Methods of Regional Development Evaluation: Case of Spatial Autocorrelation

In the European Union (EU), the level of regional development differs across the countries. Besides the analysis of mechanisms and factors that contribute to regional differentiation, the fundamental research question is how to evaluate the level of regional disparities and their trends (increase or decrease). The main aim of the paper is to analyse the existing quantitative approaches to regional development and development potential evaluation in European territory with a focus on usability of a method of spatial autocorrelation. The method of spatial autocorrelation is mostly used at the lower territorial level of NUTS 3 regions or municipalities. The method is employed to analyse the spatial differentiation not only economic but also a social phenomenon. Results of presented studies show the positive or negative spatial autocorrelation of selected economic or social variables based on the most commonly used of global spatial autocorrelation statistics - Moran's I coefficient. Currently, a majority of researchers improve the spatial autocorrelation knowledge by using of modified geographic weights matrix or by computation of the local spatial autocorrelation using the Local indicator of spatial association (LISA). Based on the conducted literature review, spatial autocorrelation can be considered as the suitable tool in regional development evaluation which helps to understand the spatial processes in the EU area.