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Institutional theory holds that local governance is essential in shaping regional economic activity. This study evaluates whether local economic growth targets offset the detrimental effect of nationwide policy uncertainty on local business performance. Regression analyses of data from industrial firms and manually collected data on city economic growth targets in China show that higher local growth targets result in greater corporate investment, conditional on nationwide policy uncertainty, and that the impact is substantial through financial subsidies and allocating credit resources. However, local discretion in economic growth target setting might cause investment misallocation and efficiency loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the intricate link between ports and regional economies, this study investigates the spillover effects of neighbouring ports on regional industrial diversification and economic resilience. Analysing South Korea's 2006–20 export data from port and neighbouring port regions, it uncovers the unique feature of ports as a distinctive knowledge source within their port regions, mainly attributable to the respective logistic and trade systems governing similar product groups. The paper confirms that ports facilitate industrial diversification through spillover effects when it is related with the regional industries. Emphasising ports' role in strengthening economic resilience, it highlights their significance in nurturing emerging industries post-crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research examining the economic effects of urban polycentricity remains inconclusive. We contribute to this debate by developing a longitudinal framework in which changes in polycentricity in Chinese urban regions are linked with changes in total factor productivity. While we find no evidence of urban polycentricity being conducive to economic growth, we observe that the relationship depends on population size and the interactions between cities. We also find that cities borrow size from nearby cities in large urban regions, contributing to regional economic growth. We use our findings to reflect on China's regional economic and urban development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creative class has been argued to both hamper and support economic resilience. As such, we propose a new framework on the significance of the creative class for local economic resilience, namely: the creativity and resilience analysis approach (CREA). The study contributes to the literature (1) by evaluating resilience through an index that includes multiple dimensions of creativity-based economic development; and (2) by identifying preliminary findings that link economic resilience with spatial shifts in local labour markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders the roles of actors in regional innovation systems in the context of transformative industrial change. Empirically, it draws on evidence from the Värmland region of Sweden, where regional innovation system actors, with partial funding from the Swedish Innovation Agency, are striving to build a bioeconomy upon the traditional forest-related industries. The main findings include that transformative industrial change adds a variety of responsibilities to regional actors, including the provision of change legitimacy, influencing the industry's innovation directionality and achieving social acceptance for change. A combined perspective on sociotechnical transitions and path development in regional innovation systems theoretically informs the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary economic geography has sought to understand the development of regional industrial pathways but tended to neglect both the multiscalarity of economic development and the role of institutional change. The concept of coevolution seeks to bridge this gap but is still too vague for empirical application. Understanding the interactions between path development and institutional change in regional economies and on higher spatial scales requires retheorizing coevolution along the dimensions of institutional–industrial coevolution, path multiplicity and multiscalarity. The article proposes such a retheorized concept of coevolution by integrating concepts of path development, institutions, institutional change, institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work and nestedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial diversification depends on spillovers from related industries and nearby regions, yet their interaction remains largely unclear. We study economic diversification in China during the period 1990–2015 and present supportive evidence on both spillover channels. We add to the literature by showing that these two channels behave as substitutes when explaining new entries and exits, and by using acceleration campaigns of high-speed rail to address some endogeneity concerns with regional spillovers. Our findings confirm the role of relatedness and geographical distance in the diffusion of economic capabilities and support the idea that improvements in transportation can facilitate the diffusion of productive capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who drives regional economic development in entrepreneurial ecosystems of different types? Using longitudinal data on 267 NUTS-3 European regions during the period 2008–16, we apply the entrepreneurial ecosystem theoretical framework to study how entrepreneurial ecosystem type moderates the relationship between a variety of entrepreneurship and regional economic development. It is found that regional economic development proxied by gross value added per resident responds differently to solo self-employment, job creators and new-firm birth rates as well as changes in a share of productive high-growth entrepreneurship across different entrepreneurial ecosystems. The findings have implications for regional and national policy-makers and scholars who study the geography of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in information and communication technology (ICT) clusters has long been sustained by the power of emerging technologies to reinvent regional or local economies. Prior research has identified the structural conditions under which clusters form, decline or evolve, but much less is known about the agents responsible for cluster change. This paper examines the evolution of the Toronto ICT cluster from a location for foreign multinational firms in hardware and telecommunications into a more dynamic ecosystem for service-based domestic start-ups and emerging scale-ups. It contributes to the literature on clusters by showing how entrepreneurs have driven cluster evolution in Toronto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why and how do regional politics develop outside the context of a coherent regional economy? Alongside the familiar logic of city-regional growth coalitions, we introduce a less familiar logic of regional imaginaries actively constructing strategies in novel scalar configurations. We explore this second logic of regionalism in the case of the Toronto–Waterloo 'Innovation Corridor'. We highlight three important forces: the productive ambiguity of the region as a spatial and strategic concept; the centrality of regionalism entrepreneurs in constructing a political agenda; and the importance of extrospective policy-making for establishing a rationale for collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional economic contribution of tourism-related inward investment is difficult to assess. This is due to data availability problems, and with inward investment in such industries often being dwarfed by that in either manufacturing or other services. However, there are cases where tourism demand represents a significant proportion of regional economic demand, and often in regions where there are economic development challenges. The paper suggests that the development of regional tourism satellite accounts, and their subsequent analysis, is a valuable means of analysing the different economic characteristics of the externally and domestically owned tourism-related sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A latent class model is applied to allow entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) to influence the effect of entrepreneurial activity on growth in European Union regions. Using this methodology, clusters of regions that differ significantly in their relationship between entrepreneurial activity and growth are identified. This is consistent with the hypothesis that EEs affect this relationship. Subsequently, cluster membership is related to regional characteristics representing a range of components of EEs and marked differences in a variety of these regional characteristics are found. Taken together, the results support the notion that EEs help shape the impact of entrepreneurial activity on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of regional resilience is explored by understanding the resilience of individual firms within both the region (and their capabilities to cope, adapt and reconfigure) and a constantly evolving economic environment. This study examines the utility of the QuiScore credit indicator (from the Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) database) to measure both firm and regional economic resilience. Using the Cardiff Capital Region in Wales, UK (for the period 2006–16) as a case study, the results indicate that the QuiScore is an effective indicator of the economic resilience of firms as well as an early warning indicator of economic stresses for a region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effect of different regional technological profiles on the resilience of regional economies to exogenous shocks. It presents an empirical examination of the determinants of resilience through panel analyses of UK NUTS-III-level data for the period 2004–12. The results indicate that regions endowed with technologically coherent – and not simply diversified – knowledge bases are better prepared to face an unforeseen downturn and display adaptive resilience. Moreover, local economies tend to be more adaptable if they innovate in sectors with the strongest growth opportunities, even though firms' entry does not appear to contribute significantly towards resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge economy, universities have a vital and growing role in supporting innovation and facilitating regional economic development through the addition of a 'third mission' of knowledge transfer activities to the core missions of teaching and academic research. Knowledge transfer capabilities appear to be influenced by the dynamic capabilities and culture of the host university. To date, knowledge transfer activities of universities have proven difficult to quantify with comparisons between institutions problematic. This paper addresses this gap in two ways. Firstly, the use of a ratio of published metrics gives greater insight into the relative degree of collaboration between universities and industry. Secondly, this research derives a measure of dynamic capabilities in Irish universities and correlates it with previously unpublished data on technology and knowledge transfer performance. The research finds a high correlation between universities with strong dynamic capabilities and their success in these dimensions of knowledge transfer. Keywords: entrepreneurial university; dynamic capabilities; knowledge transfer; innovation culture Dans l'économie de la connaissance, les universités ont un rôle essentiel et croissant l'innovation de soutien et en facilitant le développement économique régional par l'addition d'une 'troisième mission' des activités de transfert de la connaissance aux missions de noyau de l'enseignement et de la recherche scolaire. Les capacités de transfert de la connaissance semblent Átre influencées par les capacités et la culture dynamiques de l'universitéde centre serveur. Jusqu'à présent, les activités de transfert de la connaissance des universités ont prouvé difficile à mesurer avec des comparaisons entre les établissements problématiques. Ce document adresse cete space de deux manières. Premièrement, l'utilisation d'un rapport de la métrique éditée donne une plus grande analyse dans le degré relatif de collaboration entre les universités et l'industrie. Deuxièmement, cette recherche dériveune mesure de capacités dynamiques aux universités irlandaises et la corrèle avec desdonnées précédemment non publiées sur l'interprétation de transfert de technologie et deconnaissance. La recherche trouve une corrélation élevée entre les universités avec descapacités dynamiques fortes et leur succès dans ces dimensions de transfert de la connaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-Speed Rail (HSR) has experienced a rapid development in many countries in the world, but how can planners and decision makers better understand the regional economic impact of the gigantic system remains a challenge. This paper introduces a comprehensive framework to assess the regional economic impacts of HSR using China as an example. The regional economic impacts of HSR are evaluated under a dynamic and spatial computable general equilibrium-modelling framework. Such a framework provides a comprehensive assessment of the impacts in terms of both temporal and spatial variations. The assessment provides an ex post evaluation of the impacts based on the actual data reflecting the infrastructure development and operation in the period 2002-2013. The research findings confirm that HSR infrastructure development in China has generated a positive regional economic impact. The growth rate of the real GDP stimulated by rail infrastructure investment were found particularly substantial in the southwest, but relatively small in the developed eastern regions. Conversely, the real GDP level change was found to be relatively large in the developed regions, such as the south and the east. The disaggregated analysis shows that the contributions to regional economic growth are primarily derived from the productivity increase in rail transport sector and the stimulus effect of rail infrastructure capital investment. The research findings provide implications for future HSR development in both Europe and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that major regional disparities exist within China. The gap between its eastern coastal regions compared with the central and western regions has only grown wider over time. China's special economic zones (SEZs) are defined as small geographical areas that allow the integration of free-market principles to attract additional foreign investment. However, the creation and success of SEZs has led to prosperity in the coastal regions of China, creating additional economic disparity between regions. This paper posits that one solution to reduce regional disparities is to extend the influence of the SEZs, or even set up new ones in different areas of the country, to spur investment and close the economic gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasizes the role of regional determinants in the technical efficiency of the Greek economy. We employ a regional production function which is simultaneously estimated with an inefficiency equation. The results underline the considerable and growing core-periphery disparities in technical efficiency. They show the significant efficiencyenhancing impact of intra-regional market access and its dispersion. They also demonstrate that interregional market access, specialization, sectoral concentration and human capital exert a positive but varying influence on the efficiency of Greek regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the concept of the entrepreneurial university by examining roles of academic entrepreneurship departments in driving regional economic development outcomes. While a wealth of research investigates the role, activities and function of the entrepreneurial university, very little which focuses specifically on academic entrepreneurship departments, where much of the research, teaching and knowledge exchange concerning entrepreneurship takes place. Two case studies of large and active entrepreneurship departments are presented to illustrate the different roles and activities they undertake in the sphere of economic development in their regions or locales. A dual model of engagement is proposed, whereby the entrepreneurship department operates within the framework of the entrepreneurial university, but also as a regional actor in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the publication of Fagan and Webber’s Global Restructuring in 1994, Australia has experienced one of the most significant commodities-led economic booms in its history. Increasing global demand for iron ore, natural gas, coal and a host of other resources from the early 2000s contributed to a period of sustained economic growth, low unemployment and rising per capita incomes. While popular and political discourses have tended to focus on the national benefits of the boom, in reality the processes at play were complex, spatially uneven and highly contested. In this paper, we offer a multi-scalar interpretation of how the global commodities boom has reshaped Australia’s space economy. It reflects on the experience of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, arguing that the boom contributed to fundamental shifts in the nature of territorial development, socio-spatial relations, and economic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the incorporation of an inter-industry analysis into an econometric framework was pioneered 40 years ago, there has been a growing number of studies in the literature focused on applying such an integrated framework at the subnational level. Models in the literature apply different strategies and structures to merge input-output (IO) and econometric models. The objective of the merged framework is to capitalize on the merits of both IO and time-series models. This paper presents an attempt to apply an intersectoral demand variable (ISDV) technique to embed IO analysis into a time-series model to investigate the economy of Illawarra in New South Wales, Australia. The result is a dynamic intersectoral model that provides high accuracy in forecasting sectoral employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent political and economic events have thrown into question several assumptions about how regional economies work and for whom. For Regional Studies, the result is a wave of policy-relevant empirical research on fundamental issues in our field. The papers in this issue cover topics including the creative class, skills, inequality, embeddedness, innovation and immigration, across a range of industries. This kind of analysis of labour, work and skills is essential for developing new models capable of reintegrating innovation and production into economic development strategies that work for the labour market as a whole, reducing inequality, increasing productivity, and building resilient regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the specialisation of European Union (EU) regions in key enabling technologies (KETs) and assesses whether or not being specialised in these technological areas has an effect on regional growth. The evidence presented shows that regions specialised in KETs are concentrated in central Europe; however, over the period taken into account (1996–2011), less innovative and peripheral EU regions have been increasing their specialisation in these technological areas at the expense of the most advanced regions. There is also evidence that (spatial) diffusion of KETs often occurs across regions contiguous to each other. The results of the econometric estimations show that being specialised in KETs affects regional economic growth (per capita gross domestic product) and that this effect is stronger in the case of less innovative EU regions. Overall, these results hint at the pervasive nature and enabling role of KETs and demonstrate the importance for EU regions to target these technologies as part of their smart specialisation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences in China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The development of a vibrant clean technology (or 'cleantech') sector has numerous advantages for a regional economy, among them economic development and job creation. But how do governments go about developing this sector? General demand policies and environmental regulations are clearly important, but this review of regional cleantech policies focuses on the less well-recognized area of governmental assistance for cleantech-business development. The research identifies four main policy instruments: clean-energy and high-technology funds; commercialization and incubation support; research, development, and testing facilities; and assistance to business networking organizations such as business associations. Two cases of cleantech-sector development, one in California and one in New York State, are discussed in more detail. They show how state- and local-demand policies provide important background assistance but also highlight the importance of developing independent intermediary organizations that represent and network the cleantech-business community. Moreover, this focus on the business-networking side of clean-energy policies can also help to broaden political support, especially in conservative regions where environmental frames are controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing recognition that regional growth outside major urban centres should not – indeed cannot – be marginalized or ignored. In Europe, especially, important work now considers the growing role and importance of small and medium-sized cities in terms of spatial flows and networks and alternative pathways to economic growth than the city-centric, mega-urban approach. However, despite their prominence in economy geography, there is little mention of global production networks in this debate; and there has been much less focus on national contexts that lie beyond the traditional Euro-American heartlands of neoliberal capitalism. In the paper we address this issue by analysing the province of Korat in the north-east Thailand, revealing how Korat was unprepared for an influx of new firms; however, we note the untapped potential of peripheral regions to contribute to ameliorating regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Creative industries are driving economic growth across the world with their employment of innovation methodologies, including Co-creation and Design Thinking, which has spawned disruptive but beneficial business models. Creative industries are, therefore, cross-pollinating their ideas within other business sectors, primarily in major urban areas. This study examined whether those same innovation methodologies are used and can grow a regional economy, specifically in Townsville, Australia. Surveys and interviews were employed to gauge local business demand for creative industries services and also the creative industries sectors’ understanding of human-centred innovation methodologies and the potential for their use. Survey and interview results indicate confusion about the specifics of innovation methodologies – particularly in engaging with the end-users of services – but there is a general support for their use in the wider business community. Interviews with business owners highlighted a willingness to engage with regional creative industries, but concerns were raised about the affordability of such business services when compared to services offered in major urban centres. The findings propose that there is strong potential for creative industries to grow a regional economy, in this case Townsville in northern Australia, but only if the creative sector markets itself better to the wider business community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the introduction of the related variety concept in 2007, a number of studies have been undertaken to analyse its effect on economic development. Our review of 21 studies makes clear that most studies find support for the initial hypothesis that related variety supports employment growth, though some studies suggest that the growth effects of related variety may be specific to knowledge-intensive sectors only. From the review, we list a number of further research questions regarding methodology, the role of unrelated variety, different forms of relatedness and the effect of related variety on knowledge production and entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Adding to approaches highlighting network dynamics as a basis for regional economic development, increased attention is paid to institutions as contextual factors contributing to explaining how and why economies change. Research has shown that firms tend to react differently to the same institutional configurations, with the main explanatory factors being their sectoral backgrounds and intra-firm characteristics. This study adds to these insights by examining a regional economy in France, that of Cognac, in which 300 firms are operating under homogeneous institutional preconditions. Despite these similarities, we identify different development trajectories from the 1990s onwards. Our observations illustrate how firms’ responses to external change diverge and bring them on different trajectories due to different positions in the industry hierarchy and different experiences and capabilities among individuals within firms. The study contributes to the better understanding of mechanisms of path dependence, which have gained wide recognition in the literature in the recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place branding has become an increasingly integral part of local and regional economic development strategies in the global competition for business investment. Professional and academic understanding remains limited, however, regarding whether place branding can be classified as a 'high-road' policy with substantive and effective merits or a 'low-road' policy that is generally inefficient and ineffective at fostering sustainable economic growth. Through the context of business attraction, this study examines whether place branding represents 'high-road' policy by comparing what economic development practitioners are doing to create and support their brands against the needs and desires of businesses considering relocation. The research goal is achieved through a series of in-depth interviews with economic development practitioners (n = 25) and private-sector site selectors (n = 10) in the province of Ontario, Canada. Gaps between policy and practicality are identified by comparing the responses of the two groups. Results demonstrate that place branding has the potential to be 'high-road' policy given its utility in business attraction. In its current implementation, however, place branding remains better described as a 'low- road' policy, as it is not being used efficiently. Several gaps in place-branding policy are identified, including an overreliance on visual identities and narratives, poor communication of the brand information, and overemphasis on presenting quality of life and affordability. These gaps present possible areas of ineffectiveness that can limit the ability of a place brand to attract investment, but provide areas of future policy improvements, thus enabling place branding to shift from 'low road' to 'high road'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Greater participation in the digital economy provides a game changing opportunity to diversify and strengthen regional economies. Effective, integrated planning for the delivery of high-speed digital connectivity and the development of digital capability – at a regional level – is critical to achieving this. This paper proposes a compelling vision for regional digital growth, where stronger interactions at the regional level between physical, digital and knowledge accessibility generate economic growth, through increased exposure to the digital economy. This vision guides and orients the development of a strategic planning framework to deliver regional digital growth, embodied by a series of regional ‘building blocks’. By assembling these building blocks in harmony with a region's economic, ecological and social contexts, the ‘digital region’ can be designed – a planning overlay which brings focus to delivering a region's digital destiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether the convergence hypothesis in 13 Korean regional economies for the period 1985 to 2011 exists allowing technological spillover and spatial interdependence. We use the spatial dynamic panel data approach including the spatial Durbin model. When we use the spatial lag model (SAM) with spatial fixed, we find that there is a positive spillover effect of growth among Korean regions and that convergence speed rate is faster than the model without spatial interdependence. However, when we use the SAM with time period fixed, or spatial fixed and time-period fixed effects, these results do not support convergence hypothesis of regional incomes. Therefore, we have to be careful to approach conclusion about convergence hypothesis in Korean regional incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that direct comparisons of economic growth by region are not constructive due to the catch-up effect, so certain preconditions must be taken into account. We propose adjusting levels of economic growth based on a hypothesis of proportional overlap for the catch-up effect, after which they can be used to compare economic growth across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the long-term effects of 10 restructuring programmes (RPs) in Norway. RP is a policy instrument rooted in endogenous theory aimed at peripheral regions with particularly negative development trajectories. The purposes of RPs are to contribute to the development of new jobs, improve business development capacity, and diversify local economic structures. The authors' analysis is informed by the concept of regional resilience, which seeks to capture the differential and uneven ability of places and regions to react, respond, and cope with change. Through methodological triangulation the analysis covers changes in employment, entrepreneurial activity, and ‘soft factors’ such as endogenous development capacity. The analysis reveals that regions with RPs demonstrate long-term growth and increased industrial and relational diversity. The RP policy instrument thus appears to have contributed to enhanced resilience in different ways in the 10 case regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between national and regional output growth in Mexico, and the impact of domestic and international shocks on national, regional and state output movements. Our results suggest that there are similarities, but also significant differences, in real output dynamics across the regions and states of Mexico and that it would be wrong to regard the Mexican economy as a homogeneous entity. The results show that real output growth in Mexico and the United States are linked, but there is no common output trend for the two countries. At the regional level, it appears that North and Central Mexico share similar features, but the path of output growth is more distinctive in South Mexico. Overall, our results suggest that assessments of macroeconomic performance, and related discussions of policy, should pay greater attention to the potential diversity in regional performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism potential of rural areas represents a source of opportunities for entrepreneurship that can enhance regional development. The impact of tourism is, however, complex, representing a combination of benefits and costs. Despite the necessity to evaluate and understand in depth the relationship between tourism, community life and regional development from a local perspective, many studies adopt a descriptive approach, focusing mainly on the perception and attitudes of local residents. Adopting a qualitative methodology, this article makes a comparative analysis of two rural communities in the south of France. Although the geographic distance between the two villages is only 12 km, the communities present unlike profiles in terms of attractions, entrepreneurial activities, community and regional development. The article provides a twofold contribution to the existing literature: first, it enriches the methodological perspective using an interpretative framework based on the specific functions of rural territories; and second, it applies this framework to explain the specific evolution of the investigated villages, as well as the existing tensions and challenges for regional development and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although both theoretically and methodologically controversial, measuring competitiveness at sub-national level remains an exciting challenge for analysts. The paper starts with the review of the recent theoretical and empirical literature on regional competitiveness in the European Union, followed by empirical analysis of competitiveness of Croatian regions, tackling differences between the hard data and the survey data as well as clustering the Croatian regions based on their main competitive strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the context of unbalanced regional economic development in China, there are large regional differences in the development of the construction industry. These long-standing and increasing differences not only influence the total productivity of China’s construction industry but also hinder effective resource distribution. Total factor productivity (TFP) is a measure of long-term economic growth and a comprehensive industry-level productivity measure. The objectives are to put forward a set of systematic methodologies for selecting a productivity index, to develop a TFP measure for the construction industry and to conduct an analysis of spatial differences. First, the input and output index system of the construction industry is established, and China’s construction industry TFP is measured with the DEA–Malmquist index. Second, spatial differences in the construction industry TFP are analysed in terms of the coefficient of variation (CV) and using spatial clustering analysis. The results indicate that China’s construction industry TFP has improved steadily. This improvement has been due mainly to improvements in pure technology efficiency, technological progress and scale efficiency. In the past five years, the CV of China’s construction industry productivity has generally been small and has changed only slightly. China’s construction industry TFP for all regions exhibits a ladder-like distribution that is different from the distribution by economic areas among the central, western and eastern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences in China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences in China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences in China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT: Economic arguments are now at the center of child care policy discussions in the United States and Canada. We review the main economic logics applied to child care, namely long-term studies of child development on school readiness and future workforce, and short-term analyses of impacts on the regional economy. We analyze a sample of economic development-focused child care studies to demonstrate how they draw on a new discursive frame, authorize new coalitions of actors and champions, and introduce new policy tools at the state/provincial and local levels. Such economic logic makes the regional level a new priority for child care development, marking a shift in scale. We find the economic development approach is reshaping discourse and is leading to changes in public policy at both the state and local levels. The new paradigm of promoting child care as economic development has potential to strengthen child care as a social right and to enhance gender justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem, research strategy, and findings:Little research examines the effect of diversity on regional economic resilience to natural disasters. We examine whether economic diversity benefits regional economies in typical circumstances and in recovery after a natural disaster, using the case of the 1993 U.S. Midwest flood. By matching counties in the nine states affected by the flood to control counties, we isolate the influence of diversity on employment and income in normal circumstances and after a substantial shock. We found economic diversity to have mixed associations with employment and income in typical circumstances. On average, economically diverse counties tended to experience faster employment gains but slower growth in per capita income than less diverse areas. The effect of economic diversity upon resilience following a natural disaster was unambiguous. Economic diversity aided counties in weathering the downturn following the flood and sped their return to long-term patterns of employment and income growth. Takeaway for practice: In promoting policies to enhance economic diversity, planners in communities located in areas prone to natural disasters should consider both the goal of disaster resilience and the potential tradeoffs between different aspects of economic performance. Research support: None. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper takes as its starting point James “Pete” Shortridge's The Middle West: Its Meaning in American Cultureto analyze the region's historical development. For Shortridge, national changes in the early twentieth century had enormous consequences for the region. National discomfort with the high rates of urbanization, industrialization, and immigration was managed in part by splitting the Midwest into two seemingly very different regions, one more western and agricultural/pastoral (Corn Belt) and the other more eastern and industrial (Industrial Belt). I argue that healing this split is the key to region's future development. During the Midwest's early expansionist period agriculture and industry were closely tied and mutually beneficial. Their ties and locations remained and remain close, despite a rhetoric of distance and difference. As both Corn and Industrial Belts face ongoing demographic and economic decline, resurrecting their linkages and using them as a way of reinventing American landscape seems like a fruitful approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]