Especializaciones productivas y desarrollo económico regional en Uruguay

The main aim of this research is to characterize the provinces of Uruguay according to their economic activities, productive specializations and their levels of economic development. Based on the analysis of these economic-productive territorial dynamics, the document intends to study its implications in economic policy, in particular, from an approach that seeks to promote the local and regional development of the country. To achieve these goals, the paper analyzes in detail the productive capacity of the territory, the provincial sectorial specializations, the degree of enterprise development and the socioeconomic conditions of the environment. From these exercises, the results are synthesized in an indicator of departmental economic development and indicators on the degree of diversification and the productive specializations of each province. These provincial characterizations highlight the need to combine the local scale with an interpretation of productive dynamics and sectoral specializations on a larger regional or inter-provincial scale. In this way, interpretations are proposed that allow to overcome the legal-administrative limits of the provincial scale. As a main conclusion, it is derived that the consideration of the regional scale is the great challenge to be able to plan and implement policies of productive development that allow to successfully promote local productive development and contribute in an important way to national economic development.