Spatial policy for growth and equity

In spite of the ongoing efforts that several countries made into promoting a more balanced economic development within their territory, economic growth theory and even empirical evidence do not come to a unanimous conclusion on the efficiency of public intervention. As such, this chapter reviews the various strands of the theoretical literature, analyzes the results of empirical estimations in Europe and in the USA where regional development policies are already well established, and provides recommendations for future research in this field.