Regional Development Policies

label Seminarii autorenew 2025-09-29, 16:57
The Treaty of Rome (1957) No specific provision for the adoption of a cohesion policy but a reference to the need to consolidate economic unity among member states. Creation of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) in 1958


The economic debate: Classical Ricardian trade and Neo-classical theory:

Factor endowment is less important

Integration leads to a rearrangement of economic activity and convergence

Investment and innovation will flow to low cost areas

Labour will flow to high cost areas

Disparities will even out and policies are not needed

Economic theory is inconclusive about the territorial impact of economic integration

The political debate:



avoiding war through trade links and mobility of production factors

High levels of economic growth (ca. 6% per annum)

Strong national development policies

The First Enlargement 1973 (UK, Ireland, Denmark)

Establishment of an early regional policy 1975 – European Regional Development Fund

The economic debate: Endogenous growth theory and new economic geography:

Greater accessibility, higher skills, and greater capacity to generate and assimilate innovation will lead to the concentration of economic activity
A development policy is needed in order to counterbalance this tendency

The First Enlargement 1973 (UK, Ireland, Denmark)

The political debate: Need for solidarity and redistribution
Economic integration is likely to enhance territorial disparities
A development policy is needed in order to achieve greater economic and social cohesion

ERDF Operations: Redistribution through support to productive investments, infrastructures and SMEs on a project basis