Resource-Deficient Regions: The Specificity of State Support

The success of Russia's socio-economic development heavily depends on resource avail abi li ty , resource sufficiency, and resource diversity. Because economic resources (natural, human, capital, information, and material) represent a key barrier to regional social and economic development, the regional federal systems should take into account the effects of regional development drivers. This study aims to assess the level of economic development across economic regions in Russia regarding resource availability and develop state regulation measures to improve regional economic performance. For thi s, a l l regions were divided into groups by their gross regional product estimates. Fac to rs re fl ec ti ng e c onomi c performance were identified through factor analysis, and the cyclical nature of resources av ai la bil it y w a s discussed. The paper offers a resources availability model that allows determining the minimum a moun t o f resources required for a region having a specific level of economic development to a c hi ev e t he ma x imu m economic performance possible inless time. In addition, the paper presents a state regulatory framework for a regional economy that integrates financial support measures, state projects and programs, and me a sure s to modify the regulatory framework and the regulation of human resources. The proposed sta te re g ul ati on framework takes into account the full range of regional resources and makes it possible to choose t h e mo st effective tools with the view to meeting regional development goals

Hidden Champions as a Determinant of Regional Development: An Analysis of German Districts

Hidden Champions (HCs) are defined as market leaders in niche markets. They represent the success of the German Mittelstand like no other group of firms. However, little is known on how HCs contribute to regional development. Given their export strength, regional embeddedness, and strong vertical integration we expect HCs to have a profound effect on regional development. Using a German dataset of 1,645 HCs located in 401 German districts, we analyze the effect of HCs on a variety of regional development dimensions. Our results show that HCs are not equally distributed across regions and influence regional development. Regions with a higher number of HCs show strong regional economic performance in terms of median income. Moreover, HC intensity affects regional unemployment and trainee rates as well as regional innovation in terms of patents. Surprisingly, we did not find an effect of regional HC intensity on regional R&D levels and GDP. We can further conclude that the effect of HCs is not limited to the particular region in which they are located but that sizable spillover effects exist. Besides its contribution to the regional development literature, our study adds to a better understanding of the HC-phenomenon. Implications for regional policy makers are discussed.

Convergence of City Relational Network, Production Sector Structure, and Regional Development

There is a strong correlation between government intervention and urban production structure in China. Particularly, the outputs of the cities partly come from the economic rent of city relational network (CRN), which is a unique regional policy and administrative hierarchy. In order to analyze the gravity flows of CRN under the nonmarket mechanism, we attempt to build a new gravity model that adopts the production sector. The new gravity produces relational data with direction, which makes it possible to use social network analysis (SNA) and overcome the endogeneity of the linear model. The empirical results show that (1) modified new gravity model can effectively capture the distribution of CRN gravity flows and the convergence of regional development in China, (2) the CRN, which especially stems from the government financial intervention, increases the share of nontradable sectors in cities, and (3) adjustment of the production sector leads to the difference of CRN gravity flows, so asymmetric flows distribution leads to the heterogeneity of regional economic performance. Cities with higher share of nontradables have relatively slower productivity growth in long-term.

Illusions of Clustering: A Systematic Evaluation on the Effects of Clusters on Regional Economic Performance in Korea

Korea has pursued a cluster-based policy to increase industrial competitiveness and to alleviate development gaps between the regions. However, local governments have often oversupplied clusters without an objective examination of the demands and conditions in the regions. Based on these concerns, this study analyses effects and interdependencies of factors related to regional innovation and growth in Korea. Employing a PCA method and a GLS regression models on panel data, we generated three composite factors, social, capacity, and clustering, and estimated their effects on regional economic performance. The results show that it is important to have a favorable socio-economic setting to foster growth by clusters. In addition, cluster-based policies may have weaker effects than expected, because the effect of R&D capacity on regional growth was stronger and longer lasting. Finally, some specific elements that most affected economic growth in Korea’s regions are identified. The overall results indicate favorable environments should be established beforehand to foster regional growth with clusters, which confirms “jobs follow people.”

Exploring the Relationship between Combined Household Housing and Transportation Costs and Regional Economic Activity in Virginia

Transportation is the second-largest expenditure category for households, accounting for nearly 20 cents of every dollar spent annually across the U.S. Only housing costs exceed transportation, and combined they represent a substantial burden on households. A primary economic connection between housing and transportation costs is related to the tradeoffs that households make in terms of residential location and what they have left of their household budget to spend on other needs. Families are forced to spend thousands of dollars annually on owning and operating private vehicles, forego wealth creation, and the ability to enjoy other benefits of homeownership. This analysis examines combined housing and transportation costs at the state level to regional economic performance. It contributes to the literature by testing the geographic scope of household expenditure burdens at this scale. Along with previous literature, this analysis provides evidence about the connection between the local and regional economic vitality and the burden of the combined effects of housing and transport on households. Overall, the results suggest that, from 2008 to 2018, these household cost burdens were a function of economic activity, household characteristics, and location in the state of Virginia.

Performance and Promotions in an Autocracy: Evidence from Nazi Germany

Scholars of autocracies increasingly debate whether autocratic regimes promote their subordinates based on achievements, such as economic performance, and further a meritocratic system. This article argues that the extent to which autocratic regimes reward economic performance is not constant over the course of an autocratic regime’s lifespan but varies depending on the strategic goals of the regime and the regime's ability to monitor its subordinates' performance. We collect a new dataset on the careers of the regional leaders of the German Nazi Party, the Gauleiters, from 1936 to 1944, and a wealth of historical data sources from the regime. Using this, we show that better regional economic performance increased the chance of receiving a promotion before the outbreak of World War II but not after.

Tracing the Spatial Patterns of Innovation Determinants in Regional Economic Performance

In this paper, we investigate innovation factors and their role in regional economic performance for a sample of 261 EU NUTS 2 regions over the period 2009–2012. In our study, we identify regions with spillover as well as drain effects of innovation factors on economic performance. The spatial analysis indicates that both regional innovativeness and regional development are strongly determined by the region’s location and “neighbourhood”, with severe consequences for Central and Eastern Europe. We assessed the impact of innovation factors and their spatial counterparts on economic performance using a spatial Durbin panel model. The model is designed to test the existence and strength of the country‑effect of innovativeness on the level of regional economic status. This allows for controlling the country‑specific socio‑economic factors, without reducing the number of degrees of freedom. Our model shows that regions benefit economically from their locational spillovers in terms of social capital. However, the decomposition of R&D expenditures revealed competition effect between internal R&D and external technology acquisition, favouring in‑house over outsourced research.

Regional economic performance and the differential prevalence of corporate and family business

Purpose Previous studies have largely examined interregional variations of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) rather than family firm concentrations. This paper aims to address this gap through an analysis of firm type indicators across Europe from the Eurostat database, using social, economic and demographic statistics at the NUTS 2 regional level to ascertain the nature, prevalence and regional contexts of family firm concentrations. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical clustering is performed to map the regional distribution of the European family business. Findings Results show that the co-existence of family SMEs with large firms is negatively related to regional economic performance, and this variation has implications for the understanding of the survival and strategic behaviour of family firms. Originality/value The study promotes a new family business “in context” than “by context” point of view and paves the way for further empirical work with interregional family business data at various spatial levels.