Scale effect on territorial disparities of sustainable human development in Morocco: a spatial analysis

Concretizing the input of Morocco’s advanced regionalization project, which aims to reduce territorial disparities for sustainable human development, is a cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Alongside the implementation of this project, we carried out a multiscale study of the scope of human development disparities in Morocco based on the new engineering of the territorial division across twelve regions, seventy-five provinces, and fifteen hundred communes. The study aimed to test the effect of scale modification to identify spatial concentrations through the communal human development index. The level of human development of a country is assessed through the convergence of its local HDI. We tested the scaling effect in 2004 and 2017 to determine the state of convergence of human development indicators. The spatial autocorrelation results showed that the distribution of capabilities at the communal scale remained concentrated in Morocco. Areas near developed communes follow the same pattern, at the expense of more distant areas. After the spatial configuration of advanced regionalization was undertaken, there was a decrease in regional and provincial disparities. This outcome is less notable at the communal level. Focusing on the microscale consequently becomes a preferable way to reduce inequalities in sustainable human development. Therefore, for the success and effectiveness of the advanced regionalization project in particular and for the achievement of the SDGs in general, spatial equity remains a necessary condition for the convergence of sustainable human development actions at the microscale.

The theoretical model of spatial production for innovation

The overall aim of the study is to create the theoretical model of spatial production for innovation, which provides a measurement basis for later research as well as providing a measurement framework for the territorial indexation of innovation. In addition, it raises the question of what factors can hinder and which can help the formation and development of the spatial production of innovation. In the context of the above, based on a chronological, multidimensional review and analysis of literature research, it summarizes and presents the possibilities of interpreting the concept of innovation, paying attention to its territorial aspects. The model presented in our study builds on the literature on the external–internal divisions of innovation barriers, but also differs in that the model simultaneously displays the socio-economic space (innovation ecosystem), the regional scales as well as time. Presenting the typological barriers to innovation and summarizing the related factors, as well as developing a model to measure the issue, can help by specifically promoting the development of regions with less innovation capacity and potential in this field, at the same time providing a basis for assessing the territorial aspects of the phenomenon, which may also support the creation of development programmes to support the resolution of territorial disparities.

Competitiveness and cohesion in Romania's regional development: a territorial approach

The assessment of the socio-economic disparities at the regional level is one of the priority development topics. In particular, in formerly socialistic-planned countries, the development driven by the transition period, the accession to the European Union and the economic crisis, the regional disparities are present. The main aim of the research has been to identify the most competitive and the most cohesive Development Regions in Romania by computing, mapping and analysing two secondary indices (Territorial Competitiveness and Territorial Cohesion). Overall, the investigation shows that economic performance is more consolidated in central and western regions based on their mature and innovative industries, better-developed services and urbanisation/suburbanisation processes, while the eastern and southern development regions, with predominantly rural traits, experienced a significant industrial decline and social deprivation. The most competitive Development Region is Bucharest-Ilfov, given the advantage conferred by Bucharest Capital City, the main economic and social polarising centre in Romania. For reducing regional disparities, the Cohesion Policy should allocate increased funds for countries with least developed regions. The study provides the result of quantitative and qualitative analysis on the regional-level territorial disparities in Romania that could easily be considered as guidelines in the decision-making process while trying to achieve the competitiveness and cohesion goals.

A methodology for assessing the level of financial and economic security of the region

Subject. The article considers a methodology for assessing the level of financial and economic security as an integral indicator of particular types of security, which include budget and tax security, investment security, banking and credit security, and price security. Objectives. The purpose is to test the methodology for assessing the level of financial and economic security of the subjects of the Russian Federation, which makes it possible to rank the regions and distribute them into appropriate groups that characterize different levels of security. Methods. The study draws on general scientific methods of cognition and statistical methods of research. Results. The results of calculations enabled to rank the regions according to the level of financial and economic security. The analysis shows that there have been no drastic qualitative changes in the level of security over the past decade. The regions demonstrate a relatively stable state of security. Conclusions. The study reveals significant differentiation of regions in terms of financial and economic security, reflecting the uneven socio-economic development of the subjects of the Russian Federation and significant territorial disparities. It is crucial to develop a new management approach that takes into account the new environmental conditions characterized by ongoing transformational processes in the society and the State. A methodology enabling to assess the subjects of the Russian Federation by the level of financial and economic security will determine the place of each region in the overall security system and facilitate informed management decisions.

Territorial disparities in labour productivity, wages and prices in Italy: What does the data show?

In Italy, both at the regional and sub-regional levels, labour productivity and average wages are strongly correlated. Overall, in industry and services, the gap (about 30%) in productivity between Southern and Central-Northern regions is almost offset by that in the average wage: unit labour costs are similar. Since, in Italy, in each sector, nominal wages are set through national collective agreements – and therefore are the same throughout the country – regional differences in wage per employee depend solely on the composition of the occupational structures. The small difference in the unit labour cost suggests that also the North–South disparity in labour productivity is largely due to the characteristics of the respective productive structures. Across Italian regions, average wages and price levels are positively correlated. Spatial price differentials mainly depend on the prices of services and housing. In turn, prices influence regional nominal productivity in sectors producing non-tradable goods. The North–South difference in price levels substantially equalises the average real wage in the two areas. Nevertheless, thanks to the lower prices and the equality in nominal wages, in the South employees enjoy a greater purchasing power than their colleagues in the rest of the country with analogous job positions. The Italian case suggests that, at the regional level, labour productivity, average wages and prices are interrelated. The analysis of their mutual relationships is of great importance for regional policies.

European Cohesion Policy and Evaluating the Impact of Evidence-Based Policy

In the 2014–2020 programming period, the cohesion policy focuses more on results and evaluation of programs based on facts. Due to the Commission policies, an expansion of cohesion policy counterfactual impact evaluation of programmes with new approaches can be expected in the future. In this paper, the focus is on the calculation of the impact of received European cohesion funds on the revenue of companies in Slovenian municipalities one/two years after the receipt of cohesion funds for the 2007–2013 period. Two development priorities that affect company revenue – Enterprise competitiveness and research excellence and Promoting entrepreneurship and adaptability are considered. The effect of the use of the European cohesion funds on company revenue in Slovenian municipalities is positive for 2009 and 2010 and negative for all other years examined. The results of the research can serve to policy-makers to reduce the economic, social and territorial disparities in less developed European countries and regions therefore reaching balanced regional development.

Depression of administrative-territorial units of Chernivtsi oblast: social-geographical assessment

Problem Statement and Purpose. The world economy has always developed and continues to develop cyclically, which affects the economic development of individual countries and their regions. As a result of cyclical economic development, regions are formed that maintain a progressive or stagnant type of economic development, and some of them, especially during periods of economic crisis, develop a regressive type. Thus, depressed regions or their separate territories appear, the study of which aims to identify in time the territorial disparities and polarizations of different types of the social formation of administrative units and to establish the level of their depression. It should be noted that most of the available scientific achievements concern the study of the territory of Ukraine at the regional level, and not at the subregional (raion) level. Therefore, our research allows us to shed more light on the depression of administrative-territorial units of Chernivtsi oblast, which differs from other regions of Ukraine by its natural-geographical, demographic, ethnic contrast, as well as cross-border and border position, which certainly has a significant impact on depression of regions and cities of regional significance.The purpose of this study is to conduct a socio-geographical assessment of the depression of administrative-territorial units of Chernivtsi oblast, which allows us to learn about the current state of the oblast and its raions in terms of depression, as well as identify possible steps to solve this problem.Data & Methods. To study the depression of administrative-territorial units of Chernivtsi oblast, the following main types were chosen: economic, social, and demographic. For each of these blocks, the main indicators of indicators were determined, according to which a socio-geographical assessment of the level of depression in administrative regions and cities of regional significance was conducted.Having established the rating places for each administrative-territorial unit according to the selected indicators, or their relative values, it was possible to establish the average place of each unit and, accordingly, the level of depression for each of the studied blocks. It was also established the common place of administrative units in the region by all indicators and thus identified different, according to the level of depression, regions.Results. With the help of rating research, the typification of administrative-territorial units of the oblast according to the level of economic, social, demographic, and integral depression was carried out. The most depressed were the agricultural raions of the oblast – Khotyn, and Sokyriany. However, it should be noted that Khotyn raion has the same types of depression in all its components, and in Sokyriany raion the worst is the demographic situation, and the best ‒ the economic one. The lowest level of depression is characteristic of Storozhynets raion, which is explained by its favorable geographical location relative to the oblast center, which contributes to economic and social development, as well as polyethnicity, which strengthens the demographic component.

Economic Union

Unionism has stressed the benefits of economic union but this is an elusive concept. The United Kingdom was formed as part of a wider imperial market, committed historically to global free trade, not as a national market. Only from the 1930s did a closed national market and national development strategy emerge. From the 1970s, the UK formed part of the wider European market. Policies for territorial cohesion were introduced in the 1930s and greatly expanded in the 1960s, but from the 1980s these were largely abandoned in favour of a laissez-faire approach. The UK now has some of the largest territorial disparities in Europe. The 1999 settlement devolved most of the regional development powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The recent re-commitment to regional development on the part of the UK Government has not been accompanied by measures on the scale of those deployed in the 1970s.

The peculiarities of organization and problems of development of the territorial public self-government in the conditions of territorial differentiation

The development of the territorial public self-government (TPS) has been recently prompted by the adoption of national projects that imply additional activation of social resource in the territory. The capabilities of TPS in realization of social service procurement should expand. The article is dedicated to examination of territorial disparities in the development of territorial public self-government in Russia. The subject of this research is the organization of TPS in the conditions of regional differentiation. The branches of the territorial public self-government are unevenly distributed across the country, and their development potential is quite low. The novelty and practical significance of this work lie in the attempt to generalize the practices of implementation of TPS in various Russian regions (the constituent entities of the Russian Federation were allocated in proportion to the number of federal districts), as well as to outline the priority vectors in the development of TPS in the current context. The conducted comparative analysis allows concluding that despite the substantial differentiation in allocation of TPS branches across the country, the difficulties of its development in all indicated regions are similar: insufficient funding of TPS by the local self-governments, low interest in supporting TPS with the legal entity status, low social activity of the population along with the level of information awareness of the citizens on the forms of their participation in self-government. As a result, the capabilities of TPS in implementation of socioeconomic policy of the municipality are limited; the local authorities and TPS are not partners due to mutual distrust and low interest in the development of TPS as a social institution.