The four waves of regional policy: towards an era of trade-offs?

2025/01/29 by Ugo Fratesi · 1 voice · 6 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Regional Development and Policy #Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis #Regional resilience and development

paper · doi:10.1080/00343404.2024.2436538

openalex publication_date 2025/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15

Abstract

This paper addresses the main challenges for regional policy in the upcoming years. It starts by identifying three historical phases of regional policy in Europe, from the Second World War to the present – namely, disparities, competitiveness and potentials – each with different conceptual underpinnings. But now a distinct fourth wave, characterised by extended trade-offs, seems to be starting. This incoming wave stems from the need to explicitly acknowledge the difficulties in reconciling several new and old conflicting objectives, particularly with the convergence of lagging regions. The incoming trade-offs phase will require transparent political choices between objectives.

Citations

• Competitiveness: A Dangerous Obsession
• In what sense a regional problem?
• THE CASE FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION: PLACE‐BASED VERSUS PLACE‐NEUTRAL APPROACHES*
• Cohesion Policy in the European Union: Growth, Geography, Institutions
• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• The Regional Development Trap in Europe
• The Geography of EU Discontent and the Regional Development Trap
• Quality of Government and the Returns of Investment: Examining the Impact of Cohesion Expenditure in European Regions
• Using Place-Based Jobs Policies to Help Distressed Communities
• The green transition and its potential territorial discontents

Cited by

• Regional inequality of the European ETS-2
• Why size really doesn’t matter: from megacity myths to place-sensitive prosperity
• From Lisbonisation to Hyper-Lisbonisation: the long goodbye to EU Cohesion Policy’s original goals
• Will territorial cohesion survive after 2028? Assessing the implications of the reform of Cohesion Policy for future structural funds
• Labour productivity disparities in European regions: the impact of agglomeration effects
• Zero-sum thinking in regional development? – Green and/or inclusive socio-economic development dynamics in challenged regions

Discussions

• For decades, #RegionalPolicy promised harmony: growth, equity, sustainability—all achievable at once. No longer. As Ugo Fratesi argues in his new @regionalstudies.bsky.social paper, we are entering a [bsky, 10 points, 0 comments]

Related

• EU regional policy. Experiences and future concerns
• Unpacking Endogeneity: Growth, Discontent and Cohesion Policy in the EU Regions
• The making of regional inequality: Market stages in an Integrated or Fragmented world
• The evolution of Cohesion Policy in 40 years of economic policy agenda
• The geography of exclusion: cumulative causation and the persistence of lagging regions