Bad news: direct transfers to poorer regions may end up widening inequality once that money is spent, because it flows back through value chains. These structural asymmetries are deeply rooted (via productive specialization) and very resistant to change. #leftbehindplaces #developmenttrap

#EU #cohesion funds assume regional inequality is a passing rash: apply money, await recovery.
Petrakos, Alexiou & Sotiriou show in Growth and Change that #discontent isn’t a symptom of stagnation but a cause.
Hence, ignoring regions in a #DevelopmentTrap weakens the EU.
doi.org/10.1111/grow...

Drop the #Christmas socks. The real crisis isn't your gift list; it's the #DevelopmentTrap. Balland & @ronboschma.bsky.social show in @regionalstudies.bsky.social how regions lacking #complexity become haunted by their own history. Hard work won't save them—innovation will. doi.org/10.1080/0034...

Dove cova il mal d'Europa. L'Ue sta lasciando indietro tanti e l'anti-sistema dilaga (di N. Boffa) C'è un dato che emerge con prepotenza dalle elezioni in Germania, Portogallo, Polonia, Romania e in tutto il continente. I partiti anti-sistema, ultranazionali…

The industrial heartlands & #rural #Europe aren’t inert; they’re insurgent.
Nadia Boffa's ‪@huffpost.com's geography of discontent echoes our #DevelopmentTrap findings: neglect local potential & you mint #populists
www.huffingtonpost.it/esteri/2025/...
doi.org/10.1080/0013...
doi.org/10.1080/0013...