Spatial Patterns of Local Income Inequalities

Abstract

The political and economic changes at the beginning of the 1990s have brought about considerable changes in the spatial structure of Romania. The processes of economic privatisation, industrial restructuring, suburbanisation and out-migration have contributed substantially to the restructuring of the Romanian economic space [1], [2], [3], marked by increasing spatial, and socio-economic inequalities [4], [5], [6]. The severe economic decline in the 1990s, followed by a period of high economic growth (19992008) have put their mark on the development of settlements and regions. While some regions have successfully adapted to the new challenges (the capitalregion of Bucharest, the metropolitan regions of Cluj, Constanţa, and Timișoara) others have faced a deep crisis (the rural peripheries, mining and heavy industrial regions) [7], [8]. Growing interregional income inequalities have also represented one of the main concerns of the EU Member States. Although the European Cohesion Policy specifically addresses the issue of regional inequalities, so far empirical research has shown its increasing tendency during the last two decades at sub-national level [9], [10], [11], [12], [13]. Studies examining the convergence process in the European Union from a multidimensional perspective, before and after the accession period, at different territorial scales, have shown that economic growth has been much higher in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with a more homogenous spatial structure and a lower level of initial GDP per capita [14], [15], [16]. This has also been the case of Romania, the country managing to achieve convergence at NUTS 1 level (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) with the EU average, although this was achieved at the cost of an increasing internal, sub-national divergence [17], [6]. Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism