de 1996 a 2003. Para tanto, utilizou-se técnicas deeconometria espacial para verificar a evolução dos clusters e estimar a convergênciaabsoluta do PIB per capita ao longo do período analisado. Os resultados indicarama presença de efeitos espaciais relevantes e relacionamento entre os municípios e aformação de clusters importantes no interior do Estado. Além disso, conclui-se quehouve convergência absoluta do PIB per capita com consequente diminuição dasdisparidades regionais no Estado no período analisado.

AN APPLICATION OF AN INTEGRATED TRANSPORT NETWORK – MULTIREGIONAL CGE MODEL TO THE CALIBRATION OF SYNERGY EFFECTS OF HIGHWAY INVESTMENTS

A transportation network-multiregional CGE model is applied to estimate the synergy effects of a set of highway projects on value added by region and industrial sector. This synergy effect is defined as a difference between the summation of the net GDP increase from the development of each highway sub-link without spatial linkage and the change in GDP resulting from the concurrent development of all links with spatial linkages. Among nine east–west highways in Korea, the East–West 9 highway increases the GDP by 0.3% over the 30-year time period horizon, with 0.016% of the GDP due to the synergy effect. The East–West 9 highway has the largest synergy effect of US$0.164 billion per year on the manufacturing sector of Kwangju Metropolitan Area, resulting in a gain in a regional GRP per capita of US$15.88 per year. Since most synergy effects are generated in less developed regions, highway development can contribute to the reduction in regional disparities.

The effect of EU structural funds on regional growth: assessing the evidence from Greece, 1990–2005

This paper brings empirical evidence on the impact of EU structural policy on regional income growth. The case of Greece over the period 1990–2005 is taken as an example. This period is characterized by the acceleration of the European integration process, with a central role assigned to the EU structural support to less prosperous regions. Regional growth is approached through the estimation of β-convergence equations using panel methods of estimation. The empirical results reveal a positive impact of structural funds support on regional growth while income convergence is enhanced. In addition, a significant influence of spatial income and unemployment spillovers on regional income growth is evidenced, illustrating the recent growth performance in Greece. Our results leave ample room for European regional policy to operate for the promotion of growth and the reduction of regional disparities.

Rural Enterprise Development and Regional Policy in China

Abstract: An issue of growing salience in Chinese politics is the widening income disparities between the more prosperous coastal region and the interior regions. This article provides a preliminary assessment of a government initiative to promote interior development through rural enterprises. It first discusses the factors that led central leaders to consider disparities in regional rural enterprise development as the crux of rising regional inequalities and thus the rationale for a regional policy centered on rural enterprises. Next, the key policy components, including credit availability, tax incentives, and an effort to induce interregional cooperation, are presented. Local government responses are described and analyzed, as is the East-West Rural Enterprise Cooperation Project. The conclusion is that while the rural enterprise initiative has been a worthwhile effort, it will probably have only limited impact on the reduction of regional disparities.

Optimum Allocation of Financial Resources for Reduction of Regional Disparities - An Exercise in Programming

Over the past many years the planners have been preoccupied with the problem of regional disparities in the levels of development. Their desire to allocate more resources to relatively backward regions has led to the investigations of the problem of identifying such regions on the basis of several indicators of development. In the attempts to include in this identification as many facets of development as possible, the number of indicators of development that have been sought to be used has been ever increasing and so has been the feeling of necessity and the desire to combine them into one single indicator of development. A considerable amount of research work has gone into this related problem rather unsuccessfully as the solutions offered so far do not go beyond establishing the order of regions on a scale of development or backwardness. The research workers have not been able to evolve any valid method directly relating the allocation of resources to the combined indicator of development; indeed, it does not appear possible to establish such a relationship.

Development, Regional Disparity and Planning: The Experience of Northeast Thailand

There is considerable concern amongst development planners at the large and apparently growing areal disparities in the level of development in many underdeveloped countries. A number of theoretical studies support the view that economic growth inevitably results in widening disparities in the initial stages of economic development which may or may not be reversed with later growth. Empirical studies, although frequently lacking in comparability and deficient in data, confirm the existence of widening disparities in a large number of countries. Some planners have questioned the policy of maximising growth of gross product as the panacea for under-development and attempted to ensure more even patterns of development. Where economic and political unrest, including “insurgent activity”, have occurred, and have been equated by government officials with regional concentrations of poverty, further weight is given to policies directed towards reduction of regional disparities. However, where the results of schemes aimed at reducing regional imbalance have been assessed the success rate is slight. This paper examines the experience of Northeast Thailand, the Korat plateau, as an example of a backward region that has had considerable planning effort directed at it over the last twenty years.