State rescaling and economic convergence

This paper critically engages with State/Space theory by interrogating the soundness of its fundamental assumptions regarding the rescaling of capitalism and by questioning the validity of its proposition about ever-rising spatial imbalances and economic divergence in post-1970s’ Europe. The paper employs descriptive, cartographic and econometric analysis of the regional and urban growth data covering 28 European Union countries and 11 major OECD and BRICS economies. The vast volume of multi-scalar evidence presented here cannot substantiate the central rescaling hypothesis about Europe’s increasing spatial disparities. A set of alternative explanations is proposed to account for the reported European economic convergence trends