Europe’s Core-Periphery Relations and Horizontal Disparities

Koulov, B. (2020) Europe’s Core-Periphery Relations and Horizontal Disparities (Отношенията „ядро–периферия“ и хоризонталните неравенства в Европа). Национално издателство за образование и наука „Аз-Буки“, 142 pp. ISBN 9876197065305.

The monograph is a geographical study of the socio-economic "horizontal inequalities" (Doyle and Stiglitz 2014) in the European continent. It is an attempt to deepen their understanding through identification, mapping, and analysis of their geospatial elements, structure, boundaries and dynamics. The "core-periphery" relations among European countries and their regions from NUTS 0 to NUTS 3 scale are analyzed on the basis of Eurostat data for the period 2007-2017 and the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistical purposes (NUTS - 2016), as par Eurostat’s classification. The investigation uses the Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) per inhabitant, which allows comparisons across Europe, while taking into account the different currencies and price levels in each country. This indicator does not take into account many dimensions of the standard of living, but is currently used for the allocation of EU funds and, thus, remains almost unavoidable for regional policy - targeted research. This paper assumes as Core elements of the European Socio-Economic Geosystem regions that are characterized by GDP per capita (PPS) per inhabitant equal to or above 100% of the EU-28 average. In turn, the elements of the Periphery Subsystem are categorized into three categories - Upper, Middle and Deep - based on the same indicator. A horizontal disparity index is used to measure the magnitude of the inequalities in the standard of living within and between the elements of the European Core and Periphery, as well as their dynamics for the period between 2007 and 2017.

The objectives of the study include not only analysis and evaluation of the latest available information on horizontal disparities in Europe, their origin, scale, and development trends. Drawing public attention to areas with specific geographical features, to the factors and mechanisms of peripheralization of certain territories, as well as to the socio-economic and geopolitical consequences of the observed phenomena and processes, would facilitate the development of evidence-based conclusions and more effective decision making, geospatial forecasting instruments, and policies, aimed at maintaining a sustainable balance on the European continent.