Share:


The implementation of the regional development index in the new geo-political context

    Romeo-Victo Ionescu Affiliation
    ; Monica Laura Zlati Affiliation
    ; Valentin-Marian Antohi Affiliation
    ; Valentina Cornea Affiliation
    ; Mihaela-Ionela Socoliuc Affiliation

Abstract

The opportunity of this research topic lies in the current extremely challenging geopolitical context that has led to the outbreak of multiple crises: energy, economic, social, financial, food, etc. The European Union has thus positioned itself in the face of these phenomena by creating several instruments to manage crises and increase resilience: civil protection mechanism, integrated mechanism for political response to crises, cross-border cooperation and solidarity mechanisms, food security crisis plans, resilience measures against physical and digital risks.The paper aims to analyse the necessity of changing the regional approach across the EU under the impact of the pandemic. Specific regional socio-economic indicators for EU NUTS2 regions are analysed during 2010–2021. The main objective of this research is to quantify the regional socioeconomic and to realise comparative analysis related to three moments in time: the latest EU enlargement, the economic crisis and the pandemic. The novelty of the study was the building of a new dynamic multi-criteria model assessing the strategic perspective, which was built to offer pertinent solutions for the regional decision makers in order to ensure cohesion and sustainable development on short and medium term.


First published online 25 August 2023

Keyword : regional disparities, regional economy, regional development index, regional sustainable development

How to Cite
Ionescu, R.-V., Zlati, M. L., Antohi, V.-M., Cornea, V., & Socoliuc, M.-I. (2023). The implementation of the regional development index in the new geo-political context. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 29(5), 1405–1431. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2023.19261
Published in Issue
Sep 19, 2023
Abstract Views
638
PDF Downloads
543
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Agasisti, T., & Bertoletti, A. (2022). Higher education and economic growth: A longitudinal study of European regions 2000–2017. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 81, 100940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2020.100940

Ahmad, M., Zhu, X., & Wu, Y. (2022). The criticality of international tourism and technological innovation for carbon neutrality across regional development levels. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 182, 121848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121848

Bailey, D., & De Propris, L. (2019). Industry 4.0, regional disparities and transformative industrial policy. Regional Studies Policy Impact Books, 1(2), 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/2578711X.2019.1621102

Barbero, J., & Rodríguez-Crespo, E. (2022). Technological, institutional, and geographical peripheries: Regional development and risk of poverty in the European regions. The Annals of Regional Science, 69(2), 311–332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-022-01127-9

Barrios, C., Flores, E., & Martínez, M. Á. (2019). Club convergence in innovation activity across European regions. Papers in Regional Science, 98(4), 1545–1565. https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12429

Beynon, M. J., Jones, P., & Pickernell, D. (2023). Evaluating EU-Region level innovation readiness: A longitudinal analysis using principal component analysis and a constellation graph index approach. Journal of Business Research, 159, 113703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113703

Bolea, L., Duarte, R., Hewings, G. J. D., Jiménez, S., & Sánchez-Chóliz, J. (2022). The role of regions in global value chains: An analysis for the European Union. Papers in Regional Science, 101(4), 771–794. https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12674

Börzel, T. A., & Langbein, J. (2019). Core–periphery disparities in Europe: Is there a link between political and economic divergence? West European Politics, 42(5), 941–964. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2018.1558534

Bourdin, S. (2019). Does the cohesion policy have the same influence on growth everywhere? A geographically weighted regression approach in Central and Eastern Europe. Economic Geography, 95(3), 256–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2018.1526074

Camagni, R., Capello, R., Cerisola, S., & Fratesi, U. (2020). Fighting gravity: Institutional changes and regional disparities in the EU. Economic Geography, 96(2), 108–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2020.1717943

Capello, R., & Cerisola, S. (2020). Concentrated versus diffused growth assets: Agglomeration economies and regional cohesion. Growth and Change, 51(4), 1440–1453. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12419

Capello, R., & Cerisola, S. (2021). Catching-up and regional disparities: A resource-allocation approach. European Planning Studies, 29(1), 94–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2020.1823323

Capello, R., Lenzi, C., & Panzera, E. (2022). The rise of the digital service economy in European regions. Industry and Innovation, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2022.2082924

Cartone, A., Panzera, D., & Postiglione, P. (2021). Regional economic disparities, spatial dependence and proximity structures. Regional Science Policy & Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12482

Cavalli, L., Alibegovic, M., Cruickshank, E., Farnia, L., & Romani, I. G. (2023). The impact of EU Structural Funds on the national sustainable development strategy: A methodological application. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 10(1), 52–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2022.2160655

Cutrini, E. (2019). Economic integration, structural change, and uneven development in the European Union. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 50, 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2019.06.007

Delfi. (2022). 35,000 Ukrainian refugees are registered in Latvia. https://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/latvija-registreti-35-000-ukrainas-beglu.d?id=54559608

Diemer, A., Iammarino, S., Rodríguez-Pose, A., & Storper, M. (2022). The regional development trap in Europe. Economic Geography, 98(5), 487–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2022.2080655

Ehrlich, M. v., & Overman, H. G. (2020). Place-based policies and spatial disparities across European Cities. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(3), 128–149. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.34.3.128

European Commission. (2021). Recovery plan for Europe. https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/recovery-plan-europe_en

European Commission. (2022). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sustainable-development/SDGs/index_en.htm

European Council. (2022). EU sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-response-ukraine-invasion/

European Union. (2008). Treaty of Lisbon. Official Journal of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12007L%2FTXT

Eurostat. (2021). Regions in Europe – 2021 interactive edition. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-interactive-publications/-/ks-09-21-299

Eurostat. (2022a). Animal populations by NUTS 2 regions. https://Appsso.Eurostat.Ec.Europa.Eu/Nui/Show.Do?Dataset=aact_eaa01&lang=en

Eurostat. (2022b). Demography, population stock and balance – Population (regional level). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/population-demography/demography-population-stock-balance/database

Eurostat. (2022c). Employment rates by sex, age, educational attainment level, country of birth and NUTS 2 regions. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lfst_r_lfe2emprtn/default/table?lang=EN

Eurostat. (2022d). Gross domestic expenditure on R&D – GERD by sector of performance and NUTS 2 regions. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/RD_E_GERDREG/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022e). Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices by NUTS 3 regions. https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/rlja7dqoiipwrjp4kwtirq?locale=en

Eurostat. (2022f). Human resources in science & technology – HRST by category and NUTS 2 regions. https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/rcjtmhf2ucirvlvfypefa?locale=en

Eurostat. (2022g). Intramural R&D expenditure (GERD) by source of funds. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tsc00031/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022h). Life expectancy by age, sex and NUTS 2 region. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tgs00101/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022i). Main GDP aggregates per capita. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nama_10_pc/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022j). Population by educational attainment level, sex and NUTS 2 regions. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/edat_lfse_04/default/table?lang=EN

Eurostat. (2022k). Production of cow’s milk on farms by NUTS 2 regions. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/AGR_R_MILKPR/default/table?lang=en&category=reg.reg_agr.reg_apro

Eurostat. (2022l). Students enrolled in tertiary education by education level, programme orientation, sex, type of institution and intensity of participation. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/educ_uoe_enrt01/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022m). Total unemployment rate. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00203/default/table?lang=en

Eurostat. (2022n). Unemployment rates by sex, age, educational attainment level and NUTS 2 regions. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/LFST_R_LFU3RT/default/table?lang=en

Ezcurra, R. (2019). Regional disparities and within-country inequality in the European Union. Revista de Economía Mundial, (51). https://doi.org/10.33776/rem.v0i51.3907

Filippetti, A., Guy, F., & Iammarino, S. (2019). Regional disparities in the effect of training on employment. Regional Studies, 53(2), 217–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2018.1455177

Fina, S., Heider, B., & Raț, C. (2021). România inegală. Disparităţile socio-economice regionale din România. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

Gardiner, B., Fingleton, B., & Martin, R. (2020). Regional disparities in labour productivity and the role of capital stock. National Institute Economic Review, 253, R29–R43. https://doi.org/10.1017/nie.2020.28

Giannakis, E., & Bruggeman, A. (2020). Regional disparities in economic resilience in the European Union across the urban–rural divide. Regional Studies, 54(9), 1200–1213. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1698720

Iammarino, S., Rodriguez-Pose, A., & Storper, M. (2019). Regional inequality in Europe: Evidence, theory and policy implications. Journal of Economic Geography, 19(2), 273–298. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lby021

Jagódka, M., & Snarska, M. (2023a). Should we continue EU cohesion policy? The dilemma of uneven development of Polish regions. Social Indicators Research, 165(3), 901–917. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-03048-8

Jagódka, M., & Snarska, M. (2023b). Regional disparities as a result of differences in human capital and innovativeness on the example of Poland. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 29(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2023.18536

Kamar, B., Bakardzhieva, D., & Goaied, M. (2019). Effects of pro-growth policies on employment: Evidence of regional disparities. Applied Economics, 51(40), 4337–4367. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2019.1591596

Kolodziejski, M. (2022). Coeziunea economică, socială și teritorială. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/ro/sheet/93/coeziunea-economica-sociala-si-teritoriala

Kostetckaia, M., & Hametner, M. (2022). How Sustainable Development Goals interlinkages influence European Union countries’ progress towards the 2030 Agenda. Sustainable Development, 30(5), 916–926. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2290

Kuzior, A., Pidorycheva, I., Liashenko, V., Shevtsova, H., & Shvets, N. (2022). Assessment of National Innovation Ecosystems of the EU countries and Ukraine in the interests of their sustainable development. Sustainability, 14(14), 8487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148487

Latvian Public Broadcasting. (2022). Latvia ready to take in Ukrainian refugees, visas for Russians to be suspended.

Lipps, J., & Schraff, D. (2021). Regional inequality and institutional trust in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 60(4), 892–913. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12430

Madanipour, A., Shucksmith, M., & Brooks, E. (2022). The concept of spatial justice and the European Union’s territorial cohesion. European Planning Studies, 30(5), 807–824. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2021.1928040

McCann, P. (2020). Perceptions of regional inequality and the geography of discontent: insights from the UK. Regional Studies, 54(2), 256–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1619928

Mitrică, B., Damian, N., Grigorescu, I., Mocanu, I., Dumitraşcu, M., & Persu, M. (2022). Out-migration and social and technological marginalization in Romania. Regional disparities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 175, 121370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121370

Mitrică, B., Şerban, P., Mocanu, I., Grigorescu, I., Damian, N., & Dumitraşcu, M. (2020). Social development and regional disparities in the rural areas of Romania: Focus on the social disadvantaged areas. Social Indicators Research, 152(1), 67–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02415-7

Mitze, T. (2019). The migration response to local labour market shocks: Evidence from EU regions during the global economic crisis. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 81(2), 271–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12271

Mykhnenko, V., & Wolff, M. (2019). State rescaling and economic convergence. Regional Studies, 53(4), 462–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2018.1476754

Pallokat, J. (2022). Polen bereitet sich auf Flüchtlinge vor. https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/polen-ukraine-fluechtlinge-101.html

Panzera, D., & Postiglione, P. (2022). The impact of regional inequality on economic growth: A spatial econometric approach. Regional Studies, 56(5), 687–702. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2021.1910228

Piętak, Ł. (2022). Regional disparities, transmission channels and country’s economic growth. Journal of Regional Science, 62(1), 270–306. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12564

Pietrzykowski, M. (2019). Convergence in GDP per capita across the EU regions – spatial effects. Economics and Business Review, 5(2), 64–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12564

Puiu, A.-I., & Necula, M. (2020). Cluster analysis of regional research and development disparities in Europe. Studies in Business and Economics, 15(3), 303–312. https://doi.org/10.2478/sbe-2020-0060

Rigby, D. L., Roesler, C., Kogler, D., Boschma, R., & Balland, P.-A. (2022). Do EU regions benefit from Smart Specialisation principles? Regional Studies, 56(12), 2058–2073. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2022.2032628

Rogge, N., & Self, R. (2018). Measuring regional social inclusion performances in the EU: Looking for unity in diversity. Journal of European Social Policy, 29(3), 325–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718792135

Samara, E., Andronikidis, A., Komninos, N., Bakouros, Y., & Katsoras, E. (2022). The role of digital technologies for regional development: A system dynamics analysis. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-022-00951-w

Spotmedia.ro. (2022). Eight months of war on the border. How Romanians and Romania still help Ukrainians. https://www.dw.com/ro/spotmediaro-opt-luni-de-război-la-graniță-cum-îi-mai-ajută-românii-și-românia-pe-ucraineni/a-63501949

The Guardian. (2022). A ticking time bomb: Healthcare under threat across western Europe. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/dec/14/a-ticking-time-bomb-healthcare-under-threat-across-western-europe

The World Bank Group. (2022). Regional integration. https://www.worldbank.org/

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2022). Ukraine Refugee Situation. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

Website of the Republic of Poland. (2022). Site for citizens of Ukraine. https://www.gov.pl/web/ua

Widuto, A. (2019). Regional inequalities in the EU. In European Parliamentary Research Service (PE637.951).

Wojdat, M., & Cywiński, P. (2022). Urban hospitality: Unprecedented growth, challenges and opportunities. https://metropolie.pl/fileadmin/user_upload/UMP_raport_Ukraina_ANG_20220429_final.pdf

Xu, K., Mei, R., Liang, L., & Sun, W. (2023). Regional convergence analysis of sustainable innovation efficiency in European Union countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 325, 116636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116636