Regional inequality, regimes of accumulation and economic development in contemporary Europe

Abstract

The mid 1970s was a major turning point in Europe dividing the Fordist "golden age', in which unprecedentedly fast economic growth went hand in hand with marked regional convergence, from a post-Fordist era in which growth rates were halved and inequalities increased. Supply-side adjustments led to increased metropolitan polarization and to inequalities between areas. Globalization generated self-reinforcing trends towards increased economic interdependence, reduced national autonomy and increased economic integration. In the currently dominant neo-liberal conditions of integration in Europe, competitive mechanisms of regional adjustment are deflationary and increase inequalities. Attention is paid to the shape of an alternative macro-geographical framework which can regulate the contemporary contradictions of regional development in the European Union (EU). -from Authors