Dependency, supply factors and uneven development in Wales and other problem regions

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Abstract
Cooke P. (1982) Dependency, supply factors and uneven development in Wales and other problem regions, Reg. Studies 16, 211–27. The regional problem has traditionally been defined in ways which distract attention away from inter-regional and inter-national economic forces. Features such as slow growth, poor economic integration and the incidence of external control appear to be region-specific failures to generate or meet demand. While these should not be ruled out, a focus on supply factors suggests other reasons for poor performance. Dependency theory, which has tentatively been applied in some previous research on regional underdevelopment is re-examined as an approach to the study of regional uneven development in which supply factors are given prominence and both internal and external regional relationships are considered. Empirical analysis of a number of indicators of dependency reveals that this approach is by no means inappropriate for the analysis of problems of regional development in advanced capitalist economies, despite its origins in the study of the economic problems of less developed countries. Close study of the nature of dependency in Wales in comparison with other UK problem regions shows that development has been distorted by the unevenness in availability of key supply factors. The implication is that state regional interventions will need to be qualitatively as well as quantitatively sensitive to the needs of problem regions in the future.