Regional economics is back on the stage. Regional development is not only an efficiency issue in economic policy, it is also an equity issue due to the fact that economic development normally exhibits a significant degree of spatial variability. Over the past decades this empirical fact has prompted various strands of research literature, in particular the measurement of interregional disparity, the causal explanation for the emergence or persistent presence of spatial variability in economic development, and the impact assessment of policy measures aimed at coping with undesirable spatial inequity conditions. The study of socio-economic processes and inequalities at meso and regional levels positions regions at the core places of policy action and hence warrants intensive conceptual and applied research efforts.