Regional Inequalities in the New European Union Member-States

What is it about?

The new European Union member-states (EU NMS),that were formerly planned economies of the Eastern bloc, provide a quasi laboratory environment (natural experiment-like conditions) for the empirical examination of spatial inequalities. The experience of the EU NMS is a unique situation, where relatively closed economic systems opened, almost at once, to the world economy and, at the same time, market mechanisms replaced central planning. Thus, understanding the driving forces that configure the spatial pattern of development in the EU NMS may provide valuable insight for theory and policy. The paper evaluates regional inequalities in the EU NMS, in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trying to detect a ‘population size’ effect.

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Why is it important?

The paper evaluates regional inequalities in the EU NMS, in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trying to detect a ‘population size’ effect.