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  <record>
    <language>eng</language>
    <publisher>ERSA</publisher>
    <journalTitle>REGION</journalTitle>
    <eissn>2409-5370</eissn>
    <publicationDate>2026-10-28</publicationDate>
    <volume>13</volume>
    <issue>2</issue>
    <startPage>197</startPage>
    <endPage>215</endPage>
    <doi>10.18335/region.v13i2.665</doi>
    <publisherRecordId>796</publisherRecordId>
    <title language="eng">Digitalisation and regional inequality: The hidden shift from convergence to gap</title>
    <authors>
      <author>
        <name>Bogdan Ibanescu</name>
        <email>ibanescu.bogdan@uaic.ro</email>
        <affiliationId>0</affiliationId>
      </author>
      <author>
        <name>Alexandra Gheorghiu</name>
        <email>gheorghiu.anda@yahoo.com</email>
        <affiliationId>1</affiliationId>
      </author>
      <author>
        <name>Ioana-Maria Ursache</name>
        <email>ioanamariaursache@gmail.com</email>
        <affiliationId>2</affiliationId>
      </author>
    </authors>
    <affiliationsList>
      <affiliationName affiliationId="0">Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Centre for European Studies, Faculty of Law, Iasi (Romania)</affiliationName>
      <affiliationName affiliationId="1">Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Centre for European Studies, Faculty of Law, Iasi (Romania)</affiliationName>
      <affiliationName affiliationId="2">Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Iasi (Romania)</affiliationName>
    </affiliationsList>
<abstract language="eng"><p>Digitalisation has been widely presented, especially 
          in Central and Eastern European countries, as an 
          additional engine for regional convergence and 
          an accelerator of the catching-up process. Although 
          the pace and depth of this process have varied greatly 
          over the past decade, limiting the possibility of 
          a thorough impact evaluation, recent data combined 
          with nationally representative surveys allow for 
          a better assessment of its promises. This study examines 
          regional variations in digital inequalities in 
          Romania, focusing on how disparities evolve across 
          the three levels of the digital divide (access, skills/usage, 
          and outcomes). The results indicate that, while 
          digitalisation has been hailed as a catching-up 
          engine for the peripheral regions, this appears 
          to be the case mostly for the first-level of the digital 
          divide, namely infrastructure and access. When 
          second- and third-level digital inequalities are 
          taken into consideration, the initial rifts reappear, 
          and digitalisation functions as a new divider and 
          not as a uniformiser. The paper argues for a unitary 
          policy approach in which digitalisation moves beyond 
          a predominantly technological vision and is complemented 
          by strong efforts in fields such as education, skills 
          formation, training, and support actions that enable 
          the effective use and exploitation of digital resources 
          at competitive levels, including in peripheral 
          regions.</p> </abstract>
<fullTextUrl format="html">https://openjournals.wu.ac.at/ojs/index.php/region/article/view/665/version/796</fullTextUrl>
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