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Levelling up and the everyday economy are two crucial concepts for understanding the direction of policy making in the UK, but the relationship between them has not yet been fully explored. Moreover, the UK's industrial and regional policies are woefully underdeveloped. This article suggests how levelling up and the everyday economy concepts could contribute to Labour's emerging industrial and regional policies. It argues that Labour is right to pursue an economic growth agenda, but must make growth work for communities and workers, and the everyday economy can help. The everyday economy can contribute to, and benefit from, local productivity growth, but regions still need companies that export or are at the technological frontier to raise demand, productivity and pay. Labour should work with the government's Levelling Up White Paper, but this was overly focussed on cities and knowledge intensive business services: there is an economic case for including towns and manufacturing too, and they should prioritise connecting places and sectors, building on the diverse strengths which different places can offer, and setting a long‐term direction of travel. Over time, Labour should try to ensure that cities, towns and smaller communities are better connected, better coordinated and more specialised within larger regions. Labour should, therefore, set out an industrial and regional strategy; work up an economic development toolkit; and devolve economic powers to Mayoral Combined Authorities and councils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last thirty years, remarkable achievements have been made in China's poverty reduction course. The dramatic fall in China's poor can be attributed mainly to a high rate of economic growth, government poverty reduction policies and targeted programmes and pro-poor macroeconomic and industrial policies. This paper focuses on China's poverty reduction policies and programmes and their impact on the poor regions and poor households. Lessons are drawn for poverty reduction and economic development in African countries. The paper also explores the potential for collaboration in poverty reduction between China and African countries and recommendations are made for the governments and donor agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics of business leadership has witnessed a renewed interest in recent years provoked perhaps by a number of cases of business leadership failure. Unlike the critics of the industrial policy and direct market intervention by the state, in this paper we argue for an increased role of the state in imposing the ethical standards and the need to integrate the ethical infrastructure into the state's industrial policy. We believe that overall national economic success is dependent on four essential elements: financial infrastructure, physical infrastructure, knowledge infrastructure and ethical infrastructure. We further believe that proper integration and correct functioning of these elements within the state's industrial policy is fundamental to economic development and growth in any country in 21st century. We consider that the ethical infrastructure might provide an important element of a possible riposte in the future to the serious financial scandals of the kind that recently affected global business. We foresee that ethical infrastructure fosters best practice. In this paper, we argue that the integration of the ethical infrastructure is a new requirement of the state's industrial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a critical assessment of recent economic development policy directions centered on the concept of regional innovation clusters. We begin by investigating the rationale underlying the Obama administration's promotion of regional innovation clusters (RICs) and their introduction to the policy arena in its Strategy for American Innovation. The connections among RICs and existing research and policies in industry and occupational clusters, regional innovation systems and regional economic development are identified and analyzed to highlight those most critical challenges to conceptualizing and theorizing RICs. While we applaud the long overdue focus of economic development policies on sub-national regions, we identify several major conceptual shortcomings and programmatic difficulties associated with RICs as a centerpiece for economic development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to reconcile social and environmental goals for sustainable development still poses problems for policy makers in the richer parts of the world. Using the examples of domestic water and energy, this paper argues that the problems are reflected, and often magnified, in developing countries. They arise largely from conflicts between the short-term need to alleviate poverty and longer-term objectives for environmental sustainability. The dual nature of water and energy as both social and economic goods raises questions about the most appropriate forms of provision and allocation of the utilities. It is in no one's long-term interest for developing countries to repeat the environmentally damaging mistakes of the industrialized world. But an equitable distribution of the short-term costs attached to a more environmentally responsible use of resources demands new ways of thinking about global social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece is witnessing a series of international developments which necessitate an adjustment process, but also offer a new perspective for development. CAP reform, the Uruguay Round Final Act, market liberalization and the prospect of European Union enlargement by Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) imply new problems, but also new opportunities. In order for Greece to confront adjustment problems successfully, it is necessary that an integrated strategy for sustainable rural development be developed. National regional and inter-sectoral policies for rural sustainable development should be supplemented by increased, mutually beneficial economic co-operation in the CEEC and in the wider Black Sea region. This paper examines and identifies patterns of trade, production and investment that Greece should adopt, in order to establish fruitful and mutually beneficial economic co-operation with the CEEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]