The spatial evolution-institution link and its challenges for regional policy

Author(s)
Maximilian Benner
Abstract

Contemporary economic geography acknowledges that regional economies develop in evolutionary processes, and that institutions matter in this process. Evolutionary dynamics have been classified into six types of path development (path extension, path branching, path diversification, path creation, path importation, and path upgrading) that serve to distinguish how precisely regional economies diversify or upgrade. Shaping these evolutionary dynamics is a major objective policymakers aim to achieve by applying regional policies with an evolutionary ambition such as smart specialization. However, there is a gap in understanding how the specific institutional arrangements found in regional economies condition these different types of path development. The article links path development to institutional context and identifies policy challenges for affecting evolutionary dynamics under the smart specialization approach.

Organisation(s)
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Journal
European Planning Studies
Volume
28
Pages
2428-2446
No. of pages
19
ISSN
0965-4313
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1698520
Publication date
2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
507026 Economic geography, 507014 Regional development
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Geography, Planning and Development
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/9b63f948-ac6d-49f1-820a-dd6e4d4243b6