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This paper studies why some clusters in a certain region are more dynamic than others, even though they all operate within the same basic innovative regional environment. We first established which variables were to be used to measure the dynamics of a regional cluster. We included both inputs and outputs of the innovative regional environment and also cluster development-related variables. We then applied this to two clusters located in the Valencian Region, Spain. The first cluster is involved in the footwear industry, while the other is involved in the ceramic tile industry. The evolution of the variables which had an influence on their dynamics was studied to determine which variables had similar behaviours and how their evolution was related to the clusters' life cycle and to the evolution of regional income. The results show that regional innovation impacts on clusters’ productivity and that when clusters lose their dynamism, employment, sales and exports are the most affected variables. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the impact that the growth of the service sector has had on the economic growth of the Spanish regions. Thus, the study tries to define regional groupings in order to identify different modalities of regional growth. As a result of the cluster analysis, we propose the groupings and analyse the beta-convergence in per capita GDP and in terms of the degree of tertiarization in the Spanish regions. Taking these groups as our starting point, a data panel model with fixed effects is applied and the study concludes that mainly capital stock and capital productivity in market services explain to a great extent the growth in per capita GDP in the Spanish regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a stylized, supply-side model to estimate the permanent effects of the Community Support Framework (CSF) programmes on a regional economy and use it to estimate the impact of the 1994-1999 and 2000-2006 CSF programmes on the Spanish region of Galicia. The evolution of the economy is simulated under two scenarios, with and without CSF funds, studying the contribution of the European regional policy to the output, employment and different categories of capital. Our results suggest that the contribution of the Structural Funds to the growth of the Galician economy is remarkable and that the impacts of the European programmes extend well beyond the end of the aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of economies nowadays necessitates qualified workers more than ever. Given the great share of services in production and employment, the educational attainment of the people employed in this sector has a special impact on growth. Following this reasoning, the aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which the differences in the location of the service sector can explain the differences in human capital, and, as a consequence, in development, among the Spanish regions. The results obtained highlight the ‘human capital-intensive’ nature that a great share of service activities have, and the tendency of ‘very high-skills’ services to be concentrated in regions with higher levels of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper reports on the administrative innovation for promoting integrated sectoral and spatial planning, based on the designation of Comarcas, by the Galician regional government in Spain. The region has suffered from peripherality and a heavy bias towards low productivity agricultural, fishing and food processing industries. Traditional regional policies had led to urban expansion but rural desertification. The Galician government embarked in 1991 on a radical new approach to development planning based on building new administrative entities based on urban and village networks. The new planning delivery system now exists and is already active in promoting more balanced and integrated planned development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]