Regional Policy: A European Approach (third edition)
Norbert VANHOVE
This third edition of Dr Vanhove’s book provides a significant and welcome update of its
predecessors. Regional facts and policies have received a great deal of attention in the
literature during the last decade, and accordingly an overhaul of the 1985 edition was
needed. The book consists of eleven chapters. The first eight chapters discuss general
issues relating to regional disparities and the national policies that are traditionally aimed
at diminishing them. The last three chapters deal specifically with European regional
policy.
The first chapter introduces the background and motivations for regional policies.
Economic development is uneven across space, and many factors are responsible for the
inequalities. These factors and the major theoretical models addressing growth disparities
are briefly presented in the first part of Chapter One, which ends with a discussion on the
motives underlying regional policy.
Chapter Two surveys the regional disparities between the economies of members of the
European Union (EU). It provides a well-documented overview of how European regions
differ in their economic development, particularly focusing on the inequalities appearing
on the Common labour market and between production and income levels.
Chapter Three investigates some theoretical concepts concerning the definition of an
economic region.
More interestingly, Chapters Four and Five investigate the micro and macro aspects of the
location of firms and urban development. The reader is provided with theoretical models
and the results of quantitative research in both fields. The approach that links these
aspects with theories about spatially discriminating policies surely makes sense.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of formalization in the exposition of the models.
Chapter Six deals with the regional impact of the EU integration process. The author
underlines the fact that this impact—whether negative or positive—depends largely on
the degree of interregional disparities. Nevertheless, the recent literature emphasizes that
the integration process has had a negative regional impact, and calls for a strong European
regional policy.
The objectives and strategies of regional economic policy are detailed in Chapter Seven,
while Chapter Eight examines the instruments and methods for assessing such policies. In
this new edition a greater emphasis is placed on the various dimensions of a regional
development strategy, particularly the institutional dimension. Both chapters constitute a
kind of vade mecum for regional policymakers.
The last three chapters deal with regional policy pursued at the community level. They
constitute the major and more interesting—contribution of the third edition. Chapter Nine
surveys European policies prior to the establishment of the Structural Funds, tackling
topics such as the legal framework for European regional policy, the role of the EIB and
the co-ordination of national policies. Chapter Ten focuses on the functioning of the
Structural Funds during the first two programming periods from 1988 to 1999. Both
chapters are essentially of a descriptive nature. The last chapter, entitled “2000 and
Beyond,” is dedicated to the third programming period of the reformed Structural Funds
and to the widening of the EU to encompass the CEECs.
Like the preceding editions, this book deserves our attention primarily because of the
scope and variety of its coverage. It provides the reader with an insight into the theories
and practices of modern regional policy and contributes in numerous respects to the
understanding of this important issue. We found particularly interesting the discussion on
the future of EU regional policy at a time of the EU's widening to include the CEECs, as
we did the chapter dealing with urban development. The arguments in favour of a true
strategy for proper regional development seem convincing. Another asset is the
presentation; the various theoretical models are always expounded clearly and the author
takes care to illustrate the theory with relevant results from empirical studies.
This is a useful book for introducing undergraduate students as well as policymakers to
the rich and expanding literature on regional policies. However there are some limitations.
There is a lack of formalization, as the book is essentially of a descriptive nature and too
rarely provides analytical expressions. The regional development practitioner is not
provided with statistical tools for assessing his or her policies There is little review of the
arguments to really feed economists' reflection. However, this was probably not the
purpose of the book. This new edition relies heavily on the previous ones. It pays special
attention to scientific contributions made from the late 1960s to the 1980s, but the space
devoted to the literature of the 1990s is too small. For example, the new economic
geography or the economics of agglomeration are treated very quickly. Finally, the author
sometimes restricts himself to reporting the results of the literature without a sufficiently
critical attitude.
Nevertheless, this third edition of N. Vanhove’s book certainly remains a useful reference
work on the subject of regional economic development.
Olivier MEUNIER and Michel MIGNOLET
CREW, University of NAMUR (Belgium)