Regional Inequality, Regimes of Accumulation and Economic Development in Contemporary Europe

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Abstract
The mid 1970s was a major turning point in Europe dividing the Fordist 'golden age', in which unprecedentedly fast economic growth went hand in hand with marked regional convergence, from a post-Fordist era in which growth rates were halved and inequalities increased. With the supply and demand side crises that undermined the Fordist model and the switch to neo-liberal ideologies and programmes, a virtuous circle of convergence and growth was thrown into reverse gear. Supply-side adjustments led to increased metropolitan polarization and to inequalities between areas. Globalization generates self-reinforcing trends towards increased economic interdependence, reduced national autonomy and increased economic integration. In the currently dominant neo-liberal conditions of integration in Europe, competitive mechanisms of regional adjustment are deflationary and increase inequalities. Attention is paid to the shape of an alternative macro-geographical framework which can regulate the contemporary contradictions of regional development in the European Union (EU).

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