Regional Development And Economic Growth

Actors and institutions in localities and regions across the world are seeking prosperity and well-being amidst tumultuous and disruptive shifts and transitions generated by: an increasingly globalised, knowledge-intensive capitalism; global financial instability, volatility and crisis; concerns about economic, social and ecological sustainability, climate change and resource shortages; new multi-actor and multi-level systems of government and governance and a re-ordering of the international political economy; state austerity and retrenchment; and, new and reformed approaches to intervention, policy and institutions for local and regional development. Local and Regional Development provides an accessible, critical and integrated examination of local and regional development theory, institutions and policy in this changing context. Amidst its rising importance, the book addresses the fundamental issues of ‘what kind of local and regional development and for whom?’, its purposes, principles and values, frameworks of understanding, approaches and interventions, and integrated approaches to local and regional development throughout the world. The approach provides a theoretically informed, critical analysis of contemporary local and regional development in an international and multi-disciplinary context, grounded in concrete empirical analysis from experiences in the global North and South. It concludes by identifying what might constitute holistic, inclusive, progressive and sustainable local and regional development, and reflecting upon its limits and political renewal.

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.

Increasingly, endogenous factors and processes are being emphasized as drivers in regional economic development and growth. This 15 chapter book is unique in that it commences by presenting five disciplinary takes on endogenous development from the perspectives of economics, geography, sociology, planning and organizational management. Several chapters demonstrate how researchers have developed operational models to investigate the roles played by endogenous factors in regional economic development, including the role of entrepreneurial rents. Further chapters provide empirical investigations of endogenous factors in regional development at various levels of spatial scale - from the supraregion to the nation, city and small town - and in a variety of situational settings, including the European Union, Asia and Australia. The book is an invaluable up-to-date resource for researchers and students in regional science, and regional economic development and planning.

Regional economics – an established discipline for several decades – has undergone a period of rapid change in the last ten years resulting in the emergence of several new perspectives. At the same time the methodology of regional economics has also experienced some surprising developments. This fully revised and updated Handbook brings together contributions looking at new pathways in regional economics, written by many well-known international scholars. The aim is to present the most cutting-edge theories explaining regional growth and local development. The authors highlight the recent advances in theories, the normative potentialities of these theories and the cross-fertilization of ideas between regional and mainstream economists. It will be an essential source of reference and information for both scholars and students in the field.

China has enjoyed unprecedented high economic growth for three decades. This growth has however been unbalanced and has led to some serious consequences which Chinese policy makers are now trying to rectify. One of the consequences is the deterioration of regional disparity which is threatening the stability of the Chinese society and hence the sustainability of current high economic growth in the country. This edited volume on China''s regional development and economic growth is hence timely and contains a collection of the latest research reports in this field. The authors represent a distinguished group of economists in Australia, China, Japan and Vietnam who are actively engaged in research of the Chinese economy. The topics addressed in the chapters cover important regional issues such as inequality, distribution of the creative class, FDI and industrial policies. Specifically, this volume aims to examine selected issues associated with China''s regional development, economic growth and FDI, and China and its neighboring economies. The findings will contribute to current economic policy debates.

Growth Pole Strategy and Regional Development Policy: Asian Experience and Alternative Approaches focuses on theoretical and practical issues in regional policy, including analytical and strategic approaches to regional development and underdevelopment problems. The selection first offers information on Asian case studies in decentralization policy and the growth pole approach, including trends in development planning in Japan and the case study of the Mizushima industrial complex. Topics include the period of post-war reconstruction; plan formulation and implementation of Mizushima industrial complex development; and interregional dispersion of development of national economy. The text also examines the case study of the Ulsan industrial complex in Korea. The book looks at decentralization policy, growth pole approach, and resource frontier development, as well as regional structure and uneven economic development in Southeast Asia; policy responses toward regional development in Southeast Asia; and growth pole approach in Southeast Asia. The text also focuses on growth strategies and human settlement in developing countries and growth poles and regional policy in open dualistic economies. The selection is a vital reference for readers interested in the theoretical and practical approaches in regional development policy.