The Economics of Innovation behind Cluster Dynamic Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Michael H. Best
Keyword(s):  
Adam Smith ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Industrial Districts ◽  
Jane Jacobs ◽  
Policy Domain ◽  
Cluster Dynamic ◽  
Firm Capability ◽  
National Governments

Marshallian industrial districts may be an important stage in the emergence of networked groups of SMEs enjoying both Marshallian and Jacobian externalities. But sustainable growth depends upon transitioning to industrial districts within industrial ecosystems in which both local and national governments work together to craft and undertake policy frameworks that combine centralized strategic policy planning at the national level with decentralized authority and accountability at the local level. The concept of the industrial ecosystem is a modern expression of Marshall’s ‘collective organization of the district as a whole’. It is a way to think of a region’s population of specialized and differentiated enterprises and extra-firm, capability development infrastructures as integral to its productive structures and competitive advantage. It extends the policy domain from a market-centric to a production-centric economics perspective that focuses on capabilities and innovation. Major contributors include Adam Smith, Charles Babbage, Marshall, Allyn Young, Edith Penrose, Simon Kuznets and Jane Jacobs.

Determining the Nexus between National Policies and Local Practices in the Promotion of Businesses for Local Economic Development in Tanzania

2021 ◽  
pp. 245513332110476
Author(s):  
Faisal Hassan Issa
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Development Objectives ◽  
National Governments

National governments set policies that affect local level development and influence the pace and content of development initiatives. Local economic development (LED) initiatives require a more robust focus on issues that places local government authorities at centre stage. For decades, at the local government authority level, much effort has been seen in the social development arena shadowing efforts to promote local businesses through business development services. National level organs set to promote businesses and to support the business agenda are expected to be the change catalysts and to propagate supportive policies for sustainable local economic development objectives. Nonetheless, the desired integration of efforts between national and local authorities and the civil society is yet to be observed. Additionally, frequent policy changes affecting the balance of power and authority between the national and local level authorities impact less positively local capacity to promote businesses despite the national efforts in infrastructure development. It is observed that better integration of efforts between the different actors, increased capacity of local authorities and implementation of local initiatives to surmount local challenges while working on policy attributed gaps, are necessary for promoting businesses at the local authority level.

scholarly journals Indigenous People’s Environmental Concerns: The Missing Piece in Ongoing Administrative and Political Decentralization in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 288
Author(s):  
George Atisa ◽  
Aziza Zemrani ◽  
Matthew Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sustainable Lifestyles ◽  
Conservation Organizations ◽  
National Governments

Decentralization is assumed to make national governments more accountable and enables local people to get involved in governance decisions. This study examines the relationships and whether decentralization activities, policies and regulations support indigenous concerns for the environment. Much of the pristine and local lands globally have already been degraded through overexploitation of natural resources leading to significant loss of environmental benefits to people, especially the marginalized and indigenous communities. Using citizen-over-state and state-over-citizen theory, the influence of national level policies on local policies and vice versa is examined. Two sets of data are analyzed: reports from conservation organizations and peer reviewed publications. The other data is obtained from the World Bank and the Food and Agricultural Organization data base. All African countries are analyzed. The findings show that many national policies and regulations do not support and have no relationship with indigenous peoples’ environmental values, thus undermining local sustainable lifestyles. The more focus on economic development as an outcome is turning out to be a dominant force in driving exploitation of resources and eroding indigenous peoples’ cultural and environment values. While a few policies and regulations have some correlation with indigenous values, they have no significant influence in terms of producing sustainable local level environmental outcomes.

Modernisation of Higher Education – Willful Action or Wishful Thinking? The Case of Bulgaria

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Elena Blagoeva
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The impact of the last global economic crisis (2008) on the European economy put a strain on higher education (HE), yet it also pushed the sector towards intensive reforms and improvements. This paper focuses on the “Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2014-2020”. With a case study methodology, we explore the strategic endeavours of the Bulgarian government to comply with the European directions and to secure sustainable growth for the HE sector. Our research question is ‘How capable is the Bulgarian HE Strategy to overcome the economic and systemic restraints of Bulgarian higher education?’. Because the development of strategies for HE within the EU is highly contextual, a single qualitative case study was chosen as the research approach. HE institutions are not ivory towers, but subjects to a variety of external and internal forces. Within the EU, this is obviated by the fact that Universities obtain their funds from institutions such as governments, students and their families, donors, as well as EU-level programmes. Therefore, to explore how these pressures interact to affect strategic action on national level, the case method is well suited as it enabled us to study the phenomena thoroughly and deeply. The paper suggests the actions proposed within the Strategy have the potential to overcome the delay, the regional isolation and the negative impact of the economic crisis on the country. Nevertheless, the key elements on which the success or failure of this Strategy hinges are the control mechanisms and the approach to implementation. Shortcomings in these two aspects of strategic actions in HE seem to mark the difference between gaining long-term benefits and merely saving face in front of international institutions.

scholarly journals Why does the European Right accommodate backsliding states? An analysis of 24 European People’s Party votes (2011–2019)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Lise Esther Herman ◽  
Julian Hoerner ◽  
Joseph Lacey
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
European People’S Party ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Fundamental Values ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

AbstractOver the last decade, the EU’s fundamental values have been under threat at the national level, in particular among several Central and Eastern European states that joined the EU since 2004. During this time, the European People’s Party (EPP) has been criticized for its unwillingness to vote for measures that would sanction the Hungarian Fidesz government, one of its members, in breach of key democratic principles since 2010. In this paper, we seek to understand how cohesive the EPP group has been on fundamental values-related votes, how the position of EPP MEPs on these issues has evolved over time, and what explains intra-EPP disagreement on whether to accommodate fundamental values violators within the EU. To address these questions, we analyse the votes of EPP MEPs across 24 resolutions on the protection of EU fundamental values between 2011 and 2019. Our findings reveal below-average EPP cohesion on these votes, and a sharp increase in the tendency of EPP MEPs to support these resolutions over time. A number of factors explain the disagreements we find. While the EPP’s desire to maintain Fidesz within its ranks is central, this explanation does not offer a comprehensive account of the group’s accommodative behaviour. In particular, we find that ideological factors as well as the strategic interests of national governments at the EU level are central to understanding the positions of EPP MEPs, as well as the evolution of these positions over time. These results further our understanding of the nature of the obstacles to EU sanctions in fundamental values abuse cases, and the role of partisanship in fuelling EU inaction especially.

scholarly journals Local-Level Democratic Backsliding? The Consolidation of Aspiring Dominant-Party Regimes in Hungary and Poland

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer ◽  
Matthew Stenberg
Keyword(s):  
Local Politics ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Mayoral Elections ◽  
Political Reforms ◽  
Strategic Coordination ◽  
The Future ◽  
Two Factors

Abstract Aspiring dominant-party regimes often institute major institutional and political reforms at the national level to ensure they retain control. However, subnational politics is an important, under-studied, component of regime consolidation. This study uses mayoral races in Hungary and Poland from 2006 to 2018 to examine two factors that may inhibit dominant-party regime consolidation in local politics: the use of two-round, i.e. runoff, electoral systems and strategic coordination among opposition parties. While we find little evidence that strategic coordination can lead to widespread opposition success in single-round systems, we do find that increasing the number of candidates decreases the likelihood of the nationally dominant party winning in the first round while not affecting the second round. As such, two-round mayoral elections may be an important buffer to dominant-party regime consolidation and may provide a training ground for the future opposition.

Reducing the Impact of Unemployment through Work-Sharing: Some Industrial Relations Considerations

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah M. Meltz ◽  
Frank Reid
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
National Level ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Work Sharing ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Impact

The Canadian Government has introduced a work-sharing program in which lay offs are avoided by reducing the work week and using unemployment insurance funds to pay workers short-time compensation. Compared to the lay-off alternative, there appear to be economic benefits to work-sharing for both management and employees. Reaction to the scheme has been generally positive at the union local level and the firm level, but it has been negative at the national level of both labour and management. These divergent views can be explained mainly as a result of short-run versus long-run perspectives. Managers at the firm level see the immediate benefit of improved labour relations and the avoidance of the costs of hiring and training replacements for laid-off workers who do not respond when recalled. The national business leaders are more concerned with work incentive and efficiency aspects of work-sharing.

scholarly journals Underneath Kyoto: Emerging Subnational Government Initiatives and Incipient Issue-Bundling Opportunities in China and the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Koehn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Stabilization Policies

At present, progress in mitigating global GHG emissions is impeded by political stalemate at the national level in the United States and the People's Republic of China. Through the conceptual lenses of multilevel governance and framing politics, the article analyzes emerging policy initiatives among subnational governments in both countries. Effective subnational emission-mitigating action requires framing climatic-stabilization policies in terms of local co-benefits associated with environmental protection, health promotion, and economic advantage. In an impressive group of US states and cities, and increasingly at the local level in China, public concerns about air pollution, consumption and waste management, traffic congestion, health threats, the ability to attract tourists, and/or diminishing resources are legitimizing policy developments that carry the co-benefit of controlling GHG emissions. A co-benefits framing strategy that links individual and community concerns for morbidity, mortality, stress reduction, and healthy human development for all with GHG-emission limitation/reduction is especially likely to resonate powerfully at the subnational level throughout China and the United States.

Portugal: 19 July 1987

1987 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Economic Regime

THE PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS OF 19 JULY 1987 initiated a profound change in the Portuguese party system and in the system of government. From 1974 onwards, Portugal had moved peacefully towards a democratic political system, enshrined in the 1976 Constitution. This evolution lasted about eight years and culminated in the revision of the Constitution in 1982. From 1982 onwards the present political regime has been a democratic one, coexisting with a capitalist economic regime attenuated by state monopoly in key sectors and by public companies which were nationalized between 1974 and 1976. It is also since 1982 that the system of government has been semi-presidential. There is pure representativeness as referendums do not exist at national level and have never been regulated at local level. But the government is semi-presidential in the sense that, owing to French influence, it attempts to balance Parliament with the election of the President of the Republic by direct and universal suffrage.

Integrating Slum Upgrading and Vulnerability Reduction in Mozambique

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-115
Author(s):  
Mathias Spaliviero
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Vulnerability Reduction ◽  
Extreme Flood ◽  
Slum Upgrading

Due to its location, Mozambique suffers from cyclical flooding associated with heavy rains and cyclones. In recent years, extreme flood events affected millions of people, disrupting the economic recovery process that followed the peace agreement in 1992. Despite this natural threat, most of the population continues to live in flood prone areas both in rural environment, due to the dependency on agricultural activities, and in urban environment, since unsafe zones are often the only affordable option for new settlers. This paper presents a brief analytical review on different issues related with urban informal settlements, or slums, based on different project activities developed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in Mozambique. The aim is to identify applicable strategies to reduce vulnerability in urban slums, where approximately 70 percent of the urban population live. The implemented project activities target different organisational levels in an integrated manner, seeking for active involvement of the Government, local authorities and communities at each implementation stage, from decision-making to practical implementation. They consist of three main components: 1) supporting policy-making in order to ensure sustainable urban development, 2) delivering a comprehensive training and capacity building based on the mainstreaming concept of “Learning How to Live with Floods” as valid alternative to resettlement, and 3) facilitating participatory land use planning coupled with physical upgrading interventions at the local level. In the long-term, the intention of UN-HABITAT is to progressively focus on community-based slum upgrading and vulnerability reduction activities, coordinated by local authorities and actively monitored by central institutions, in improving and managing basic services and infrastructures (i.e. water supply, drainage, sanitation, waste management, road network, etc). This type of bottom-up experiences should then represent a basis for setting up a slum upgrading intervention strategy to be applied at the national level.

scholarly journals Analysis of Covid-19 Hospital Admissions in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. E202141
Author(s):  
Oryna Detsyk ◽  
Natalia Fedorkiv ◽  
Olha Burak ◽  
Roksolana Kaluzhna
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
City Hospital ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Admission Data ◽  
Elderly Males ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Time Frames

The Covid-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on socioeconomic, political, demographic, and other aspects of life. Effective healthcare is, however, a primary determinant of successful fighting against Covid-19. The analysis of local healthcare indicators serves as a source for estimating pandemic magnitude and the adaptation of healthcare at a national level. In this study, the rates of Covid-19 hospital admissions to the Ivano-Frankivsk City Hospital, Ukraine, from April 2020 to May 2021 were analysed. All cases were grouped by age, sex, and the type of admission; data were analyzed monthly and seasonally. The peaks of hospital admissions were observed in November 2020 and March 2021; however, the highest mortality rates were seen from August to November 2020. The analysis of age- and sex-disaggregated Covid-19 mortality data showed the predominance of elderly males (61.9%, 66.6 ± 3.9 years) over females (38.1%, 71.8 ± 2.3 years). The ratio of hospital admissions was unstable: the percentage of emergency, GP-referred and self-referred admissions was similar from April to May 2020; however, GP-referred admissions prevailed, and the number of self-referral patients decreased twice between March and May 2021. In conclusions, the trends in hospital admissions were similar to those reported in other studies. However, the differences in time frames and socio-demographic characteristics were observed that highlights the importance of considering regional, social and geographic aspects of the population when improving the capacity of healthcare system and establishing effective preventive measures against the pandemic at the local level.

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