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This paper presents initial findings on the establishment of a social logistics project in a peripheral rural region in Germany. As part of a real-life laboratory, two services were developed and tested with the aim of improving rural supply: the delivery of regional goods and the return of online orders in cooperation with a regional public transport provider, regional retailers and parcel services. An evaluation team provided support to the project in identifying, monitoring, and documenting the societal impact of the services and promoted impact-oriented project management. The concept of providing services of general interest through social logistics and testing them in a real-world laboratory was based on preliminary work in the region. The results indicate that this approach can promote this type of social logistics in the long term. A social logistics approach does not focus solely on economic aspects but emphasises social and environmental benefits for the region. A real-world laboratory approach enables an environment that promotes open exchange, involvement of different stakeholders and joint problem solving in a reflective, iterative process. This methodological approach enabled the continuation and out-scaling of the service's core offerings immediately after ending the test phase and is seen as an important prerequisite for establishing a long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mining Report is the property of GVSt,GesamtverbandSteinkohlee.V. 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: This paper examines the extent to which sectoral diversification can act as an insurance mechanism against fluctuations in regional gross value‐added growth rates. Portfolio theory is applied to the growth‐instability properties of German districts. Furthermore, a comprehensive diversification measure is defined. Stochastic Frontier Analysis is deployed in order to estimate whether diversification allows regions to achieve more efficient growth‐instability combinations. The results confirm that diversification does generate such effects. Spatial interactions do also play a role: The effects are less pronounced for regions whose economic performance is mainly driven by the surrounding regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In discussions about the use of public money for popular sports such as clubs in Germany’s 1. Bundesliga, it is often argued that the funds are well invested due to the cash flows generated by these organizations for their home regions. However, others claim the opposite. They argue that actually no positive impact is generated and, even worse, that money is leaving the region due to the clubs. The study presented here analyses the financial flows generated by the 1. FC Kaiserslautern for its home city (Kaiserslautern) and home state (Rhineland-Palatinate) during the 2010/11 season when the club participated in the 1. Bundesliga. Based on a 3-step model, the economic impact is calculated by considering spectator spending and cash flows generated by the business activities of the club. It turns out that additional cash flows of approximately €16.5 million and €25.8 million were generated for the state and the city, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Regional Research is the property of Springer Nature 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: This paper empirically studies the contribution of air transport to regional economic development in Germany. We find that the scale and direction of output effects of air services and airport infrastructure differ among airports. These differences are driven by ‘opportunity costs’ of airport capital and by positive output effects from air transport connectivity. We argue that the latter impacts potentially depend on traffic characteristics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper offers an exploratory investigation of the effects of inbound commuter flows on employment in regional labour markets in Germany. For this purpose, the paper distinguishes three main channels that may transmit the effects concerned: a crowding-out mechanism and two labour demand effects—namely, an aggregate demand effect and a positive externality on vacancy creation. The results bring to light that, on the whole, commuter flows have a positive and robust effect on both employment and the number of jobs in the receiving labour market districts, but a distinctly negative effect on the share of jobs filled by resident workers. The implications of the results are interpreted and, finally, ways are suggested in which the analysis could be improved and expanded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While earlier research has shown that regional restructuring after reunification has led to broad de-industrialization processes in eastern Germany's chemical industry, this article focuses on how re-bundling processes at the corporate level have stimulated adjustments to the changing economic and political environment leading to a renewed regional development trajectory. The analysis is based on a conceptualization that assesses diachronic processes of rupture and re-bundling by applying a bottom-up perspective of how corporate adjustments and restructuring processes generate re-bundling types that manifest themselves in broader regional re-bundling scenarios. The empirical analysis focuses on a qualitative case study of Bitterfeld- Wolfen, the eastern region with the largest chemical industry. The research provides evidence that, although new firm formation has remained weak and acquisitions of chemical multinationals have generated structures only tenuously embedded in the regional economy, modernization and re-bundling process have contributed to a renewed, smaller yet stable, regional chemical industry. The analysis further shows that the associated processes depended on the roles of individual industrial leaders in the region, who acted as network builders, mobilized joint action and stimulated the development of a collective regional spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After German reunification, interregional subsidies accounted for approximately 4% of gross fixed capital investment in the new federal states (i.e. those which were formerly part of the German Democratic Republic). We show that, between 1992 and 2005, infrastructure and corporate investment subsidies had a negative net impact on regional economic growth and convergence. This result is robust to both the specification of spatially weighted control variables and the use of instrumental variable techniques to control for the endogeneity of subsidies. Our results suggest that regional redistribution was ineffective, potentially due to a lack of spatial concentration to create growth poles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu 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.)

In urban renewal policy, it has become a widespread goal to revitalise neighbourhood economies. The rationale for these measures derives, to a great extent, from the concept of regional economic clusters, and, not surprisingly, one of their key objectives is to activate local inter-firm cooperation. This article examines the neighbourhood-related requirements and commitment of small firms. It draws on the results of a case study incorporating five German cities in which the neighbourhood-oriented applicability of economic policy was put to the test. As expected, it is unlikely for most small enterprises in urban renewal areas to engage in inter-firm cooperation focusing on the transfer of highly specialised knowledge. However, many small firms in inner city quarters appreciate neighbourhood characteristics as important location factors, and willingness to support local improvement efforts is relatively high, particularly among firms which operate successfully. The study suggests that there is a case for public policy to encourage small firms to participate in neighbourhood-based initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Border regions have to overcome substantial locational disadvantages in order to have a stake in the competition of regions and to achieve an ordered economically and socially stable and future-oriented development in terms of spatial planning. A peripheral location often brings barriers and potential risks for further development in border regions. However, it may also provide opportunities – based on the clever and comprehensive utilisation of all endogenous potentials. The region Bodensee-Oberschwaben, as part of the tri-national Bodensee region D-A-CH (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) is on its way to successfully dealing with impediments resulting from its location at the border: dividing elements such as the large Lake of Constance, the Alps and the relatively long distances to the administrative centers in Stuttgart and Berlin, are overcome in the sense of a de-peripheralization. In conjunction with other regions of a similar structure and with corresponding directions of development, the region is positioning itself in a “Network of European Spaces”, which works in addition to metropolitan Region-approaches. This paper analyzes and describes why and how regions succeed in stepping out of their peripheral location. English Title: Peripheries Don't Have to Remain Peripheries. De-peripheralization in the Bodensee-Oberschwaben Region [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the pattern of land rents and agricultural productivity across nineteenth-century Prussia to gain new insights on the causes of the “Little Divergence” between European regions. We argue that agriculture reacted to urban and industrial development rather than shaping it. In the spirit of Johann von Thünen and Ernst Engel, we develop a theoretical model to test how access to urban demand affected agricultural development. We show that the effect of urban demand is causal and that it is in line with recent findings on a limited degree of interregional market integration in nineteenth-century Prussia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the end of the 1990s cultural and creative industries have generated increasing attention in academic, public and political discourse. Nowadays, these industries are seen to be important factors of regional development. Because an urban environment offers a special quality of place, which is stimulating, motivating, challenging and inspiring for creative people, cultural and creative industries are spatially highly concentrated in the major cities of each country. Furthermore, urban places have an advantage compared to more peripheral or rural regions by offering the creative talents particular surroundings with openness, diversity, tolerance and internationality to realize their individual life styles. Overall, it can be assumed, that the cultural and creative industries fulfil their role as engines of innovation, growth and increasing employment rates predominantly in major cities. The empirical analysis of regional employment shifts in the cultural and creative industries in Germany shows that the main hubs of the cultural and creative industries in Germany generated above-average growth rates between 2003 and 2008. The more rural regions declined in most cases against the overall employment growth of the cultural and creative industries in Germany by 5.0%. Hence, the peripheral regions afar from the urban cores could not benefit from the growth of cultural and creative industries. Furthermore, a shift analysis shows the importance of locational effects in explaining the regional employment dynamics in these industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maennig W. and Olschlager M. Innovative milieux and regional competitiveness: the role of associations and chambers of commerce and industry in Germany, Regional Studies. Innovation is regarded as a spatially embedded process in which the social and economic interactive relationships of the actors are an important factor for success. This paper is one of the first to examine empirically the role of organizations such as associations, clubs, societies, and chambers of commerce and industry in innovative milieux. A limited effect of these actors on the regional competitiveness of the sixty largest German cities is found. [image omitted] Maennig W. et Olschlager M. Les milieux innovateurs et la competitivite regionale: le role des associations et des chambres de commerce et d'industrie en Allemagne, Regional Studies. L'innovation est consideree comme un processus qui est ancre dans l'espace et dans lequel l'interaction sociale et economqiue des agents est un prealable a la reussite. Cet article est l'un des premiers a examiner empiriquement le role des organisations, telles les associations, les clubs, les societes, et les chambres de commerce et d'industrie situes dans des milieux innovateurs. L'impact de ces agents sur la competitivite regionale des soixante villes les plus grandes d'Allemagne s'avere mitige. Innovation Milieux innovateurs Organisations Capital social Competitivite regionale Maennig W. und Olschlager M. Innovative Milieus und regionale Wettbewerbsfahigkeit: die Rolle von Vereinen und Industrie- und Handelskammern in Deutschland, Regional Studies. Innovation wird als ein raumlich eingebetteter Prozess verstanden, wobei interaktive soziale und okonomische Beziehungen der Akteure ein wichtiger Erfolgsfaktor sind. Dieser Beitrag ist dabei einer der ersten, der die Rolle von Organisationen wie Vereinen oder Industrie- und Handelskammern im innovativen Milieu empirisch untersucht. Wir kommen zu dem Ergebnis, dass die untersuchten Akteure teilweise einen Einfluss auf die regionale Wettbewerbsfahigkeit der 60 grossten Stadte in Deutschland haben. Innovation Innovative Milieus Organisationen Sozialkapital Regionale Wettbewerbsfahigkeit Maennig W. y Olschlager M. Circulos innovadores y la competitividad regional: el papel de asociaciones y camaras de comercio e industria en Alemania, Regional Studies. La innovacion se considera un proceso arraigado en el espacio en el que las relaciones interactivas de los actores desde el punto de vista social y economico representan un factor importante para lograr el exito. Este articulo es uno de los primeros en analizar empiricamente el papel de las organizaciones, tales como asociaciones, clubes, sociedades y camaras de comercio y la industria en circulos innovadores. Llegamos a la conclusion de que estos actores influyen de modo limitado en la competitividad regional de las sesenta ciudades mas grandes de Alemania. Innovacion Circulos innovadores Organizaciones Capital social Competitividad regional [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising focus of politicians as well as scientists in the EU on the large urban agglomerations as centres of economic growth is accompanied by political efforts to identify and to demarcate such agglomerations under the label ‘metropolitan regions’. This study develops a theoretical framework broaching the issue of cooperation between municipalities from the perspective of regional economics as well as political science. The framework is applied to the empirical case of the polycentric metropolitan region of the ‘Saxony triangle’ in east Germany. The results show that various intervening factors prevent intense co-operation between the actors in the region. Policy implications and conclusions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Economic Annals-XXI / Ekonomìčnij Časopis-XXI is the property of Institute of Society Transformation 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.)

Using the case of the new stadiums for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany, this paper is the first multivariate work that examines the potential income and employment effects of new stadiums outside of the USA. This study is also the first work on this topic that conducts tests on the basis of a (serial correlation consistent) Difference-in-Difference model with level and trends. As a robustness check, we use the "ignoring time series information" model in a form that is modified for non-synchronous interventions. We were not able to identify income or employment effects of the construction of new stadiums for the FIFA World Cup 2006, which are significantly different from zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the recent worldwide trend towards devolution has been driven by the belief that fiscal decentralisation is likely to have a positive effect on government efficiency and economic growth. It is generally assumed that the transfer of powers and resources to lower tiers of government allows for a better matching of public policies to local needs and thus for a better allocation of resources. These factors, in turn, are expected to lead to an improvement in regional economic performance, if subnational authorities shift resources from current to capital expenditures in search of a better response to local needs. In this paper we test these assumptions empirically by analysing the evolution of subnational expenditure categories and regional growth in Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, and the USA. We find that, contrary to expectations, decentralisation has coincided in the sample countries with a relative increase in current expenditures at the expense of capital expenditures, which has been associated with lower levels of economic growth in countries where devolution has been driven from above (India and Mexico), but not in Spain, where it has been driven from below. We hypothesise that the differences in legitimacy between the central or federal government and subnational governments in top-down and bottom-up processes of devolution may be at the origin of the diverse capacity to deliver greater allocative and productive efficiency and, eventually, greater economic growth by devolved governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our paper is to identify explanatory variables for income disparities between women and men across different regional types. Using data from the BA Employment Panel (BEP) descriptive statistics show that the gender pay gap grows wider from core regions to periphery. The main explanatory variables for the income differentials are vocational education in the men's case and size of enterprise in the women's case. Whereas in the case of women the importance of vocational status increases and the importance of size of enterprise decreases from rural areas to urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of Football World Cups in Germany 2006 and France 1998 on overnight stays at hotels, national income from tourism, and retail sales are analyzed. For France, no effects could be isolated. For Germany, 700,000 additional overnight stays and US$900 million in net national tourism income could be identified. Novelty effects of the stadiums, image effects for the host nations, and the feel-good effect for the population might be of larger importance. South Africa might have to cope with the underuse of the World Cup (WC) stadia in the aftermath of the tournament. However, there are arguments for why South Africa might realize larger economic benefits than former WC hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift fur Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter 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.)

Information about several papers discussed at the conference entitled "Regional Integration in Africa" held in Gieᵦen, Germany on November 7-9, 2008 is presented. Topics include the assessment of regional economic communities (RECs) practice, East African Community (EAC) and African Union (AU) security and the legal integration of the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa. Moreover, human rights violations have been reviewed in the court.

Fromhold-Eisebith M. and Eisebith G. Looking behind facades: evaluating effects of (automotive) cluster promotion, Regional Studies. Promoting industrial clusters features as a major guideline of regional economic support all over the world. Despite a vivid debate about the concept and its application, research has rarely empirically evaluated the added effects of cluster initiatives and applied methods have hardly been adequate to the task. This paper discusses general issues of assessing cluster promotion and suggests an empirical approach. It presents findings of a research project that has, accordingly, investigated patterns of effects of two automotive cluster initiatives in Germany and Austria. Insights concerning methodological and political issues can be derived. [image omitted] Fromhold-Eisebith M. et Eisebith G. Derriere la facade: evaluation des effets de la promotion des clusters (dans l'industrie automobile), Regional Studies. La promotion des clusters industriels represente actuellement l'un des axes majeurs du soutien economique regional a travers le monde. Malgre de vifs debats portant sur ce concept et son application, les recherches ont rarement evalue empiriquement les effets cumules des initiatives en matiere de clusters, et les methodes appliquees n'etaient guere adaptees a cette tache. Cet article examine les problemes generaux que pose l'evaluation de la promotion des clusters et suggere une approche empirique. Il presente les resultats d'un projet de recherche qui a, en consequence, etudie les effets types de deux initiatives de clusters dans l'industrie automobile en Allemagne et en Autriche. Il est possible d'en tirer des elements de nature a eclairer les problemes methodologiques et politiques. Developpement regional Promotion des clusters Effets Evaluation Methodologie Industrie automobile Fromhold-Eisebith M. und Eisebith G. Ein Blick hinter Fassaden: Bewertung der Wirkungen von (Automotive) Clusterforderung, Regional Studies. Die Clusterforderung bildet mittlerweile weltweit eine wesentliche Leitidee der regionalen Wirtschaftsforderung. Trotz der lebhaften Debatte uber das Clusterkonzept und seine Anwendung sind die durch Clusterinitiativen angeregten Netto-Effekte noch kaum empirisch erforscht worden, und bislang genutzte methodische Ansatze werden der komplexen Aufgabe nicht hinreichend gerecht. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert generelle Erfordernisse der Wirkungsbewertung von Clusterforderung und schlagt einen empirischen Ansatz vor. Er prasentiert die Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts, das dementsprechend die Wirkungsmuster zweiter Automotive-Clusterinitiativen in Deutschland und Osterreich untersucht hat. Dies liefert Erkenntnisse zu methodologischen sowie politischen Implikationen. Regionalentwicklung Clusterforderung Effekte Evaluation Methodologie Automobilindustrie Fromhold-Eisebith M. y Eisebith G. Mirando detras de las fachadas: Evaluacion de los efectos en el fomento de la aglomeracion (automotriz), Regional Studies. El fomento de las aglomeraciones industriales se ha convertido en una guia principal del soporte regional economico en todo el mundo. Pese a un intenso debate sobre el concepto y su aplicacion, rara vez en la investigacion se han evaluado empiricamente los efectos anadidos de las iniciativas de aglomeracion, y los metodos aplicados casi nunca han sido adecuados para la tarea. En este articulo planteamos cuestiones generales en cuanto a evaluar el fomento de aglomeracion y aportamos un enfoque empirico. Presentamos los resultados de un proyecto de investigacion en el que se ha analizado en consecuencia los modelos de los efectos de dos iniciativas de aglomeracion en el sector automotriz en Alemania y Austria. Podemos deducir una mejor comprension de los problemas metodologicos y politicos. Desarrollo regional Fomento de aglomeracion Efectos Evaluacion Metodologia Automotriz [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of the interplay between the two objectives of equity and efficiency for national policy-makers in charge of regional policy is becoming topical once again in regional economics. This paper first reviews this issue theoretically and looks at recent literature contributions to show that, although many advances have been made, little attention has been paid to the effects of regional structural differences on the trade-off between the two objectives. Then, to demonstrate that differences between the regions of which a country is composed may influence the results of the models, a new simple short-run two-country four-region model is introduced to study the trade-off (differentiating for different regional productivity and different strengths of agglomeration economies—which are innovatively modelled on the demand side). In this short-term model, the national policy-maker can affect entrepreneurship through the set-up costs of firms. Similarly to the traditional literature, for countries composed of identical regions, spatially dispersed allocations of public support to production are more efficient with low agglomeration economies whereas spatially concentrated allocations are more efficient with high agglomeration economies. As the regions become different, however, unbalanced allocations of public support to the most advanced region become more efficient even in the case of relatively weak agglomeration economies, until, when regions are sufficiently different, the most efficient allocation of public support to production is always concentrated in the most advanced territories. If some sort of compensating mechanisms were available, in the short-run the policy-makers could decide to support the competitiveness of the already more-productive regions and transfer income to the lagging ones. All these issues are studied with reference to southern Italy (“Mezzogiorno”) and eastern Germany (former DDR) in order to show not only the similarities with the model’s predictions but also the many differences, resulting from the far greater complexity of actual development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and applies neural network (NN) models to forecast regional employment patterns in Germany. Computer-aided optimization tools that imitate natural biological evolution to find the solution that best fits the given case (namely, genetic algorithms, GAs) are also used to detect the best NN structure. GA techniques are compared with more `traditional' techniques which require the supervision of experienced analysts. We test the performance of these techniques on a panel of 439 districts in West and East Germany. Since the West and East datasets have different time spans, the models are estimated separately for West and East Germany. The results show that the West and East NN models perform with different degrees of precision, mainly because of the different time spans of the two datasets. Automatic techniques for the choice of the NN architecture do not seem to outperform selection procedures based on the supervision of expert analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of European and national aid among 271 German labor market regions is considered as an optimization problem with three targets: (i) interregional equalization of unemployment rates; (ii) minimization of total (national) unemployment; and (iii) maximization of GDP, subject to budget constraints and some administrative restrictions. The analysis of the German program in 2000–2002 shows that the results actually obtained for 6 billion euro required only 241 million euro under optimal planning (4% of the actual budget). Such an inappropriate implementation of active labor market policies can be the cause of low efficiency, often misinterpreted as uselessness. This paper suggests a decision aid for optimal planning and shows that tax returns from the additional GDP due to jobs subsidized can transform regional policy into a winning governmental strategy. [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.)

Regional financial arrangements and monetary integration in East Asia and Europe have made considerable progress in recent years. This paper discusses whether governments in both regions, Japan and Germany as the most advanced regional economies in particular, can use the new dynamics as levers to raise their status vis-à-vis the United States. It will be argued that activities are defensive rather than offensive, aiming at protecting the respective region from financial risk. Japan, in particular, would find it difficult to raise its status vis-à-vis the United States significantly by promoting regional financial and monetary integration, principal reasons being actor heterogeneity, the role of China, hesitation to bear burden and risk, and the historical legacy of a bank-oriented system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation of neighbouring local authorities in the provision of regional public goods can be efficiency enhancing due to economies of scale, a better realisation of fiscal equivalence or dynamic efficiency gains. While the need for such cooperation between local authorities is undisputed, there are different positions concerning the form the cooperation should take. Some argue that local authority mergers are the most efficient and democratic strategy. Others argue that functional cooperation is more appropriate and that mergers reduce the welfare enhancing effects of competition between local authorities. Based on the conditions in Germany that can be interpreted as a natural experiment it is shown in a cross-section analysis that local authority mergers in monocentric city regions have indeed significant economic effects. All else equal the financial situation of city regions where the core and the hinterland are separate administrative districts is worse than in single district regions. Radical mergers of core cities and suburban towns in the 60s and 70s led to higher economic growth in the period 1980–1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH 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 Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH 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 article attempts to decompose the factors behind the differences in economic growth between Great Britain, France and Germany between 1992 and 2005 using Growth Accounting and Production Analysis. Most of the growth differential between the three countries since 1993 can be explained by structural factors.

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH 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 Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH 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.)

The agglomeration of industries has recently received much interest both in empirical and theoretical works time. Especially in Germany politicians became inspired by the notion of high-technology industry clusters, and regional policy has seen a wave of initiatives aiming at the formation of such clusters. This paper explores in a systematic way the geographic concentration of German manufacturing industries and relates it to industry characteristics and agglomeration forces proposed by theory. The main finding is that there is no general relationship between agglomeration and high-technology related business which suggests that hope put in the fast and effective development of “high-tech” clusters might see some disappointments in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As trust is essential for close mutual cooperation, trust between entrepreneurs running SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) has been increasingly acknowledged as an important factor in regional economic development. However, one of the main problems of post-socialist economies is that the increased need for entrepreneurial trust is thwarted by conditions discouraging the creation of trust. In order to investigate this problem, an empirical study was carried out among 1CT entrepreneurs in eastern Germany to examine the main aspects of trust identified in the recent literature on SMEs and entrepreneurship. The findings revealed that although barriers impeding the emergence of inter-entrepreneurial trust do not necessarily exist in a lagging, transforming region such as eastern Germany, its development may prove more difficult than elsewhere. Problems can be attributed to 'legacies of socialism' in the knowledge patterns of `post-socialist entrepreneurs' and, more importantly, their perception of a general lack of market power. However, actual problems of building entrepreneurial trust can usually be resolved by careful reflection on the part of those concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 federal system of intergovernmental relationships in Germany was greatly affected in the 1990s by the increased importance of transnational rationales and by strong orientations to competitiveness in domestic political discourse. New territorial imperatives have given rise to a variety of innovative institutional approaches to policy-making, the main focus of which is the need to jointly identify new political arenas and new territorial domains for development policies. The result has been a plurality of highly differentiated experimental approaches to regionalization, challenging nested systems of territorial jurisdictions and consolidated policy styles. German initiatives in ‘experimental regionalism’ are addressed in a perspective that highlights their dimension of institutional coevolution in the framework of emerging multi-level governance practices at a European level: they are hence not only seen as responses to exogenous factors, but also as outcomes of endogenous factors of innovation and change, related to the need for new forms of political regulation in dealing with intergovernmental policy-making deadlocks and new ‘local’ claims for representation and mobilization. Building on interpretations of regional governance based on a regulationist- and state-theoretical perspective, elaborated in economic and political geography, recent German approaches to ‘experimental regionalism’ are interpreted as new modes of policy-making that redefine the state's role in political-economic regulation through a dual process involving a reframing of state-local relationships and a rescaling of territorial policy arenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current academic discussions on economic development make a case for 'regional governance' in city-regions and stress the importance of varying institutional and policy-making frameworks for country-specific interpretations of 'regionalization'. This article will look at the evolution of forms and structures of regional governance in two of the main urban regions in western Europe, London and Berlin. They have been chosen for their underlying structural-geographic comparability, including their international outlook and awareness of competitiveness, while at the same time representing quite different constitutional and institutional arrangements for territorial governance in general, and that for city regions in particular. Nevertheless, as shown in this article, there appears to be the common challenge of an institutional lag in the adjustment of city-regional government to the imperatives of regional economic competition. This may even go as far as institutional arrangements not only being ineffective but obstructive to the development of city-regional governance through in-built support of localist or institutionalist ambitions. Drawing new boundaries between territories of institutional responsibilities, establishing institutional 'performance targets' or fiscally rewarding inter-local competition, are just some of the obstacles to building effective city regional governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current state of play regarding the interaction of labour market and regional economics, in particular the New Economic Geography, was discussed at an international workshop organised by the DIW Berlin, Germany. New theoretical ideas and the more powerful sets of microdata available to scientists today signal an increasing significance of this area of research. An important insight recognised at this workshop was that the labour market does not exist. Individual labour markets develop in very different ways. Wage levels and employment opportunities depend on the regional concentration of these markets. Empirical studies show, for example, that those with higher qualifications in particular benefit from the strength of economic activity in a region. Theoretical studies have concluded that investment in human capital is worthwhile particularly in markets with a high degree of concentration. Labour market policy would be ill advised to rashly follow economic policy recommendations emphasising only regionally undifferentiated measures.

This article outlines the concept of the promotion and the first empirical results of the establishment and development of the InnoRegio networks. Ten years after German reunification the economic situation in the new Länder is still unsatisfactory. New approaches are being sought in promotional policy so that the weaknesses that are known or suspected can be better targeted and removed. One of these weaknesses is the lack of research, and the consequent shortage of innovation by companies. Another is inadequate regional cohesion between companies and related facilities. Formal and informal cooperation between the various regional protagonists is regarded as essential to strengthen corporate innovation and exploit the regional economic potential, and that means networking of companies, research facilities, universities, the administration and politicians. In April 1999 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research therefore launched a promotional initiative known as InnoRegio. Prospective participants were invited to enter a competition for promotional funds by putting forward concepts for the development of innovative regional cooperations or associations. The implementation of the InnoRegio Initiative will be monitored by complementary research until 2004.

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KRÄTKE S. (1999) Regional integration or fragmentation? The German-Polish border region in a new Europe, Reg. Studies 33, 631-641. This paper deals with the problems of regional economic integration in the German-Polish border area, focusing on the nature and intensity of cross-border inter-firm linkages. It firstly emphasizes the differentiation of regional development paths in East Central Europe, contrasting a 'high road' and a 'low road' to development. Then the problems of cross-border regional integration are discussed with regard to exogenous and endogenous influences. Exogenous influences on the development of the border region include the investment strategies of western firms in former East Germany and Poland. Endogenous influences include communication barriers and a 'low trust environment' which is rooted in the particular development history of this region. These factors help to explain why only weak and qualitatively 'low level' approaches to economic co-operation between regional firms on both sides of the border have emerged. KRÄTKE S. (1999) Intégration régionale ou morcellement?: la région frontalière entre l'Allemagne et la Polognè a l'heure européenne, Reg. Studies 33, 631-641. Cet article cherchè a aborder la question de l'intégration économique, régionale dans la zone frontalière entre l'Allemagne et la Pologne, portant sur les caractéristiques et l'importance des maillons interentreprises, transfrontaliers. Dans un premier temps, on souligne la différenciation entre les sentiers de croissance régionale dans l'est de l'Europe centrale, tout en comparant un 'sentier haut' à un 'sentier bas'. Dans un deuxième temps, on discute de la question de l'intégration régionale transfrontalière quant aux influences exogènes et endogènes. Les influences exogènes sont, parmi d'autres, les stratégies d'investissement des entreprises occidentales situées dans l'ex Allemagne de l'Est et la Pologne. Les influences endogènes comprennent les barrières à la communication et un 'milieu à faible investissement' lequel remontè a l'histoire particulière du développement de cette région. Ces facteurs aident à expliquer pourquoi il s'est fait jour des façons faibles et qualitativement 'de bas niveau' d'aborder la coopération économique entre les entreprises situées des deux côtés de la frontière. KRÄTKE S. (1999) Regionale Integration oder Zersplitterung? Das deutsch-polnische Grenzgebiet in einem neuen Europa, Reg. Studies 33, 631–641. Dieser Aufsatz befaßt sich mit den Problemen regionaler wirtschaftlicher Integration im deutsch-polnischen Grenzgebiet, wobei Natur und Intensität grenzüberschreitend miteinander verknüpfter Firmen in den Blickpunkt gerückt werden. Er betont zunächst die Unterschiede regionaler Entwicklungswege in Ostmitteleuropa, bei denen sich Wegge zur Entwicklung ‘von oben' und ‘von unten' gegenüberstehen. Dem folgt eine Diskussion der grenzüberschreitenden regionalen Integration im Hinblick auf exogene und endogene Einflüsse. Zu den exogenen Einflüssen auf die Entwicklung des Grenzgebiets gehören die Entwicklungsstrategien westlicher Firmen im ehemaligen Ostdeutschland und Polen, zu den endogenen die Kommunikationsschranken und ein ‘Milieu geringen Vertrauens', das seine Wurzeln in der besonderen Entwicklungsgeschichte der Region hat. Diese Faktoren tragen dazu bei, zu erklären, warum nur schwache, oder verhältnismäßig bescheidene Ansätze zu wirtschaftlicher Zusammenarbeit zwischen Firmen beiderseits der Grenze gemacht wurden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work on fundamental shifts in the social organization of production and exchange in industrial economies stimulated a flurry of studies on the endogenous development potential of localized, collaborative production complexes, often referred to as industrial districts. Most of the empirical efforts have gone into describing specific regional economies in terms of the extent to which they reflect the organizational principles of industrial districts, rather than testing specific theoretical hypotheses. From a theory building perspective, individual case studies can be an important source of detailed information to be used as a basis for developing testable hypotheses. But so far, the theory of industrial districts has not been subjected to systematic empirical testing. The case of Baden-Württemberg, a state in southwest Germany and a region cited in the district literature as one of the most celebrated success stories of regional economic development, illustrates some of the ambiguities associated with using the district concept as a development tool. This article questions whether Baden-Württemberg's performance can be explained in district-theoretic terms. It is argued that there is a bias in the district literature toward static models and toward stressing purpose and intentionality at the expense of chance.

Both the Amen can and the German federal systems are acting under the impact of increasing globalization and are involved in processes of macro-regional integration. These developments are of vital interest for the constituent members of both federations. In such transformations, the nature of the representation of subnational units is a pivotal element. The crucial point is whether the federation and/or the new transnational regimes provide for the representation of subnational territorial units and give space for their horizontal cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging supranational spaces exercise a strong influence on the internal economic structures of the large economic blocks in the world by shaping the internal division of labour and form of integration into the world economy. The authors analyse the processes of change in the case of the "Frankfurt-Rhein-Main" region, criticizing the concept of flexible specialization by demonstrating the effects of the dynamic inherent in the region, the impact of supranational and national institutions and enterprises as well as the heterogeneity of contemporary processes of restructuration. They show how relations between centre and periphery on all spatial levels are changing under the variable form of integration into or exclusion from the flexible hierarchy of the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]