These Geography A-Level notes focus on Italy's Regional Development Policy, analysing efforts to reduce economic disparities between the prosperous north and the less developed south. The notes cover key strategies, outcomes, and challenges faced in promoting balanced regional growth. Ideal for stu...
With the aid of a case study of one country’s regional development policy, describe some of
the difficulties faced in trying to overcome regional disparities and evaluate the attempted
solutions.
In Italy there is a regional imbalance between three different areas, the north, third Italy and the
Mezzogiorno region, the south. Overall, the south is overshadowed economically by the north of
Italy, whatever indicators are taken, the south remains poor by Italian standards. Despite enormous
expenditure by central government regional convergence has not occurred.
Firstly, there are many physical constraints in the southern region which could have led to the
Mezzogiorno’s relative poverty. 80% of the Mezzogiorno is mountainous which restricts the building
of infrastructure and makes transportation and communication difficult. This also means that there
is limited arable land as well as there being rocky soil which makes it difficult to cultivate crops and
limits agricultural productivity. Many parts of the Mezzogiorno have limited access to modern
transportation and communication networks which makes it difficult for markets to connect with
other economic centres. The Mezzogiorno is also much hotter and drier than the north of Italy,
which as well as making it difficult to grow different types of crops also increase the risk for natural
disasters such as droughts and wildfires. These factors have made it difficult for the Mezzogiorno to
develop economically at the same rate as Northern Italy and these challenges continue to be a major
obstacle.
There have also been many human limitations to. To start with there is a lack of political will, despite
efforts to address the issues facing the area there has been a lack of sustained political commitment
to implementing effective solutions. With this there has also been corruption which has further
hindered efforts to improve infrastructure and economic development. The Mezzogiorno has also
had a lack of investment which has led to the region being affected by a brain drain of educated and
skilled workers who have left to seek better opportunities elsewhere. The area also affected by
complex social-economic with there being poverty which has le to a lack of trust of institutions and a
tradition of illegal activities. The human limitations addressing the Mezzogiorno are very
complicated and interconnected and therefore require an overall approach to effectively address
them.
As far as solutions to the regional inequalities there have been many attempts however, they have
been difficult to measure, whilst there is still regional inequality between the north and south of Italy
it is thought that it would be much worse without these efforts.
Firstly, the Italian government has attempted to promote economic development and address
poverty int the Mezzogiorno region. One of their initiatives was the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno which
translated to “Fund for the South”. This focused in investing in infrastructure, promoting local
enterprises and supporting development. The European Union has also provided funding for the
area through programs such as the European regional development, which has been used to support
infrastructure projects and social inclusion initiatives. As well as this there have been efforts to
attract private sector investment by offering tax advantages and other incentives. The government
has further attempted to improve education and training opportunities to improve employability.
The government has also tried to attract holiday makers to region to generate income and increase
the number of job opportunities, if successful this would provide extra revenue yearly.
In conclusion, whilst the Mezzogiorno region does face many physical and human constraints the
solutions to fix regional inequalities have not been implement and sustained enough to have a
lasting effect.
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