Regional Inequalities in Romania – A Topic of Current Research and A Challenge for the Post-2020 Programming Period
The Centre for Regional Geography hosted another presentation in the series of CGR Meetings on 16 January 2020. The presentation on Regional Inequalities in Romania: Theory, Empirical Evidence and Implications for Development Policies was delivered by Professor József Benedek.
Already a topical subject, the topic approached was also discussed in the light of the latest results obtained in some ongoing research projects. Among the ideas launched in the debate, we highlight the following:
- in terms of spatial inequalities (having GDP per capita as a reference indicator), there is a downward trend from the macro (global) level to the micro-spatial level, but with a lower rate of “convergence”;
- in Romania, there is an upward trend of inequalities at NUTS 3 (county) level, highly intensive in the last 20 years;
- there are striking regional differences in terms of inequalities, materialized by an increased polarization in Romania;
- there are weak mechanisms to diffuse prosperity at national level;
- among the possible public policies that might be successful in the next funding period are those that exploit the principle of the advantage of being a less-favoured region.
