Possibilities to Measure Regional Inequalities in Hungary

Dual economic indicators show the degree of inequality measured by the GDP between the wealthiest and the poorest regions. This indicator is ideal to examine duality of these regions relate to each other. The higher value the indicator shows the larger is the gap between "the rich" and "the poor". The indicator shows that the largest gap has been in 2002 between the developed and less developed regions in Hungary, since the value of indicator was near 2. In 2002 only two regions were above the average showing 148.2% above the national average. The number of regions under the average level equals to five including the Northern Hungary and the Northern Great Plain with 71.2% and 72.7% of the national average. These disadvantageous conditions emerge due to the lack of capital, which has resulted from the low income possibilities mainly of small and medium sized enterprises. The low income conditions were based on the low capital accumulation and low capital investments arisen from long turnover period and less profitable production in economic activities. Small and medium sized enterprises mainly need more support with less. possible tax income, while multi- or trans-national companies have considerable tax advantages arisen from which cannot increase revenues of the governmental budget. The study aims at analysing difficulties resulted by inequalities among different regions of Hungary in their economic developed levels. The study emphasises the importance of economic structure changes for the regions of Hungary based on their comparative advantages to become competitive among the other regions of the EU-27.