World Bank2014-04-012014-04-012013-12-26https://hdl.handle.net/10986/17559This document examines the geographic distribution of employed individuals across Romania, the implications, and recommendations. Under optimal conditions, cities concentrate economic resources and human talent in a virtuous cycle of increasing urbanization that generates a diverse range of opportunities, enabling people to find better-paying jobs, companies to recruit employees with the right set of skills, and capital and ideas to flow across space more efficiently. The benefits of agglomeration kick in rapidly, increasing the attraction of cities as living and working spaces. However, in the short term, uneven development across regions is both a normal and an inevitable phenomenon. Regrettably, many policymakers tend to resist growing internal divergence, trying to artificially spread the benefits of growth evenly across space. In practice, however, such policies rarely have the intended effects, often wasting resources and slowing down the economy. The basic solution for lagging areas is instead to connect people living there to opportunities in growing cities and offer them access to basic infrastructure for encouraging short-term working mobility and discouraging depopulation/ peremptory migration in favor of intra- and inter-county commuting. In the long run, convergence in living standards will occur as benefits from leading areas spill over to surrounding communities and people who had left lagging areas bring back capital, jobs, and ideas.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESSIBILITYAGRICULTUREAIRAIRPORTAIRPORTSAUTOMOBILESBACKBONEBASIC EDUCATIONBIKE PATHSBRIDGEBUSBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTCAPITAL INVESTMENTCAPITAL INVESTMENTSCARCARPENTERSCARSCENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIESCITY POPULATIONCLERKSCOMMODITIESCOMPETITIVENESSCONNECTIVITYCONSUMERSCYCLE OF POVERTYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT AGENCIESDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDISCRIMINATIONDOG WALKERSDRIVERSDRIVINGDRIVING TIMEECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC BENEFITSECONOMIC COOPERATIONECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC EFFICIENCYECONOMIC EXPANSIONECONOMIC GEOGRAPHYECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITYECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC SECTORSECONOMIC THEORYECOSYSTEMELECTRIC CARSELECTRICITYEMPLOYMENTENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITSEXPORT MARKETSEXPORTSFARESFERTILITYFERTILITY RATEFEWER PEOPLEFINANCIAL EFFICIENCYFLOWS OF PEOPLEFORMAL EDUCATIONFREIGHT TRAFFICFUELGDPGDP PER CAPITAGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL MARKETGLOBAL MARKETSGLOBALIZATIONGREENHOUSE GASGREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONSGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH RATEGROWTH THEORYHEALTH INFRASTRUCTUREHEALTH SERVICESHIGH-SPEED RAILHIGHWAYHIGHWAYSHOUSEHOLD SIZEHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTILLITERACYILLITERACY RATEINDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIONINDUSTRIALIZATIONINFANTINFANT MORTALITYINFANT MORTALITY RATEINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTINFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTINNOVATIONINNOVATIONSINVESTMENT IN ROADSKNOWLEDGE INDUSTRIESLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MOBILITYLABOR PRODUCTIVITYLABOR STATISTICSLARGE CITIESLEVEL OF DEVELOPMENTLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL AUTHORITIESLOCAL DEVELOPMENTLOCAL ECONOMYLOCALIZATIONMANUFACTURINGMARKET ECONOMIESMARKET ECONOMYMARKETINGMEANS OF TRANSPORTMEDICAL DEVICESMIGRANTMIGRANTSMIGRATIONMINORITYMOBILITYMODAL SPLITMOTORWAY NETWORKMOTORWAYSMULTIPLIER EFFECTNATIONAL BORDERSNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTNATIONAL ECONOMYNATIONAL EXPENDITURESNATIONAL POPULATIONNETWORK OF BIKE PATHSNEW TECHNOLOGIESNUMBER OF PEOPLENURSESO&MOCCUPATIONSPARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTPASSENGER RAILPASSENGER TRANSPORTPASSENGER-KILOMETERPASSENGERSPATENTSPEDESTRIANPEDESTRIAN AREASPEDESTRIAN PATHSPER CAPITA INCOMEPHYSICAL GOODSPOLICY MAKERSPOPULATION DECLINEPOPULATION DENSITIESPOPULATION DENSITYPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION INCREASESPOTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPPRIVATE SECTORPRODUCTION PROCESSPRODUCTION PROCESSESPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPRODUCTIVITY INCREASESPROGRESSPUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SERVICEPUBLIC SERVICESPUBLIC TRANSPORTPUBLIC TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTUREPUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORKSPUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEMPUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEMSPUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONPUBLIC UTILITYQUALITY EDUCATIONQUALITY OF LIFER&DRAILRAIL ACCESSRAIL CONNECTIONSRAIL FREIGHTRAIL INFRASTRUCTURERAIL NETWORKRAIL TRAFFICRAILWAYREMITTANCEREMITTANCESRESPECTRESULTRESULTSRICHER COUNTRIESRING ROADROADROAD INFRASTRUCTUREROAD NETWORKROADSRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL POPULATIONRURAL POVERTYSANITATIONSERVICE DELIVERYSERVICES INFRASTRUCTURESHORT SUPPLYSILICONSKILLED WORKERSSOFTWARE PROGRAMSSPILLOVERSTRUCTURAL CHANGESUBURBSSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTHSUSTAINABLE GROWTHSUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTTAXATIONTERTIARY EDUCATIONTRADE BARRIERSTRADE POLICIESTRAFFICTRAFFIC ACCIDENTSTRAMWAYTRANSITTRANSPORTTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORT MODESTRANSPORT NETWORKTRAVEL TIMETRAVEL TIMESTRUEUNEMPLOYEDURBAN AREASURBAN CENTERURBAN CENTERSURBAN DEVELOPMENTURBANISMURBANIZATIONUSESVEHICLEVICIOUS CYCLEWAGE DISTRIBUTIONWAGESWARWOMANWORKFORCE10.1596/17559