The Impact Of The Economic Crisis On The Territorial Capital Of Italian Regions

The recent worldwide economic crisis requires a new focus on the theoretical framework of analysis of local development. Particular attention has been devoted to the study of the role of territories, no longer conceived as pure geographic spaces, but rather an important resource that can generate externalities that favor local territorial competitiveness. Key concepts such as the "industrial district" by the Italian scholars (Becattini, 1990; Sforzi, 1991; Signorini, 2004), the Marshallian "production cluster" (Marshall, 1920) and the French districts industriels (Guégan e Rousier, 1989) highlighted the centrality of the intangible factors, peculiar to some territories, adding to the traditional production factors. The concept of "territorial capital", that has become popular both among policy makers (European Commission, 2005) and scholars (Camagni, 2008; Capello et al., 2010), embodies these theories and suggests an innovative framework of analysis and measure of the assets that make a region attractive and competitive. In the Italian social and economic context, characterized by its regional specificities and excellences, it is particularly important to leverage these assets to boost the economy both at local and national level. In this paper, the authors provide a measure of the main components of territorial capital in the Italian regions, so as to provide a useful means for designing effective public development policies, which are now required to take territorial differences into major account. The possible structural effects of the last economic crisis on the regional endowment of territorial capital are also investigated. Taking the main dimensions of territorial capital (productive, cognitive, social, relational, environmental, settlement and infrastructural assets) identified by Camagni and Dotti (2010) as a starting point, several synthetic indexes are built, that measure those assets for all Italian regions. The impact of economic crisis on these dimensions is evaluated thanks to a dynamic analysis of the synthetic indexes, covering the period between 1995 and 2009. The main elements of discontinuity are also highlighted. This analysis has two main goals: on the one hand, to show a coincident and clear picture of the potential of Italian regions in terms of territorial capital in a comparative framework; on the other hand, the recent developments of Italian regions are described with respect to the structural effects of economic crisis on their territorial capital.

In recent years, European societies and territories have witnessed the spatial impacts of a severe financial and socio-economic crisis. This book builds on the current debate concerning how cities and urban regions and their citizens deal with the consequences of the recent financial and socio-economic crisis. Cities in Crisis examines the political and administrative implications of austerity measures applied in southern European cities. These include cuts in local public spending and the processes of privatization of local public assets, as well as issues related to the re-scaling, recentralization or decentralization of competencies. Attention is paid to the rise of new ‘austerity regimes’, the question of their legitimacy and their spatial manifestations, and in particular to the social consequences of austerity. The contributions to this book lay the foundation for recommendations on how to improve and consolidate qualified governance arrangements in order to better address rapid economic and social changes. Such recommendations are applicable to cities and urban regions both within and outside of Europe. It identifies possible approaches, tools and partnerships to tackle the effects of the crisis and to prepare European cities for future challenges.

This volume represents the result of almost two decades of trans-Atlantic collaborative development of a policy research paradigm, the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies program. Over this period dozens of scientists from different disciplines but with a common interest in rural issues and policy have collaboratively studied the policies in North America, Europe, and other parts of the world. A core element of the book is the idea and practice of comparative research and analysis – what can be learned from comparisons, how and why policies vary in different contexts, and what lessons might or might not be “transferable” across borders. It provides skills for the use of comparative methods as important tools to analyze the functioning of strategies and specific policy interventions in different contexts and a holistic approach for the management of resources in rural regions. It promotes innovation as a tool to valorize endogenous resources and empower local communities and offers case studies of rural policy in specific contexts. The book largely adopts a territorial approach to rural policy. This means the book is more interested in rural regions, their people and economies, and in the policies that affect them, than in rural sectors, and sectoral policies per se. The audience of the book is by definition international and includes students attending courses in agricultural and rural policy, rural and regional studies, and natural resource management; lecturers seeking course material and case studies to present to their students in any of the courses listed above; professionals working in the field of rural policy; policy-makers and civil servants at different levels seeking tools to better understand rural policy both at the local and global scale and to better recognize and comprehend how to transfer best practices.

This open access book discusses financial crisis management and policy in Europe and Latin America, with a special focus on equity and democracy. Based on a three-year research project by the Jean Monnet Network, this volume takes an interdisciplinary, comparative approach, analyzing both the role and impact of the EU and regional organizations in Latin America on crisis management as well as the consequences of crisis on the process of European integration and on Latin America’s regionalism. The book begins with a theoretical introduction, exploring the effects of the paradigm change on economic policies in Europe and in Latin America and analyzing key systemic aspects of the unsustainability of the present economic system explaining the global crises and their interconnections. The following chapters are divided into sections. The second section explores aspects of regional governance and how the economic and financial crises were managed on a macro level in Europe and Latin America. The third and fourth sections use case studies to drill down to the impact of the crises at the national and regional levels, including the emergence of political polarization and rise in populism in both areas. The last section presents proposals for reform, including the transition from finance capitalism to a sustainable real capitalism in both regions and at the inter-regional level of EU-LAC relations.The volume concludes with an epilogue on financial crises, regionalism, and domestic adjustment by Loukas Tsoukalis, President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Written by an international network of academics, practitioners and policy advisors, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students interested in macroeconomics, comparative regionalism, democracy, and financial crisis management as well as politicians, policy advisors, and members of national and regional organizations in the EU and Latin America.

This book explores how political, economic and social crises in Europe have led to electoral realignments, territorial forms of politics and new nationalisms. Since the 2008 financial crisis, European countries have faced economic stagnation, rising inequalities, worsening social conditions and strains on public services. These developments had major consequences on the political landscape, challenging the ability of political institutions to ensure integration and cohesion. Changes in the scale of politics have emerged; local and regional governments have engaged in redistributive politics in opposition to ‘austerity’ at state and European levels. The chapters in this book investigate these interactions with an interdisciplinary perspective. This edited volume explores the political framing, economic drivers and social dynamics of recent transformations in the territorial bases of politics. Inequalities, Territorial Politics, Nationalism will be of great relevance to advanced students and researchers in the fields of comparative politics, international relations, comparative federalism, and public policy. This book was originally published as a special issue of Territory, Politics, Governance.

This Review of Venice, Italy, offers a comprehensive assessment of the city-region’s economy and the extent to which its land use, labour market and environmental policies embrace a metropolitan vision.

The term “resilience” originated in environmental studies and describes one’s biological capacity to adapt and thrive under adverse environmental conditions. Regional economic resilience is defined as the capacity of a territory’s economy to resist and/or recover quickly from external shocks, often even improving on its prior situation (before the shock). The contributions in this book analyse different channels related to processes of mitigation (resistance–recovery) and adaptive resilience (reorientation–renewal), in a wide variety of geographical settings and scales. While the different chapters include relevant methodological advances in this literature, they also obtain relevant results from a policy perspective. Moreover, the wide spectrum of topics and analyses among the contributions in this book extend the current framework, to analyse regional economic resilience, from the intersection of several disciplines involving geographers, economists and demographers, as well as environmental scientists.

1. Building Local After-crisis Scenarios in a Global Perspective / Roberto Camagni and Roberta Capello -- 2. Driving Forces of Change and Thematic Scenarios for European Regions / Jacques Robert -- 3. Integrated Scenarios for European Regions / Roberto Camagni, Roberta Capello and Jacques Robert -- 4. Quantitative Foresights for European Regions / Roberta Capello and Ugo Fratesi -- 5. Quantitative Foresights at Sub-regional Level: The Model and Estimation Results / Antonio Affuso, Roberto Camagni and Roberta Capello -- 6. Quantitative Foresights at Sub-regional Level: Assumptions and Simulation Results / Antonio Affuso and Ugo Fratesi -- 7. The Latin Arc / Antonio Affuso and Ugo Fratesi -- 8. The Province of Barcelona / Rafael Boix, Joan Trullén and Vittorio Galletto -- 9. Policy Options for the Latin Arc / Roberto Camagni -- 10. Policy Scenarios for the Province of Barcelona / Joan Trullén.