Regional Studies

Medina-Bueno, José Luis; Guimón, José; Uyarra, Elvira; Sánchez Barrioluengo, Mabel

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2326172pmid: N/A

This paper explores the contribution of universities to regional development and innovation in locked-in and vulnerable resource-based regions of the Global South. Building on a regional change agency approach, we identify the combination of key factors and context preconditions for universities to successfully fulfil their local engagement role in a particularly challenging environment. To do so, we use a comparative case study of two mining regions in Peru. Our results reveal that the prevalence of a climate of conflict and the lack of an innovation culture in the regional ecosystem are important challenges, while strategic leadership and institutional capacities are central elements for universities to fulfil their role as transformative agents.

Deegan, Jason; Broekel, Tom; Haus-Reve, Silje; Fitjar, Rune Dahl

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2335265pmid: N/A

This paper adds a multidimensional perspective to the study of related diversification. We examine how regions diversify into new jobs – defined as unique industry-occupation combinations – asking whether they do so from related industries or related occupations. We use linked employer-employee data for all labour market regions in Norway, covering the time period 2009–2014. Diversification into new jobs is more likely in the presence of related occupations and industries in a region. Furthermore, occupational and industrial relatedness have complementary effects on diversification. Occupational relatedness and its interaction with industrial relatedness are particularly important for diversification into more complex activities.

Jestl, Stefan

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2292259pmid: N/A

This paper explores the effects of industrial robots and information and communication technology (ICT) on regional employment in European Union countries. The empirical analysis relies on a harmonised comprehensive regional dataset that combines business statistics and national and regional accounts data. This rich dataset enables us to provide detailed insights into the employment effects of automation and computerisation in EU regions for the period 2001–16. The results suggest relatively weak effects on regional total employment dynamics. However, industrial robots show negative employment effects in local manufacturing industries and positive employment effects in local non-manufacturing industries. While the negative effect is concentrated in particular local manufacturing industries, the positive effect has operated in local service industries. Information technology investments show positive employment effects in local manufacturing industries and some individual local service industries, while communication technology investments are shown to be irrelevant for employment dynamics. In contrast, software and database investments have had a predominantly negative association with local employment.

Gornig, Martin; Schiersch, Alexander

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2318454pmid: N/A

We study the impact of agglomeration effects on firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) for industry groups defined by technology intensity. This allows for non-uniform effects on firms depending on their technological level. We find that urban economies have the largest impact on firm productivity in high-technology industries, while they have no effect in low-technology industries. For firms in the latter industries, the diversity of the local economic structure is relevant. Localisation effects have a consistently positive and significant impact on TFP, with the effect increasing with the technology intensity of the industries.

Qiliang, Mao; Xianzhuang, Mao

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2281449pmid: N/A

This paper explores the impact of cultural proximity on interregional industrial linkages using evidence from China. The results show that cultural distance hinders horizontal industrial linkages between regions, but does not limit the formation of vertical industrial linkages. Cultural proximity affects interregional industrial cooperation strategies primarily through knowledge diffusion rather than transaction costs. Cultural proximity favours the formation of transregional social networks and the cognition of localised tacit knowledge. Consequently, regions that are culturally similar to one another have a comparative information advantage in forming horizontal industrial linkages.

Howell, Anthony; Li, Robin; Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha; Lobo, José

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2281437pmid: N/A

This paper explores the competing sources of productivity gains observed in China’s urban agglomerations focusing on three pillar industries: agro-food processing, textiles and electronics. The main results reveal that the higher aggregate productivity observed in denser Chinese cities is driven by both agglomeration and selection forces. Subsequent analysis shows that industrial support policies help to mitigate the selection penalty, but come at the expense of reducing agglomeration benefits. Complementing the city-level analysis, we estimate dynamic and distributive firm-level panel data models to explore the policy rationale of propping up inefficient firms, despite creating a less competitive environment. The micro-based results reveal that inefficient firms targeted by industrial support policies benefit from productivity spillovers in denser cities, mainly in the electronics industry, providing some policy rationale for keeping them in the market.

Yuan, Hehui; Song, Jinbo; Feng, Zhuo; Nie, Rong; Gao, Jingxin

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2316838pmid: N/A

Interregional inequality of public services is accompanied by their combined supply by government and market. This study investigates whether the spatial allocation of regional investment influences inequality and explores the differentiated source of such influence, distinguishing between government investment and private investment in China. Results suggest that the interregional inequality of public services is spatialised by the distorted spatial allocation of investment, which manifests itself as capital market segmentation, and it is aggravated by government investment but relieved by private investment. Such effects derive from differences in local protectionism, interregional competition and capital flow between government investment and private investment.

Arachi, Giampaolo; Assisi, Debora; Cesi, Berardino; Giuranno, Michele G.; Russo, Felice

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2350615pmid: N/A

This study evaluates the impact of intermunicipal cooperation on public procurement (PP) performance, based on the Italian experience. We use both a fixed-effects regression model and alternative matching estimators to analyse a sample of 50,905 Italian public works contracts awarded by municipalities and municipal unions (MUs) between 2012 and 2020. Our results indicate that while local centralisation does not necessarily lead to significant cost savings in the procurement phase, MUs outperform individual municipalities in the execution phase, especially in terms of reducing delivery delays. We conclude that while MUs do not necessarily lead to strong economies of scale, they do improve efficiency during contract execution. This highlights the alternative benefits of PP centralisation beyond cost savings.

Segovia, Joselin; Ramos, Raul

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2350611pmid: N/A

We analyse the regional differences in eight measures of intergenerational mobility across cantons in Ecuador. Within-country estimates show heterogeneity with lands of opportunity, such as the Galápagos, and areas where poverty traps prevail, namely the Central Andes. This study also finds that better opportunities for children are associated with locations that have higher levels of migration, schooling, agriculture, family self-employment and oil activity, while inequality and the share of Indigenous people provide worse opportunities for mobility. These relationships are reinforced by spillovers across space, which, in Ecuador, are more likely to result in poverty cycles than privilege ones.

Rajbhandari, Isha; Faggian, Alessandra; Partridge, Mark

doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2317918pmid: N/A

This paper analyses if and how oil and gas developments foster in-migration of workers into boomtowns. In particular, we focus on the workers’ human capital, as a way to help local growth. Using a zero-inflated negative binomial model, we find that oil and gas shocks, on average, take three years to significantly impact migration flows into boomtowns. The migration response is heterogeneous with a disproportionately higher positive effect for medium-high human capital workers. The types of human capital gained by rural and sparsely populated boomtowns can have important policy implications for their long-run growth and economic resilience.