ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN A STAGNANT REGIONAL ECONOMY: THE CASE OF ANDALUCIA (SPAIN)

Current restructuring processes are reshaping the theory and practice of regional development planning. The focus of the debate has changed from the "backwardness" issue to the analysis of the changes in the division of labor and its effects on national growth, particularly, as they affect the industrialized regions and the "new" sectors of economic expansion. Meanwhile, planning for the development of the backward regions has become secondary to the growth issue. Yet, economic powers are "devolved" to the regional and local level.;Second, the structure of the Andalucian economy and its stagnation is analyzed in historical and structural terms. The bases of the region's stagnation are found in the sui-generis process of capitalism formation in Spain, and the importance of the "rentier" bourgeoisie -- very important in the region-- in such a process. The region plays a dependent role in the context of the Spanish economy, and transfers resources to the other regions. Finally, the current institutional framework for development planning in Spain is analyzed (most important, the formation of autonomous regional governments and the membership to the EEC).;Third, a Social Accounting Matrix of the Andalucian economy (SAMA) was built. With the help of the SAMA we estimated the capital resources transferred to the rest of Spain--amounting to more than fifty percent of the potentially investable surplus--and the viability of the "endogenous" strategy of development. Testing confirmed that both output and employment will grow faster if support policies are oriented to the basic sectors. Support for these sectors also would improve the income of the low income strata. Moreover, this income improvement would increase the demand for goods and services from basic sectors. Thus, a "virtuous circle" between growth and income distribution is possible.;By using the case of Andalucia, backward and stagnant region in Southern Spain, the thesis has three main purposes. First, the thesis searches, for a rationale of state intervention in regional development that may allow the development of today's backward regions. An "endogenous" strategy of regional development is proposed. This strategy would be carried out by the regional governments themselves, and would promote investments in wage goods and social services. An essential consequence of this strategy is the necessity to integrate growth and redistribution objectives.