STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN POLISH VOIVODESHIPS IN THE YEARS 2010-2014

Improving conditions for regional growth and welfare is currently a basic objective of European development strategy given in Europe 2020 plan. Thus, the research concerning the development process at a regional level is an important task both form the academic point of view and from the perspective of socio-economic governance. In this regard, the aim of the article is to quantify the level of economic development in Poland at the voivodeships level (NUTS 2) for the years 2010-2014. The phenomenon of economic development is treated not only as a multivariate problem, but it is also assumed that it should be considered as a latent variable. Thus, in the research Structural Equation Model (SEM) was applied. SEM model is the result of a merger between confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis applied in econometrics. Its advantage in the context of the aim of the research is its high elasticity. Application of the model enabled to verify the usefulness of the observable variables suggested by General Statistical Office of Poland for research on the country regional development. On the one hand, the conducted analysis confirms noticeable progress obtained by Polish regions.