ECONOMIC DISPARITY UNDER CONDITIONS OF INTEGRATION - A LONG-TERM VIEWOF THE EUROPEAN CASE

This paper examines the development of disparities between the regions of the European Union over a very long period of time. It does so by reviewing the relevant theoretical, empirical and prospective literatu re. First, the contributions of the different schools of thought on re gional growth are reviewed. They are inconclusive as to the outcome of the process in terms of convergence or divergence. Next, empirical st udies into the differential development of European regions are review ed, covering the whole period of the industrial revolution to our pres ent time. The resulting picture reveals a considerable diversity of pa tterns. Over the postwar period, characterized by increased economic i ntegration, a decrease in disparity has been recorded. Poorer regions have used their improved access to the European market and their bette r opportunities for attracting mobile capital to catch up with the ric her ones. In the third part of the paper, a number of prospective stud ies on the likely behavior of the regional system of Europe are examin ed. In the future, new forms of economic integration (deepening like t he EMU, and widening with the central European countries) will to a la rge extent shape the environment for regional developments. All in all , these factors are likely to bring more disparity. Therefore, increas ed attention should be given to policies that stimulate new ways of mo bilizing the diverse potential of the various regions of the enlarged Europe.