1,721,118 research outputs found
Tra sviluppo e politiche sociali : l’impatto dei Fondi strutturali europei nelle regioni Obiettivo I
No full textInstitutions and the uneven geography of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic
Full text linkThis paper examines the uneven geography of COVID-19-related excess mortality during the first wave of the pandemic in Europe, before assessing the factors behind the geographical differences in impact. The analysis of 206 regions across 23 European countries reveals a distinct COVID-19 geography. Excess deaths were concentrated in a limited number of regions—expected deaths exceeded 20% in just 16 regions—with more than 40% of the regions considered experiencing no excess mortality during the first 6 months of 2020. Highly connected regions, in colder and dryer climates, with high air pollution levels, and relatively poorly endowed health systems witnessed the highest incidence of excess mortality. Institutional factors also played an important role. The first wave hit regions with a combination of weak and declining formal institutional quality and fragile informal institutions hardest. Low and declining national government effectiveness, together with a limited capacity to reach out across societal divides, and a frequent tendency to meet with friends and family were powerful drivers of regional excess mortality
R&D, Socio-Economic Conditions, and Regional Innovation in the U.S
No full textThis paper looks at the genesis of innovation in the U.S. from a territorial perspective. The analysis aims to disentangle the impact of local research and development (R&D) expenditure from other contextual conditions supportive of the process of innovation. Particular emphasis is devoted to the role of socio-economic factors and systems of innovation (“social filter” conditions) and to their impact on the returns of R&D expenditure in different territorial contexts. The empirical analysis is based on a regional knowledge production function approach, leading to an empirical model estimated by means of panel data analysis for the period between 1994 and 2007 at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis-Economic Area level. The results unveil the complexity of the territorial dynamics of innovation of the U.S. Local R&D investments are important predictors for regional innovative performance and their impact is highly localised. However, social filter conditions are fundamental for the productivity of innovation efforts
I cicli economici e l’emergere delle economie assistite nella periferia dell’Europa meridionale
No full textRegional inequality in Europe: Evidence, theory and policy implications
Full text linkRegional 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 modes of regional economic performance in Europe, responding to different development challenges and opportunities. Both mainstream and heterodox theories have gaps in their ability to explain the existence of these different regional trajectories and the weakness of the convergence processes among them. Therefore, a different approach is required, one that strengthens Europe's strongest regions but develops new approaches to promote opportunity in industrial declining and less-developed regions. There is ample new theory and evidence to support such an approach, which we have labelled 'place-sensitive distributed development policy'
Quality of government and innovative performance in the regions of Europe
No full textThis article aims to shed light on how institutions shape innovative capacity, by focusing on how regional government quality affects innovative performance in the regions of Europe. By exploiting new data on quality of government, we assess how government quality and its components (control of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness and government accountability) shape patenting across the regions of the European Union (EU). The results of the analysis-which are robust to controlling for the endogeneity of institutions-provide strong evidence of a link between the quality of government and the capacity of regions to innovate. In particular, ineffective and corrupt governments represent a fundamental barrier for the innovative capacity of the periphery of the EU, strongly undermining any potential effect of any other measures aimed at promoting greater innovation. The results have important implications for the definition of innovation strategies in EU regions
Infrastructure and regional growth in the European Union
No full textTransport infrastructure has represented one of the cornerstones of development and cohesion strategies in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere in the world. However, despite the considerable funds devoted to it, its impact remains controversial. This paper revisits the question of to what extent transport infrastructure endowment – proxied by regional motorways – has contributed to regional growth in the EU between 1990 and 2004. It analyses infrastructure in relationship to other factors which may condition economic growth, such as innovation, migration, and the local ‘social filter’, taking also into account the geographical component of intervention in transport infrastructure and innovation. The results of the two-way fixed-effect (static) and difference GMM (dynamic) panel data regressions indicate that infrastructure endowment is a relatively poor predictor of economic growth and that regional growth in the EU results from a combination of an adequate ‘social filter’, good innovation capacity, both in the region and in neighbouring areas, and a region's capacity to attract migrants. The meagre returns of infrastructure endowment on economic growth raise interesting questions about the opportunity costs of further infrastructure investments across most of Western Europe
Mountains in a flat world: why proximity still matters for the location of economic activity
Full text linkThomas Friedman (2005, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) argues that the expansion of trade, the internationalization of firms, the galloping process of outsourcing and the possibility of networking are creating a 'flat world': a level playing field where individuals are empowered and better off. This paper challenges this view of the world by arguing that not all territories have the same capacity to maximize the benefits and opportunities and minimize the risks linked to globalization. Numerous forces are coalescing in order to provoke the emergence of urban 'mountains' where wealth, economic activity and innovative capacity agglomerate. The interactions of these forces in the close geographical proximity of large urban areas give shape to a much more complex geography of the world economy. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
An ‘integrated’ framework for the comparative analysis of the territorial innovation dynamics of developed and emerging countries
Full text linkThis paper discusses recent developments in the literature on local and regional
innovative performance to show how an ‘integrated’ conceptual framework based on the cross-
fertilization of different theories can serve as a foundation for the comparative analysis of territorial
innovation dynamics in both developed and developing countries. The paper outlines a conceptual
framework to explain the differences between innovation systems and their geography by drawing
on elements of endogenous growth, new economic geography and regional innovation systems.
This framework forms the basis of the subsequent analysis of the differences in innovative
capacity between the European Union (EU), the United States (US) – as the leader system to be
challenged – and China and India as emerging competitors for international technological
leadership. The systematic analysis of a large body of empirical literature shows important
differences between the spatial patterning of ‘emerging’ (China and India) and ‘mature’ (EU
and US) innovation systems
- …
