THE THEORETICAL EXPLICATION OF THE FACTORS OF REGIONAL GROWTH AND THE ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE (DIVERGENCE) OF THE REGION

For a few last decades, economists have been showing a continuous interest in doing research in the key factors of regional growth and the developmental convergence (divergence) of the region. However, beside the wealth of theoretical and empirical research in the mentioned categories, it is obvious that there is still no generally accepted explication of the key factors of regional growth. The same conclusion can be borne in mind in relation to the existence of the connection between the accepted economic growth of a country and a tendency to increase, i.e. decrease regional inequalities. The paper presents a theoretical explication of a) the key factors of regional growth and b) the phenomenon of developing the convergence (divergence) of the region, five representative theoretical approaches to the regional economy (classical, neoclassical, endogenic, new economic geography and spatial innovation systems). The current economic reality on the global plan which speaks of an increasing regional inequality confirms the accuracy of the theoretical considerations of the representatives of the contemporary theoretical approaches related to the analyzed issues.