THE PROBLEM OF THE UNDERDEVELOPED REGIONS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ROMANIA, YUGOSLAVIA, AND GREECE

ABSTRACT

The three countries of Southeast Europe approach the problem of a balanced economic development from a long history of foreign domination which created great regional disproportions. Today these three countries have different ideologies, but the solutions to their regional imbalances are handled with strikingly similar tools: massive investments to encourage industrialization and diversification of their economies. This study compares their problems and evaluates steps taken toward their solution. Romania gives special emphasis to locating new industries in less-developed regions. The relative position of the prewar industrially developed regions is still predominant. The underdeveloped regions have increased only slightly their industrial share of the country (37.3 percent to 40.7 percent between 1950 and 1964), even though the policies followed during the whole postwar period have resulted in a more even distribution of the productive forces. Yugoslavia is the only country which has a definite program for specifically designated underdeveloped regions. The problem is closely tied to national-regional differences which emerge at every turn in economic planning. Massive federal aid raised production and the standard of living, but in the long term it raised serious questions as to how profitable production is. The problem of Greece is one of an advanced Athens versus a backward Greece. Planning on a national scale has just begun. The greatest potential of any Greek region lies in northern Greece, with Thessaloniki assuming an ever increasing important role as a growing regional center.