Spatial Variations in the Level of Socio-Economic Development of Rural Areas in Poland vis-a-vis Transformation Dynamics in the Pre-Accession Period

The aim of the research project was to find an answer to the question whether spatial variations in the level of socio-economic development of rural Poland are gradually disappearing thanks to the cohesion policy pursued in the country or still growing despite this policy. It was assumed that the course of ongoing transformation is dependent on two factors: cohesion policy and the well-known regularity that the effectiveness of investment is higher in more-devel-oped areas. Additionally, an attempt was made to determine how the discussed processes are influenced by policies pursued by local authorities. The analysis was performed on a set of 2,171 local units (LAU2). The research showed that the high level of socio-economic development is statistically strongly correlated with high transformation dynamics. Meanwhile, correlations between the existing level of development and the activity of local authorities and between transformation dynamics and the activity of local authorities are statistically insignificant. The most important conclusions from the research are as follows: • Spatial variations in the level of socio-economic development of rural areas are growing despite the policy to even out disparities (cohesion policy); • The actual development dynamics is very weakly correlated with the activity of local authorities in exploiting instruments to stimulate development; • Other factors (e.g. the location rent) have greater influence on spatial variations in development than the cohesion policy pursued.