ABSTRACT
This chapter and those that follow examine the second broad area of regional economics: regional development theory. Although there are numerous and markedly different approaches to regional development, all of them endeavour to identify the factors responsible for the development path assumed by a local system. They analyse local development in terms of (i) absolute growth (from the viewpoint of the efficient allocation of local resources) and (ii) relative growth (among regions) in order to interpret regional disparities and possible paths of convergence and divergence in levels and rates of income growth, doing so from the viewpoint of even income distribution.
