  This research is devoted to assessing regional economic disparities in
Ukraine, where regional economic inequality is a crucial issue the country
faces in its medium and long-term development, recently, even in the short
term. We analyze the determinants of regional economic growth, mainly
industrial and agricultural productions, population, human capital, fertility,
migration, and regional government expenditures. Using panel data estimations
from 2004 to 2020 for 27 regions of Ukraine, our results show that the gaps
between regions in Ukraine have widened last two decades. Natural resource
distribution, agricultural and industrial productions, government spending, and
migration can explain the disparities. We show that regional government
spending is highly concentrated in Kyiv, and the potential of the other
regions, especially the Western ones, needs to be used sufficiently. Moreover,
despite its historical and economic opportunity, the East region performed
little development during the last two decades. The inefficient and
inconsistent regional policies played a crucial role in these disparities.
