[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/egu/wpaper/2420.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An Evolutionary Approach to Regional Development Traps in European Regions

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre-Alex Balland
  • Ron Boschma
Abstract
This paper proposes an evolutionary take on regional development traps. Our definition of regional traps centers around the structural inability of regions to develop new complex activities. We distinguish between several different traps. Using industry data, we follow European regions over time and provide evidence on which regions in the EU are trapped, and what kinds of traps they have fallen into. Our econometric analysis shows that being trapped has a negative impact on employment and wage growth in regions. We also find evidence that our development trap indicator explains well whether regions are stuck in a regional development trap, as defined by Iammarino et al. (2020).

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre-Alex Balland & Ron Boschma, 2024. "An Evolutionary Approach to Regional Development Traps in European Regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2420, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:2420
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg2420.pdf
    File Function: Version July 2024
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron A. Boschma & Jan G. Lambooy, 1999. "Evolutionary economics and economic geography," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 411-429.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Vinko Muštra, 2022. "The economic returns of decentralisation: Government quality and the role of space," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(8), pages 1604-1622, November.
    3. Nicola Cortinovis & Riccardo Crescenzi & Frank van Oort, 2020. "Multinational enterprises, industrial relatedness and employment in European regions [Innovation: mapping the winds of creative destruction]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 1165-1205.
    4. Longfeng Ye & Peter E. Robertson, 2016. "On the Existence of a Middle-Income Trap," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(297), pages 173-189, June.
    5. Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Thomas Schwab, 2023. "Technological Capabilities and the Twin Transition in Europe. Opportunities for Regional Collaboration and Economic Cohesion," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 70743.
    6. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    7. Andreas Diemer & Simona Iammarino & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2022. "The Regional Development Trap in Europe," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 98(5), pages 487-509, October.
    8. Lee, Keun & Lim, Chaisung, 2001. "Technological regimes, catching-up and leapfrogging: findings from the Korean industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 459-483, March.
    9. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    10. Petralia, Sergio & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Morrison, Andrea, 2017. "Climbing the ladder of technological development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 956-969.
    11. Aghion, Philippe & Bircan, Cagatay, 2017. "The Middle-Income Trap from a Schumpeterian Perspective," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 521, Asian Development Bank.
    12. Ernest Miguelez & Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Migrant inventors as agents of technological change," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 669-692, April.
    13. Hartmann, Dominik & Zagato, Ligia & Gala, Paulo & Pinheiro, Flavio L., 2021. "Why did some countries catch-up, while others got stuck in the middle? Stages of productive sophistication and smart industrial policies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-13.
    14. Redding, Stephen, 1996. "The Low-Skill, Low-Quality Trap: Strategic Complementarities between Human Capital and R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 458-470, March.
    15. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    16. Indermit Gill & Homi Kharas, 2007. "An East Asian Renaissance : Ideas for Economic Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6798.
    17. Quah, Danny, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," CEPR Discussion Papers 1586, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He & Yi Zhou, 2017. "How to jump further and catch up? Path-breaking in an uneven industry space," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 521-545.
    19. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2006. "Path dependence and regional economic evolution," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 395-437, August.
    20. Nicola Cortinovis & Jing Xiao & Ron Boschma & Frank G van Oort, 2017. "Quality of government and social capital as drivers of regional diversification in Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1179-1208.
    21. Markku Sotarauta, 2018. "Smart specialization and place leadership: dreaming about shared visions, falling into policy traps?," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 190-203, January.
    22. Eichengreen, Barry & Park, Donghyun & Shin, Kwanho, 2014. "Growth slowdowns redux," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 65-84.
    23. Frank Neffke & Matté Hartog & Ron Boschma & Martin Henning, 2018. "Agents of Structural Change: The Role of Firms and Entrepreneurs in Regional Diversification," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(1), pages 23-48, January.
    24. Lee, Keun & Malerba, Franco, 2017. "Catch-up cycles and changes in industrial leadership:Windows of opportunity and responses of firms and countries in the evolution of sectoral systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 338-351.
    25. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver behind regional diversification: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1702, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2017.
    26. Andy Pike & Kean Birch & Andrew Cumbers & Danny MacKinnon & Robert McMaster, 2009. "A Geographical Political Economy of Evolution in Economic Geography," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(2), pages 175-182, April.
    27. David L. Rigby & Christoph Roesler & Dieter Kogler & Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland, 2022. "Do EU regions benefit from Smart Specialisation principles?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2058-2073, December.
    28. Jess Benhabib & Jesse Perla & Christopher Tonetti, 2014. "Catch-up and fall-back through innovation and imitation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-35, March.
    29. Dieter F. Kogler & David L. Rigby & Isaac Tucker, 2013. "Mapping Knowledge Space and Technological Relatedness in US Cities," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(9), pages 1374-1391, September.
    30. Arthur, W. Brian, 1990. "'Silicon Valley' locational clusters: when do increasing returns imply monopoly?," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 235-251, June.
    31. Barrett, Christopher B. & Swallow, Brent M., 2006. "Fractal poverty traps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, January.
    32. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 2017. "Caught In The Middle? The Economics Of Middle-Income Traps," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 771-791, July.
    33. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & David Rigby, 2017. "The Geography of Complex Knowledge," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23, January.
    34. Markku Sotarauta & Riina Pulkkinen, 2011. "Institutional Entrepreneurship for Knowledge Regions: In Search of a Fresh Set of Questions for Regional Innovation Studies," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(1), pages 96-112, February.
    35. Schot, Johan & Steinmueller, W. Edward, 2018. "Three frames for innovation policy: R&D, systems of innovation and transformative change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1554-1567.
    36. Andy Pike & Kean Birch & Andrew Cumbers & Danny MacKinnon & Robert McMaster, 2009. "A Geographical Political Economy of Evolution in Economic Geography," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(2), pages 175-182, April.
    37. Emil Evenhuis, 2017. "Institutional change in cities and regions: a path dependency approach," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 509-526.
    38. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2019. "Smart specialization policy in the European Union: relatedness, knowledge complexity and regional diversification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1252-1268, September.
    39. Quah, Danny T, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 27-59, March.
    40. Julie Battilana & Bernard Leca & Eva Boxenbaum, 2009. "How actors change institutions : Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-00576509, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Designing Smart Specialization Policy: relatedness, unrelatedness, or what?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2128, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2021.
    2. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Global Value Chains from an Evolutionary Economic Geography perspective: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2134, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    3. Ron Boschma, 2022. "Evolutionary Economic Geography and Policy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2220, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2022.
    4. Pinheiro, Flávio L. & Hartmann, Dominik & Boschma, Ron & Hidalgo, César A., 2022. "The time and frequency of unrelated diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    5. Ron Boschma, 2024. "An evolutionary approach to regional studies on global value chains," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 1492-1500, July.
    6. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    7. Mariane Santos Françoso & Ron Boschma & Nicholas Vonortas, 2024. "Regional diversification in Brazil: The role of relatedness and complexity," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), March.
    8. Milene Tessarin & Deyu Li & Sergio Petralia & Ron Boschma, 2023. "The future geography of industries and occupations," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2302, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2023.
    9. Ron Boschma, 2018. "The geographical dimension of structural change," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1839, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2018.
    10. Yibo Qiao & Andrea Ascani & Andrea Morrison, 2024. "External linkages and regional diversification in China: The role of foreign multinational enterprises," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(4), pages 1077-1101, June.
    11. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2024. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: The role of complementary interregional value chain linkages in EU regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2432, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2024.
    12. Flavio L. Pinheiro & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Dominik Hartmann, 2022. "The Dark Side of the Geography of Innovation. Relatedness, Complexity, and Regional Inequality in Europe," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2202, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2022.
    13. Matteo Laffi & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Does a local knowledge base in Industry 3.0 foster diversification in Industry 4.0 technologies? Evidence from European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(1), pages 5-35, February.
    14. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    15. Nicola Cortinovis & Dongmiao Zhang & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Regional diversification and intra-regional wage inequality in the Netherlands," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2022.
    16. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez, 2024. "Technological diversification through global value chains in European regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2429, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2024.
    17. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2023. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: Evidence from EU regions using a relatedness/complexity framework," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2316, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2023.
    18. Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Towards an evolutionary economic geography research agenda to study migration and innovation," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 529-542.
    19. Koen Frenken & Frank Neffke & Alje van Dam, 2023. "Capabilities, institutions and regional economic development: a proposed synthesis," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 405-416.
    20. C'esar A. Hidalgo, 2022. "The Policy Implications of Economic Complexity," Papers 2205.02164, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:2420. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deguunl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.