Regional Economic Development And Policy

Originally published in 1983, when Europe’s economies were facing the worst recession since the 1930s, this book reviews the outcome of a quarter of a century of research and practical experience in the field of regional economic management. In the spatial context of the European Community, the author explores central issues by integrating the results of his own research with those of economists, geographers, economic historians and psychologists. It provides a wide survey of the subject, demonstrates the complexity of the spatial-economic systems which the regional economic planner seeks to modify, analyses the strategies for regional development employed by national and international agencies and offers a substantial annotated bibliography. Contradictions arising from the contrasting spatial perspectives of national governments and the European Commission are emphasised. Among other things, it concludes that many regional problems strongly reflect perception and behavioural factors as well as purely economic constraints.

This book analyzes economic development policy governance in northern Ontario over the past thirty years, with the goal of making practical policy recommendations for present and future government engagement with the region. It brings together scholars from several disciplines to address the policy and management challenges in various sectors of northern Ontario’s economy, including the mining, pulp and paper, and tourism industries, and both small- and medium-sized businesses. Governance in Northern Ontario assesses the role of the provincial government and its economic policy intervention in the region’s economic development. The contributors evaluate the relationship between the provincial and local governments and the business sector, and also looser structures of policy networks, such as those of First Nations and other interested community groups. Focusing on the nature of partnerships between governments and societal interests, Governance in Northern Ontario makes a significant contribution to the theories and practice of public policy governance in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions.

This is a relatively simple and easy to read introduction of major regional and local economic development theories, their theoretical evolution and other relevant topics such as governance, institutions and local leadership within the globalization context. It also discusses some basic analytical tools and provides a template for them in an easy to use MS Excel spreadsheet application. It introduces conflict management procedures into regional development process and provides a regional decision support framework.

In his widely acclaimed first edition of this book, published in 1986, Donald Savoie shed some welcome light on the Canadian experience of regional development policy. With this second edition he brings the analysis up to date.

Regional economic development has attracted the interest of economists, geographers, planners and regional scientists for a long time. And, of course, it is a field that has developed a large practitioner cohort in government and business agencies from the national down to the state and local levels. In planning for cities and regions, both large and small, economic development issues now tend to be integrated into strategic planning processes. For at least the last 50 years, scholars from various disciplines have theorised about the nature of regional economic development, developing a range of models seeking to explain the process of regional economic development, and why it is that regions vary so much in their economic structure and performance and how these aspects of a region can change dramatically over time. Regional scientists in particular have developed a comprehensive tool-kit of methodologies to measure and monitor regional economic characteristics such as industry sectors, employment, income, value of production, investment, and the like, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, and focusing on both static and dynamic analysis. The 'father of regional science', Walter lsard, was the first to put together a comprehensive volume on techniques of regional analysis (Isard 1960), and since then a huge literature has emerged, including the many titles in the series published by Springer in which this book is published.

'Public Investment and Regional Economic Development is a very interesting and stimulating reading for policymakers and anyone doing research in this area.' - Adelheid Holl, Environment and Planning C: Government and Planning The relationship between public investment and regional economic development is of perennial interest and is particularly topical now as issues of infrastructure and innovation are high on policy agendas in many countries. Public investment is often viewed as a possible method for 'jump-starting' lagging regional economies and also as a requirement for the continued development of more prosperous regions. Public Investment and Regional Economic Development provides a systematic analysis of the complex relationship between public investment and regional economic development. The authors offer new insights into the key issues of regional growth, and present a broad variety of perspectives ranging from transport and housing infrastructure through to human capital and innovation.

The completely reedited second edition of this book reflects recent advances and adds insightful new material. The book analyzes regional economic performance and change, and discusses how analysis integrates with strategies for local and regional economic development policy and planning. The aim is to provide the reader with an account of quantitative and qualitative approaches to regional economic analysis, and of old and new strategic frameworks for formulating regional economic development planning.