Models that depict innovation as a smooth, well-behaved linear process badly misspecify the nature and direction of the causal factors at work. Innovation is complex, uncertain, somewhat disorderly, and subject to changes of many sorts. Innovation is also difficult to measure and demands close coordination of adequate technical knowledge and excellent market judgment in order to satisfy economic, technological, and other types of constraints—all simultaneously. The process of innovation must be viewed as a series of changes in a complete system not only of hardware, but also of market environment, production facilities and knowledge, and the social contexts of the innovation organization.

An Overview of Innovation

The paper examines the debates regarding place-neutral versus place-based policies for economic development. The analysis is set in the context of how development policy thinking on the part of both scholars and international organizations has evolved over several decades. Many of the previously accepted arguments have been called into question by the impacts of globalization and a new response to these issues has emerged, a response both to these global changes and also to nonspatial development approaches. The debates are highlighted in the context of a series of major reports recently published on the topic. The cases of the developing world and the European Union are used as examples of how in this changing context development intervention should increasingly focus on efficiency and social inclusion at the expense of an emphasis on territorial convergence and how strategies should consider economic, social, political, and institutional diversity in order to maximize both the local and the aggregate potential for economic development.

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The case for regional development intervention: place-based versus place-neutral approaches*

Neil Brenner has in the past few years made a major impact on the ways in which we understand the changing political geographies of the modern state Simultaneously analyzing the restructuring of urban governance and the transformation of national states under globalizing capitalism, 'New State Spaces' is a mature and sophisticated analysis of broad interdisciplinary interest, making this a highly significant contribution to the subject

New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood

Rodriguez-Pose A. Do institutions matter for regional development?, Regional Studies. This paper discusses whether institutions matter for regional development and how to integrate them in regional development strategies. It is found that while institutions are crucial for economic development, generating an institution-based regional development strategy is likely to be undermined by the lack of definition of what are efficient institutions. Problems related to the measurement of institutions, to their space and time variability, to the difficulties in establishing the right mix of formal and informal institutions, and to the endogeneity between institutions and economic development make one-size-fits-all approaches to operationalizing institutions difficult. The paper posits that, in order to overcome these problems, it is crucial to distinguish between the ‘institutional environment’ and ‘institutional arrangements’, that is, to target not the institutions which shape the unique character of any territ...

Do Institutions Matter for Regional Development

Persistent poverty, economic decay, and lack of opportunities are at the root of considerable discontent in declining and lagging-behind areas the world over. Poor development prospects and an increasing belief that these places have ‘no future’ – as economic dynamism has been posited to be increasingly dependent on agglomeration economies – have led many of these so-called ‘places that don’t matter’ to revolt against the status quo. The revolt has come via an unexpected source: the ballot-box in a wave of political populism with strong territorial, rather than social foundations. I will argue that the populist wave is challenging the sources of existing well-being in both the less-dynamic and the more prosperous areas and that better, rather than more, place-sensitive territorial development policies are needed in order to find a solution to the problem. Place-sensitive development policies need, however, to stay clear of the welfare, income-support, and big investment projects of past development strategies if they are to be successful and focus on tapping into untapped potential and on providing opportunities to those people living in the places that ‘don’t matter’.

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The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)

Since the mid‐1990s, Brazil has become one of the main recipients of foreign direct investment in the automobile sector. As in the late 1950s and early 1960s, world car manufacturers are investing heavily in the building of new car plants. The renewed interest of car companies in Brazil is a result of the huge and expanding internal market and the relatively stable macroeconomic panorama of the mid‐1990s. However, and in contrast to what happened in the 1950s and 1960s, most new car plants are being located outside the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, the traditional hub of the Brazilian motor industry. Although some argue that, among other reasons, this is the result of lower labour costs elsewhere in Brazil and of improved infrastructure in the country, this article aims to demonstrate that the recent decentralization of the Brazilian motor industry is basically linked to perverse territorial competition among Brazilian states. This sort of territorial competition – known in Brazil as the ‘fiscal wars’– represents a pure waste of resources, both for the states engaged in them, as well as for Brazil as a whole. Depuis le milieu des annes 1990, le Bresil est devenu l'une des principales destinations de l'investissement direct a l'etranger dans le secteur de l'automobile. Comme vers la fin des annees 1950 et le debut des annees 1960, les fabricants mondiaux de vehicules investissent massivement dans la construction de nouvelles usines. Le regain d'interet de ces societes pour le Bresil resulte en partie de la taille et de l'expansion du marche interieur, ainsi que de la relative stabilite du paysage macroeconomique du milieu des annees 1990. Pourtant, et contrairement au phenomene precedent, la plupart des nouvelles usines s'implantent hors de la zone metropolitaine de Sao Paulo, centre traditionnel de l'industrie automobile bresilienne. Pour certains, ce choix provient, entre autres raisons, du fait que les co?ts du travail sont plus faibles partout ailleurs au Bresil e (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Strategies of waste: bidding wars in the brazilian automobile sector

Regional economic divergence has become a threat to economic progress, social cohesion and political stability in Europe. Market processes and policies that are supposed to spread prosperity and opportunity are no longer sufficiently effective. The evidence points to the existence of several different economic clubs of regions in Europe, each with different development challenges and opportunities. Both mainstream and heterodox theories have gaps in their ability to explain the existence of these different clubs and the weakness of the convergence processes among them. Therefore, a different approach is required, one that would strengthen Europe’s strongest regions but would develop new approaches to the weaker clubs. There is ample new theory and evidence to support such an approach, which we have labelled “place-sensitive distributed development policy” (PSDDP).

Why regional development matters for Europe's economic future

Despite a massive recent proliferation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), there is virtually no quantitative research on what drives their dynamism. The aim of this paper is to address this gap and analyse the factors influencing SEZ performance – proxied by economic growth – in emerging countries. The paper relies on two novel datasets, using night-lights data to proxy for SEZ performance and containing a wide range of SEZ policy variables and characteristics across a large number of countries. The main results of the analysis indicate that a) zone growth is difficult to sustain over time; that b) trying to upgrade the technological component or value-added of the economy through SEZ policies is often challenging; and that c) zone size matters: larger zones have an advantage in terms of growth potential. Furthermore, country context significantly determines SEZ performance. Firms look for low cost locations, but in close proximity to large cities. Proximity to large markets as well as pre-existing industrialization also increase SEZ performance. In contrast, incentives and other program specific variables are highly context-specific and not structurally correlated with SEZ performance.

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Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries

This orientation paper deals with how territorial polarization can be limited in the face of globalization and discusses the role of an international organization, such as the ILO, in tackling polarization and strengthening the capacity of individuals and firms in lagging areas of the world to withstand competition and create meaningful employment opportunities.

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Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

Papers

The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)

Strategies of waste: bidding wars in the brazilian automobile sector

Why regional development matters for Europe's economic future

Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries

The role of the ILO in implementing local economic development strategies in a globalized world