Economic restructuring, crises and the regions: the political economy of regional inequalities in Greece

In the debate concerning a country’s structural weaknesses there is an obvious neglect of space issues, an important component of which is regional imbalances. Yet, the persistence of such imbalances within countries has dictated the continuous investigation of their causes and of the required policy reforms for their reduction. Structural changes, economic integration on a global or regional scale and economic crises have been considered major factors for increasing or decreasing domestic regional concentration and disparities, while economic policy can mitigate (or strengthen) their effect. This paper attempts to examine and critically evaluate the above issues for the case of Greece, where regional inequalities, measured by per capita GDP, have widened over time consolidating the country’s polarized structure and where restrictive macroeconomic measures as well as regional policy implemented through the Community Support Frameworks appear to have been inadequate in most cases or even to have intensified the above picture. A discussion of future prospects under Greece’s current difficult situation is attempted in the conclusions.