Core-Periphery and Peripherality in Regional Science

The article presents an analytical review of the development of the core-periphery and peripherality concepts in economic theory. The stages of formation of the core-periphery approach are marked by the contributions of the school of Latin American structuralism, theories of polarized development, dependency theory and world-system theory associated with the names of R. Prebisch, J. Friedmann, F. Perroux, S. Furtado, I. Wallerstein. The core-periphery concept has proved to be a useful analytical tool in studies of international trade and economic growth in the world economy. At the same time, uneven structures of distribution of economic activity in space, similar to the core-periphery structure, appear in many models of regional economy, starting with the model of agricultural production location by I. Thunen and ending with the core-periphery model by P. Krugman. These structures emerge without the help of the core-periphery concept, but as a result of the interaction of two fundamental factors – transport costs and economies of scale – and represent various combinations of dispersion and agglomeration. With regional inequality growing worldwide, the combination of the core-periphery approach and basic concepts of regional economics allows us to analyze the complex mechanisms of spatial polarization of economic space. Over time, the periphery has gone beyond the core-periphery dichotomy and developed into an independent category defined, defined by a combination of low accessibility of large markets, low population density and remoteness from decision-making centers. The concept of peripherality allows us to understand the processes of peripheralisation of previously prosperous territories through the interaction of power asymmetry and agglomeration effects