Divergence of Slovak Regions: Bumpy Road to Decentralization

Abstract

Large regional differences in Slovakia existed already at the beginning of the 20th century, which resulted in emigration mainly from the east of the territory. The subsequent popularity of the communist regime is explained by a successful reduction in the regional disparities and increased well-being of the inhabitants. The transformation since 1990 ignored important regional differences among the Czech and Slovak regions and this led to the disintegration of Czechoslovakia. Governance structures in Slovakia remained centralized. This harmed the welfare – weaker economic performance of the regions and worse results of the labor market. The underutilization of the economic potential of regions has consequently slowed down the catching up at the national level. Slovakia thus so far missed the opportunity to use transfers from the European Union more productively. In recent years, however, there has been some progress in changing the unsatisfactory model of public governance to a more modern one, with much greater decision-making and financial autonomy for the regions.

Citation

Marcinčin, A. (2024), "Divergence of Slovak Regions: Bumpy Road to Decentralization", Augustín, M., Jančovič, P. and Sergi, B.S. (Ed.) Modeling Economic Growth in Contemporary Slovakia (Entrepreneurship and Global Economic Growth), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-454-720241011