Estimating regional inequalities in the Carpathian Basin – Historical origins and recent outcomes (1880–2010)
Estimating regional inequalities in the Carpathian Basin – Historical origins and recent outcomes (1880–2010)

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to provide a general picture of the patterns of regional inequalities in the Kingdom of Hungary before its dismemberment. It also compares the location of the economic peripheries with areas dominated by national minorities and traces the changes in these patterns up until 2010 in modern Hungary and the successor states. We hypothesise that beyond the issues about land, suffrage, and minority, the issue on regional differences should also be considered as these might enhance or mitigate such differences,there by either strengthening or weakening the internal cohesion of the state and the society.The second part of the paper investigates whether regional differences diminished in the broader region due to the regional development policies of the successor states −considering that, unlike in the 1910s, both the regional development planning and the notion of ‘social equality’ became a central part of economic policies. To analyse the above mentioned questions, the GISta Hungarorum (1880–1910) database and the recent statistical data for Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary (2000–2010) were evaluated at settlement level.

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