Changes in the Spatial Income Structure of North-eastern Hungary After the Change of Regime

As a result of the political and economic transition, the Hungarian spatial pattern of taxable personal incomes restructured significantly. The position of north-eastern Hungary weakened, however, pronounced intraregional inequalities arose due to the uneven collapse of the local economies. The transition reflected the group of settlements categorised by the number of settlements. The detailed spatial income pattern of settlements and the internal and external effects influencing it were represented with the help of the potential model. The changes between 1988 and 2008 were measured by the difference of the summarized potential values. The map of differences illustrated the areas with relative advantages and disadvantages compared to the regional average value. Most of the largest towns were able to maintain or strengthen their positions giving advantage to the suburban settlements in their environs. However, the former peripheries, the mining and heavy industrial zones with a collapsed economic base, suffered the greatest relative loss over the last two decades because of the transition