Since the early 2000s, the literature on regional economics has devoted particular attention to the analysis of territorial development processes in Central and Eastern European countries, focusing on convergence and divergence trends. However, the predominantly short-term, equilibrium-based models applied in these analyses tend to neglect the historical economic–strategic embeddedness of the territories under examination, as well as past decisions that continue to influence current economic development and extend beyond economic and political cycles. In this study, using regional economic statistical data from the period 2000–2022, we seek to determine to what extent the economic development of Hungarian counties is path dependent. In other words, we examine how past macro-, meso-, and micro-level economic strategies and decisions affect present outcomes, with particular emphasis on economic structure, productivity, technical and technological standards, and renewal potential. Based on our analysis, we classified the Hungarian capital and the counties into three categories according to their economic development trajectories. Taking this classification into account, we summarize the desirable steps that may support trajectory correction.
Keywords: path dependence, historical embedding, county, persistence
