Abstract. The aim of our paper is to capture, using logical analysis and graphic modelling, the implications of the new economic geography (NEG) in terms of regional policy in Romania, aiming to answer the question whether NEG and agglomeration economies should concern the policy makers in our country. The analysis of the macroeconomic model based on the interdependencies between regional disparities, agglomeration and economic growth shows that in the case of coreperiphery dual regional structured economies, the cohesion policy effects can be avoided, in that the central agglomeration will generate a higher growth rate at national level, but with the price of amplifying the existent regional disparities. One way of dampening this negative effect over Romania is to launch an innovation and knowledge-promoting policy, by developing regional innovation systems.

Keywords: new economic geography; regional policy; agglomeration economies; agglomeration externalities; regional innovation system.