ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of funding for a region that is lagging behind in economic development. It provides an overview over important regional development theories and discusses the main features of European regional development. The chapter focuses on interviews with experts and on comparative statistical analysis. It presents Balassa index and similar measures among others by Vollrath. Unlike other sectors and products within the agricultural sector, exports in the wine industry are dominated by specific tastes and feelings attached to the product, which highly diversify similar products even with comparable quality standards. Additionally, exports in the wine industry are very volatile in terms of export countries and volume, as data for Austria indicates. The chapter reviews interpretable result on the effects of international funding for the development of the wine industry in Burgenland but nevertheless trends and developments are clearly observable. It focuses on an important sector in Austria region, viticulture.
