Regional development across the OECD ESF Plenary Session Bratislava Abel Schumann, Ph.D. Economist Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate OECD

A growing productivity gap between the frontier and other regions Averages of top 10% (frontier), bottom 75%, and bottom 10% (lagging) regional GDP per worker, TL2 regions Notes: Average of top 10% and bottom 10% TL2 regions, selected for each year. Top and bottom regions are the aggregation of regions with the highest and lowest GDP per worker and representing 10% of national employment. Based on 19 country sample.

Convergence of countries vs. divergence of regions in the OECD GDP per capita dispersion is now greater within countries than between countries Source: OECD Regional Outlook 2016.

All tradable sectors, TL2 regions Catching-up regions are characterised by a stronger intensity of the tradable sectors All tradable sectors, TL2 regions Notes: Tradable sectors are defined by a selection of the 10 industries defined in the SNA 2008. They include: agriculture (A), industry (BCDE), information and communication (J), financial and insurance activities (K), and other services (R to U). Non tradable sectors are composed of construction, distributive trade, repairs, transport, accommodation, food services activities (GHI), real estate activities (L), business services (MN), and public administration (OPQ).

Effective regional development policies in OECD countries General trends Shift away from basic infrastructure provision and subsidised services for lagging regions Greater emphasis of policies to support firm productivity (e.g. R&D, skills, …) Urban policies Coherent policy frameworks for urban areas that overcome policy silos Integrated governance approaches for functional (urban) areas Rural policies Rural policies focus less on agriculture and more on other sectors (see also point 2) Emphasis of rural-urban linkages (linking the rural economy to the economy of cities, e.g. through integrated value-added chains)

Focus of regional development policies

The role of subnational governments needs to be more widely recognised 16/11/2018 The role of subnational governments needs to be more widely recognised

Contact: abel.schumann@oecd.org Thank you Contact: abel.schumann@oecd.org