Problemi Ekonomiki (Feb 2016)
Analyzing the Differentiation of Socio-Economic Development of Regions in EU Member States
Abstract
The article investigates problems of differentiation of regional socioeconomic development in EU Member States. As the countries studied there were chosen: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. To compare the socio-economic level of development of regions in the EU Member States the indicators of GDP per capita and unemployment rate were used. With the help of the matrix approach to identifying problems of the countries’ regions in the context of their socio-economic development, there were carried out corresponding calculations by regions of the chosen countries and compared with the values of the relevant indicators of the matrix to the average for the EU and the country studied. On the basis of using the theory of “center-periphery” and grouping the regions in EU Member States by levels, it is proved that a greater level of GDP per capita on the EU scale is achieved by the EU Member States, which have more economically developed center with an appropriate kernel (or the number of regions).
