FOCUSING ON DEVELOPMENT GAPS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DISPARITIES TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT. A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The economic development is heterogenous, being not able to minimize the socio-economic disparities. In the literature, atuhtors debate about the factors that influence the evolution of these gaps and the polarization of development. The realities of EU regional gaps and Cohesion Policy offers field of manifestation for regional science and economics, in general. To this challenges, the sustainable development is another important direction to follow, impacting not only the environment, but also the society and the economy. On the way in which  we relate to the sustainable development, it depends our future. This article is a bibliographic analysis of works approaching development gaps, regional development, sustainable development and socio-economic disparities. The subject of regional development gaps and sustainable development is a complex one, the literature including various points of view and geographical diverse studies from all over the world. The analysis based on Web of Science data reveals a highly increased number of works published in the latest decades, as well as highly cited works. We show the main thematics and we present the most cited works. The approaches are not only diverse, but also interdisciplinary, covering a wide range of subjects, which is a cantitative and qualitative progress for the field.