Regional Studies

, ; Lee, Emma; Eversole, Robyn

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1587159pmid: N/A

This paper contributes to a more in-depth theorization of the role of community and culture in regional development with a specific reference to the diverse communities who identify as Indigenous peoples. The concept of Indigenous regional development is used to describe how Indigenous cultural perspectives on regions, knowledge and the kinds of relationships that can generate innovation are distinctive from mainstream scholarly and policy conceptualizations. Indigenous regional development opens up new conceptual terrain for both regional development theory and policy, creating new opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration and regional innovation.

Capello, Roberta; Perucca, Giovanni

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1587398pmid: N/A

Since the Brexit referendum and the widespread resurgence of nationalisms, the future of the European Union has become an urgent issue. The idea of this paper is that Cohesion Policy might contribute to the process of European identity-building, and the intensity of this contribution depends on how citizens perceive European Union interventions. This study provides original evidence on the impact of certain characteristics of local policy settings on the perception of Cohesion Policy. It finds that citizens’ satisfaction depends on the fulfilment of their perceived needs. This holds independently of the capacity of European Union actions to fulfil the objective needs of the regions.

Content, Jeroen; Frenken, Koen; Jordaan, Jacob A.

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1595565pmid: N/A

Several studies have identified positive effects of related variety among a region’s economic sectors on employment growth. However, the exact mechanisms through which knowledge spillovers between related sectors translate into employment growth are yet to be demonstrated. Entrepreneurship may be a possible transmission mechanism via which spillovers lead to the creation of new jobs. In this paper, we analyze novel pan-European regional survey data that distinguishes between opportunity- and necessity-driven entrepreneurs and we find that related variety has a positive effect on opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. In addition, we also find that different ‘varieties of capitalism’ influence regional entrepreneurship.

Ehrl, Philipp; Monasterio, Leonardo

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1585798pmid: N/A

This paper links the past and present regional concentration of skills using the spatial distributions of occupations from the Brazilian censuses of 1872, 1920 and 2010. The data indicate that the concentration of top skills is highly persistent. Multivariate regressions show that regions with a high concentration of industrial and liberal occupations in the past have a high concentration of interpersonal, analytical and cognitive skills today. Moreover, it is observed that skill persistence seems to be positively related to market size. Controlling for natural advantages, the dependence on slave labour and immigration in the past does not undermine the relevance of the historical skill distribution.

Barratt, Tom; Ellem, Bradon

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1590542pmid: N/A

Global production networks (GPNs) exist across time as well as space, an idea that is underplayed within GPN theory. To consider how time influences the remaking of the network and region, the paper explores the temporal development of one iron ore GPN in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Its emphasis is on temporality and, drawing upon evolutionary economic geography (EEG), the paper shows that GPNs are created over and with time. This makes a singular contribution to GPN theory by simultaneously explaining the configuration of contemporary networks and in developing an understanding of how actors make and remake networks over and with time.

Kutlu, Levent; Nair-Reichert, Usha

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1590543pmid: N/A

Technical efficiency estimates using standard stochastic frontier models do not include spillover effects, although the existence of such spillovers is well documented in the productivity literature. This paper proposes a regression-based, distribution-free estimation method applicable to both time-varying efficiency spatial stochastic frontier and fixed effects spatial autoregressive models, which is relatively easy to estimate. The empirical results from the Indian chemical industry illustrate that ignoring spatial dependence may seriously distort estimates for efficiency rankings. The average overall spillover effect on a firm’s efficiency is 7.20 percentage points, or an average positive spillover effect of US$4.9 million in sales revenue.

Accetturo, Antonio; Cascarano, Michele; Degasperi, Petra; Modena, Francesca

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1593344pmid: N/A

This paper analyzes the impact of cultural proximity on economic exchanges and, in particular, on tourist flows. It exploits the cultural heterogeneity in South Tyrol, an Italian region bordering on Austria and Switzerland where two main linguistic groups (Italian and German) coexist. It is shown that the share of tourism by German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) positively correlates with the share of the local population belonging to the German linguistic group. This result is robust to the introduction of a very fine set of geographical dummies (local labour systems) and a number of municipality-level covariates. It also holds when instrumenting the share of the German-speaking local population with the increase of the local population in the period 1921–36 when the forced Italianization of South Tyrol took place under the Fascist regime.

Luca, Davide; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1594750pmid: N/A

A growing amount of research explores how the allocation of regional development monies follows electoral reasons. Yet, the existing literature on distributive politics provides different and contrasting expectations on which geographical areas will be targeted. The paper focuses on proportional representation (PR) systems. While in such settings governments have incentives to target core districts and punish foes, it is suggested that when incumbents attempt to build a state–party image they may broaden the territorial allocation of benefits and even target opposition out-groups. The paper exploits data on Turkey's public transport investment for the period 2003–14 and in-depth interviews to provide results in support of the hypothesis.

Elekes, Zoltán; Boschma, Ron; Lengyel, Balázs

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1596254pmid: N/A

This paper investigates the role of different types of firms in related and unrelated diversification in regions, in particular the extent to which foreign-owned firms induce structural change in the manufacturing capability base of 67 Hungarian regions between 2000 and 2009. Doing so, it connects more tightly the literatures of evolutionary economic geography and international business. The results indicate that foreign-owned firms deviate more from the region's average capability match than domestic-owned firms. However, this deviation is larger on the short run than in the long run, and more pronounced in peripheral regions and in the capital region.

Bernini, Cristina; Tampieri, Alessandro

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1597266pmid: N/A

The paper investigates how traits of cities explain subjective well-being and its subcomponents. Building up a happiness function, where life satisfaction is determined by satisfaction on life domains, the impact of city-level determinants of happiness is analyzed through a multilevel analysis. The results show that Italian cities have an effect on subjective well-being through different happiness domains. The relationship between the estimated coefficients of domain satisfactions and some relevant urban-context variables and amenities is then examined. This approach allows urban policy agendas to be designed around city-specific characteristics.