Why regional development matters for Europe's economic future

Regional economic divergence has become a threat to economic progress, social cohesion and political stability in Europe. Market processes and policies that are supposed to spread prosperity and opportunity are no longer sufficiently effective. The evidence points to the existence of several different economic clubs of regions in Europe, each with different development challenges and opportunities. Both mainstream and heterodox theories have gaps in their ability to explain the existence of these different clubs and the weakness of the convergence processes among them. Therefore, a different approach is required, one that would strengthen Europe’s strongest regions but would develop new approaches to the weaker clubs. There is ample new theory and evidence to support such an approach, which we have labelled “place-sensitive distributed development policy” (PSDDP).