Purpose:The paper looks at the link between human capital and geographical location for the Romanian regions based on the theoretical model developed in Redding and Schott´s paper. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using 2006 data on the different educational attainment levels for the 42 Romanian regions, it identifies that the percentage of individuals with medium and high educational levels is affected positively by the regions´ market access. Findings: Doubling market access would increase the percentage of individuals with medium and high educational levels between 22-25%. Moreover, the econometric results show that between 45% and 59% of the spatial variation in human capital levels is explained by the market access variable. Practical Implications: Some policy implications to overcome the costs remoteness imposes on human capital accumulation in Romania are also drawn. Originality/Value: Romanian strategy on human resources development wants to eliminate or reduce the weaknesses. Another important challenge refers to the management of the European funds. Good managerial practices must be set up in order for the European funds to deliver the expected results and to pursue the goals established at the 2005 March Summit.

This paper looks at the link between wage disparities and market access for the Romanian regions. First, we derive an econometric specification which relates the income levels of a particular location with a weighted sum of the volume of economic activities of the surrounding locations (market access). Then, empirically, we estimate this econometric specification for a sample of 42 Romanian regions in the year 2006. The results show that market access is statistically significant and quantitatively important in explaining cross‐county variation in Romanian wages. Moreover, our results are robust to the inclusion of control variables thought to be important in explaining Romanian wages as it is the case with human capital and innovation levels. After controlling for these variables, market access remains still positive and statistically significant although its influence on wages decreases around 25 per cent. Finally some policy conclusions are also drawn.