Social scientists and policymakers alike have become increasingly concerned with understanding the nature, causes, and consequences of inter-regional inequality in economic living conditions. Contemporary spatial inequality is multi-faceted—it varies depending on how we define inequality, the scale at which it is measured, and which groups in the labor force are considered. Increasing economic inequality has important implications for broader social and political issues. Notably, it is difficult to account for the rise of far-right populism in industrialized countries without considering the context of growing inter-regional inequality. Important explanations for the rise in inter-regional inequality include changing patterns of worker and firm sorting processes across space, major transitions like the reorientation of the economy from manufacturing to digital technologies, and increasing global economic integration, as well as policy. Different causal explanations in turn imply a different role for place-based policy. This article introduces the context of the special issue on the nature, causes, and consequences of inter-regional inequality, focusing specifically on inequality in North America and Western Europe, and aims to identify challenges for, and spark further research on, inter-regional inequality.

中文翻译：

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区域间不平等的性质、原因和后果

社会科学家和政策制定者越来越关注了解区域间经济生活条件不平等的性质、原因和后果。当代空间不平等是多方面的——它取决于我们如何定义不平等、衡量不平等的规模以及考虑劳动力中的哪些群体。经济不平等的加剧对更广泛的社会和政治问题具有重要影响。值得注意的是，如果不考虑区域间不平等日益加剧的背景，就很难解释工业化国家极右民粹主义的兴起。区域间不平等加剧的重要解释包括工人和企业跨空间分类过程模式的变化、经济从制造业向数字技术的重新定位等重大转变，以及全球经济一体化和政策的加强。不同的因果解释反过来意味着基于地方的政策的不同作用。本文介绍了关于区域间不平等的性质、原因和后果的特刊的背景，特别关注北美和西欧的不平等，旨在确定区域间不平等的挑战并激发进一步的研究。不等式。