This report was produced in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the programme of work of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). The report benefitted from the financial support of the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.
The report was produced by Ana Isabel Moreno Monroy with substantial contributions from Tamara Krawchenko (University of Victoria) (Chapters 2 and 5), Arno Engel (Chapter 3), Michel Padget (independent health consultant) (Chapter 4), Gareth Hitchings (Chapter 5) and Antti Moisio (Chapters 2 and 6), under the supervision of Jose Enrique Garcilazo, Head of the Regional and Rural Policy Unit in the Regional Development and Tourism Division, led by Alain Dupeyras. Marc Bournisien de Valmont (OECD) and Josée Beaudoin (École en Réseau) contributed valuable analysis to the report.
The OECD is grateful to participants at events related to the report for providing input, including Pedro Abrantes (Ministry of Education, Portugal), Josée Beaudoin (École en Réseau), Sara Bianchi (SSPA), Francesc Bonet (Hospital of Cerdanya), Catarina Branco (Municipal Chamber of Elvas, Portugal), Giuseppina Cannella (INDIRE, Italy), Jose Manuel Carrasco (Government of Extremadura, Spain), Sean Dougherty (OECD), Lewis Dijkstra and Ricardo Ferreira (EC), Pasquale Falasca (Territory Hospital Integration, Italy), Vilhjálmur Egilsson (Bifröst University), Joaquim Fialho (CCDR Alentejo, Portugal), Anna-Maria Fjellman (University of Gothenburg), Agustina Giraudy (American University), Markus Hirvonen (Juuan County, Finland), Hanna Dóra Hólm Másdóttir (Ministry of Transport and Local Government, Iceland), Mert Kompil (EC‑JRC), Veronika Korcekova (ENRD), Sabrina Lucatelli (Office of the Presidency, Italy), Chiara Marinacci (Lazio Region, Italy), Jochen Mierau and Adriana Perez Fortis (University of Groningen), William Palmer (Nuffield Trust), Jennifer Pribble (University of Richmond), Duarte Rodrigues (Agency for Cohesion and Development, Portugal), Kristel Rillo (Ministry of Education, Estonia), Kristine Sande (Rural Health Information Hub), Gunnar Stenberg (Ministry of Education, Sweden), Mats Stjenberg (Nordregio), Sandra Santos (Ministry of Health of Alentejo, Portugal) and Markku Tykkyläinen (University of Eastern Finland). Special thanks to the following people at the OECD for their support and substantial comments at various stages of the report: Andrea Colombo and Lukas Kleine-Rueschkamp at CFE; Luka Boeskens, Alfonso Echazarra, Thomas Radinger and the OECD School Resources Review team led by Deborah Nusche; the Communication Infrastructures and Services Policy team led by Verena Weber, and Tiago Cravo Oliveira Hashiguchi, Frederico Guanais, Caroline Berchet, Cristian Herrera and Eliana Barrenho at the Health Division led by Francesca Colombo. Eric Gonnard and María Paula Caldas provided valuable statistical support. The OECD is also grateful to delegates of the OECD RDPC and its Working Party on Rural Policy for comments and guidance throughout the project.
Pilar Phillip (OECD) co-ordinated the production process of the report. Eleonore Morena provided editorial assistance and Jeanette Duboys (OECD) prepared the manuscript for publication.