国内区域贸易、国际贸易与国家竞争力

大国国内区域贸易与国际贸易关系主要表现在两个方面:一是国内区域贸易与国际贸易存在一定程度上的相互替代的关系;二是国内区域贸易与国际贸易存在相互促进的关系,发展国内区域贸易能提升大国在国际经济中的竞争力。     

Re-thinking non-core regions: planning strategies and practices beyond growth

ABSTRACT

Periods of ongoing growth in the economy and demographics have come to a halt for many European regions for various reasons, challenging their economic development prospects. Despite the heterogeneous nature of stagnation, decline, peripheralization or even stigmatization to be found there, these configurations ‘beyond growth’ have in common that short-term ‘fire-fighting’ policy approaches aiming to foster regional economic growth face some important limitations. We argue that this has to do, among other things, with the overall direction of established and orthodox planning approaches that are predominantly based on growth-oriented paradigms and implicitly or explicitly work with dichotomous categories such as core–periphery and metropolitan versus non-metropolitan spaces; these do, however, not capture local realities in these cases. Using the notion of non-core regions, we plead for conceptualizing non-core regions and their regional economic development trajectories in different ways: thinking ‘beyond growth’. Such alternative ideas should be informed by alternative understandings of growth, development and sustainability in order to influence theories and concepts, but also to support new approaches to planning practice. To this aim, we discuss non-core regions from a social constructivist perspective, elaborating some points of departure for conceptualizing and practising regional planning ‘beyond growth’.     

Do EU Regional Policies Favour Regional Entrepreneurship? Empirical Evidence from Spain and Germany

The European Commission in the scope of its cohesion policy tries to increase competitiveness of the European Union (EU) regions by supporting, beside many other instruments, entrepreneurial activities in the EU sub-national regions. This paper sheds an empirical light on the relationship between entrepreneurial activities and entrepreneurial perceptions on the one hand and the economic performance of regions eligible for EU regional policies in Spain and Germany on the other. Based on empirical data on the NUTS2 level, there will be analysis of whether previous EU support has later had an impact on entrepreneurial activities and/or entrepreneurial perception in the regions. The results show empirical evidence for a relationship between entrepreneurial activities and EU regional policies. However, other determinants such as gender and the role model function have an even stronger impact. Some of the results may help to increase the effectiveness of EC regional policies and of regional policies of the national governments, especially if the interdependence of entrepreneurship support policies and proper regional policies is considered.     

European Policy and the Regions: A Review and Analysis of Tensions

This article explores a series of tensions inherent in the series of European policies that are designed to improve the competitiveness of regions in the face of globalization. Its focus is the co-existence of interventionist policies intended to overcome problems of lagging regions such as cohesion policies and those, for example competition policy which are designed to remove barriers to market integration and that are anti-interventionist. Moreover, the changing relationship between the European Union (EU), member states and the regions and problems of how regions are defined complicate policy implementation. To review these issues, the article adopts an agent-centred approach to understanding economic behaviour in the face of globalization in particular geographical and sectoral contexts. This methodology is used to highlight five sources of tension relating to the reality of the experience of globalization. These are illustrated by evidence from a recently completed EU Fifth Framework Programme study of regional adjustment strategies and technological change in five European countries.     

An Impact Analysis of the European Structural Funds on the Variation of the Rate of Employment and Productivity in Objective 1 Regions

Regional policies seek to enable regions to increase their competitiveness and development, and as such one priority objective of activities financed by Structural Funds is higher employment, higher productivity and economic activity. How efficiently the regions apply the funds is a fundamental issue for the development and continuity of regional policies. We, therefore, consider that determining the efficiency of European regional policies is an issue of high importance, and this is the main aim of this study. We have considered it appropriate to use the available information to apply a mathematical technique known as data envelopment analysis, which allows us to calculate the technical efficiency and inefficiency of the Structural Funds applied in the Objective 1 regions for the period 2000–2006. Furthermore, we wish to determine if the regions have been more efficient in increasing their levels of employment or in increasing productivity. Our study applies this methodology along with other methods such as regression analysis, profit analysis and factorial analysis to determine the variation in the rate of unemployment and productivity in these European Regions. The study reveals that only eight regions are efficient, although none of them is in all the models run.     

An Impact Analysis of the European Structural Funds on the Variation of the Rate of Employment and Productivity in Objective 1 Regions

Regional policies seek to enable regions to increase their competitiveness and development, and as such one priority Objective of activities financed by Structural Funds is higher employment, higher productivity and economic activity. How efficiently the regions apply the funds is a fundamental issue for the development and continuity of regional policies. We therefore consider that determining the efficiency of European regional policies is an issue of high importance, and this is the main aim of this study. We have considered it appropriate to use the available information to apply a mathematical technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which allows us to calculate the technical efficiency and inefficiency of the Structural Funds applied in the Objective 1 regions for the period 2000–2006. Furthermore, we wish to determine if the regions have been more efficient in creasing their levels of employment or in increasing productivity. Our study applies this methodology along with other methods like regression analysis, profit analysis and factorial analysis to determine the variation in the rate of unemployment and productivity in these European Regions. The study reveals that only eight regions are efficient, although none of them is run in all the models.     

Social enterprises in regional innovation systems: a review of Finnish regional strategies

The aim of modern innovation policies is to enhance the innovation capability of regions, their organizations and people. Regional innovation system (RIS) theory has been one of the most popular frameworks for realizing innovation policies. Yet, adopting the perspective of sustainable innovation policy where innovation is also seen as a solution to various societal and environmental problems has been slow. Social enterprises (SEs) are discussed here as a means to address those problems, particularly through collaboration between sectors and focusing on social sustainability. The aim of this paper is to identify whether and in what way SEs are communicated as an innovative solution and as a source of innovations for economic and development activities through regional strategies. The data consist of regional innovation and business strategies from all Finnish regions, analysed using qualitative content analysis. We argue that there is a need to go deeper and include effective support mechanisms for SEs in these documents. Better inclusion of SEs as part of innovation systems and communicating this through regional strategies would help to develop SEs and to have them perceived as potential innovators and active entrepreneurial actors in innovation systems contributing to economically, environmentally and socially sustainable development.     

中国与环南海国家(地区)贸易竞争性和互补性格局

环南海因其重要的地缘战略意义,对中国国家安全和对外合作发展具有重要意义.本文在产品层次,揭示了中国与环南海国家(地区)的贸易竞争性和互补性格局,有助于加深理解中国与该区域的地缘经济竞合关系.结果表明:①中国大陆与环南海国家(地区)的贸易规模不断增大.中国大陆与香港、台湾、越南、菲律宾、新加坡、泰国的出口相似度较高,在世...     

Institutional Arrangements and Political Mobilization in the New Italian Regionalism: The Role of Spatial Policies in the Piedmont Region

The paper focuses on the resurgence of the regions as protagonists of the process of the state rescaling in many European countries. In the EU countries this process can be seen as a result of a mix of economic and institutional factors, which have been producing an increasing competition between the central governments and the regional authorities. The rise of the multi-level governance and of the so-called Euroregionalism has reinforced the role of the regional scale in the territorial development: on one hand, with new actors like agencies and organizations engaged in the economic development (FDI attraction, place marketing, innovation and learning), on the other hand by the resurgence of “old” actors, such as the regions, in many cases empowered by processes of institutional devolution. The literature has investigated this re-composition of the political space with regard to the “hollowing out” and the “rescaling” of the state. On the base of these theoretical underpinnings, we discuss some empirical evidence from the Italian experience, in order to show whether and how the regional structures are not only “spaces for policies”, but also “spaces for politics”. Over the last decade, the changes in legal framework, the external inputs from supranational levels of government—the European Commission—and the re-territorialization processes have introduced many elements of innovation in the role of the regions. By illustrating the case of the Piedmont Region, we try to demonstrate that the transition towards the region as an active space of politics can be mediated by the sphere of the policies, especially the spatial ones.     

Improving European Union Regional Policy by Learning from the Past in View of Enlargement

This paper raises questions of centralisation versus decentralisation in European Union policy making, especially regarding regional policy. Shifts towards multi-level governance in the 1990s increased the partnership principle with sub-national governments. However, while regional disparities between countries has lessened, that between regions on some measures has increased. This will undoubtedly be an increasing feature in the context of EU enlargement. A history of centralisation in many such countries makes development of intermediary networks and institutions imperative if regional disparities are, again, to be reduced.     

National Systems of Innovations and Natural Resources Clusters: Evidence from Copper Mining Industry Patents

While natural resource-based industries are very efficient exploiting the natural endowments in developing countries and having an important participation in world markets (e.g. copper in Chile), most of them have not generated economic development based in knowledge-based resources in their societies. While this article reviews the national system of innovations in which the mining industry in Chile is based, we cannot neglect the importance of an international dimension in terms of its spatial dimension of the system of innovations [Fromhold-Eisebith, M. (2007) Bridging scales in innovation policies: How to link regional, national and international innovation systems, European Planning Studies, 15, pp. 217–233.] given the globalized characteristics of the mining industry. We found that Chile contributes 36% of the total copper production in the world but the investments in research and development are very low compared with the revenues of the industry and there are almost no patents originated in Chile registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) data base, the most important market for knowledge-based innovations. We can conclude that Chile is still depending on comparative advantages rather than constructed advantages [Cooke, P. (2007) To construct regional advantage from innovation systems first build policy platforms, European Planning Studies, 15, pp. 179–194.].     

What drives export performance of firms in Eastern and Western Poland?

We use a unique firm-level survey dataset that draws from the EFIGE (European Firms in a Global Economy) questionnaire to unveil differences in factors driving export performance in the most structurally diverse areas of Poland. While conventional results regarding the role of size, foreign ownership and innovation activity are confirmed at the aggregate level, the picture breaks down when Western and Eastern macroregions are extracted. Our results suggest that the common perception of a more developed West (Poland ‘A’) and a backward East (Poland ‘B’) might be outdated. Rather, firms in both regions seem to follow distinct strategies for and have dissimilar success factors in competing internationally. Interestingly, export performance in the East is found to benefit from family ties in business, but also from product innovation and non-price competitiveness. In the West, it is associated mostly with size and foreign ownership. Overall, our results, on the one hand, add support to the ‘new’ new trade theory and the ‘new’ new economic geography’s premises related to the importance of microeconomic factors and, on the other, contribute to the discussion on the pattern of regional development in Poland. We also discuss some implications for policymakers and managers and suggest directions for further research.     

区域、竞争力与区域发展

竞争力概念本身具有抽象性和模糊性,尤其被用于地点的属性时,对其界定颇多争议。这导致在区域竞争政策应用中不可避免的出现某种程度的混乱。通过追踪竞争力的缘起,在对两种主要的区域竞争力概念来源进行理论述评的基础上,从竞争的一般概念角度阐述了区域竞争力存在的客观性及其本质涵义,并从企业和地点两个角度比较分析了竞争在区域发展中的作用及影响。     

What “Is” Territorial Cohesion? What Does It “Do”?: Essentialist Versus Pragmatic Approaches to Using Concepts

The question, “what is territorial cohesion” has reverberated through European spatial policy since the publication of the European Spatial Development Perspective in 1999. Over the last 10 years, the European Spatial Policy Observation Network (ESPON) has made many efforts to define and measure the concept of “territorial cohesion”. Many such attempts assume that a policy concept must be defined in order to be “operationalized”. Or, in other words, that we must determine what the concept is before we can determine what it can or should do. This paper challenges this assumption in two parts. In the first, I review a number of ESPON projects to show how complex and uncertain these essentialist definitions have become. In the second, I analyse a number of national, regional and local government responses to the 2008 Green paper. I show that, whilst a clear and coherent definition has not been established, this concept is already operationalized in different policy frameworks. Bringing this together, I argue that users of such concepts ought to approach the issue differently, through a pragmatic line of enquiry: one that asks what territorial cohesion does, what it might do and how it might affect what other concepts, practices and materials do.     

联合跨界合作演进特征及驱动机制研究

区域经济一体化发展背景下,为改善地区间贸易开放程度,提升整体竞争力和促进跨行政边界生产要素流动,欧洲、北美和东亚地区已形成多个联合跨界合作区域。传统区位理论认为边界地区不利于形成产业集聚,但联合跨界合作区域受行政边界渗透和隔绝效应的共同影响,面临"市场潜力"和"市场竞争"间博弈,因地制宜形成独特发展模式。从联合跨界合作的动因出发,对影响要素进行研究,总结了典型模式及其驱动机制。研究表明联合跨界合作需因地制宜,全面分析地区投入产出关系,根据实际情况选择适宜的空间管治模式。     

省域旅游竞争力的空间格局与形成机理研究

本文在系统梳理旅游目的地竞争力研究主要成果的基础上,通过搭建省域旅游竞争力评价指标体系,运用多指标综合评价的主成分分析法,以省域为研究单元,对我国31个省市自治区的旅游竞争力水平进行定量评价。结果显示：规模实效因子、企业活力因子、经营绩效因子和消费支撑因子是影响我国省域旅游竞争力总体水平的主要因子,4项指标对我国省域旅游竞争力的累积贡献值已经超过80％;从空间结构上看,我国各省市自治区之间旅游竞争力总体水平之间存在较大差距,东中西部地区各省份的旅游竞争力之间存在显著的梯度递减格局,东部地区省份的旅游竞争力水平领先于中西部地区,但一些省份也表现出一定的变异特征。从旅游的综合性和系统性角度出发,研究认为区域旅游竞争力的提高是一项系统工程,区域旅游产业的效益更多地来自于全方位和全要素的产业发展,而这些要素既涵盖旅游系统内部的各项要素,又与区域社会经济发展的整体水平密切相关,因此,增强区域旅游竞争力必须强调各项要素的均衡、协调发展。     

Diminishing borders and conflating spaces: a storyline to promote soft planning scales

At the latest since the argumentative turn, the crucial importance of language, narratives and discourses in the field of planning and policy-making is widely acknowledged. This can be particularly important for European spatial planning, for which the European Union (EU) does not have any formal competence. Thus, instead of enacting directives or regulations, the EU and its member states release legally non-binding documents, which contain ideas and objectives relevant to planning. In these documents, certain storylines can be identified, for example, regarding sustainability, balanced development and competitiveness. This article argues that there is another storyline, advocating the reduction of borders and the creation of new, soft spaces across Europe, such as city regions, cross-border regions or macro-regions. If picked up by national or sub-national actors, this storyline can play a crucial role in contributing to establish the legitimacy that soft spaces often lack. Based on empirical findings from the city region of Graz in Austria, the article aims to identify the elements of a discourse coalition, i.e. what the EU does to support soft spaces, who the actors reproducing the storyline are and how the storyline supports soft planning in practice.     

Polycentricity – one concept or many?

This paper aims to discuss polycentrism and its implications. Polycentricity plays a key role in EU Cohesion Policy and has done so since 1999 when the notion was included in the European Spatial Development Perspective. Politically, it emerged as a key tool because of its ability to fuse together the two primary and conflicting perceptions of spatial–economic development, cohesion and competitiveness. No agreed definition of polycentricity exists. Furthermore, different actors and disciplines define polycentrism differently. The absence of a concise and coherent definition makes it difficult to measure polycentricity. Moreover, several studies have concluded that it is difficult to identify empirical evidence to support the positive claims made in its name. Polycentrism is assumed toolbox to reduce regional disparities, but polycentric countries display higher regional disparities than monocentric countries. Polycentric countries do not perform better than monocentric countries with regard to competitiveness and GDP/cap. As such, this paper concludes that not only does the political meaning of polycentricity struggle over aims with the inherit dichotomy at its heart, it also struggles in terms of basic credibility.     

HISTORY,INSTITUTIONS, AND CITIES: A VIEW FROM THE AMERICAS*

ABSTRACT Every nation, formally or informally, defines and establishes the lines of political and fiscal authority among its national, regional, and local governments. Historically, centralized governments tend to restrict the power and autonomy of provincial and local governments. In this paper, we exploit the quasi‐experimental distribution of political institutions in the Americas caused by variation in European colonial experience to examine the impact of institutions on urban and local development, specifically on the degree of urban primacy, the size distribution of cities, the number and density of local government units, and the fragmentation of metropolitan areas. We argue that centralization of political power at the national level, as experienced in many countries in Latin America, contributes to urban primacy and a size distribution of cities favoring large cities. Additionally, even in more politically decentralized countries such as Canada and the U.S., variance in political centralization at the provincial (state) level over local governments led to significant divergences in urban primacy, the distribution of city sizes, as well as the form, number, and density of local governments. While we cannot rule out the importance of other factors, our findings suggest that political centralization affects spatial economic development.     

Regional Wage Rigidity: The European Union and United States Compared

In recent years it has been pointed out that regional unemployment disparities are much more entrenched across member states of the European Union (E.U.) than they are in the U.S. A 'conventional wisdom' has emerged to the effect that this difference is due in part to the greater degree of wage rigidity in E.U. regions. In this paper we explore this issue by estimating short run and long run real wage (in)flexibility for the regions in five core E.U. countries (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) and for the U.S. states for the period 1976–1994. We find that real wage (in)flexibility varies across regions both in the E.U. and the U.S., but that, on average, regional wages are no less flexible in E.U. core regions than in U.S. states. The paper also examines some of the possible correlates ofregional variations in wage (in)flexibility.