On the Economics of Regional Powers: Comparing China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this pa-per aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of different concepts of economic power - such as those of Schumpeter, Perroux, Predöhl, or Kindleberger - concepts of technological leadership, and the global value chain approaches, the paper develops a research framework for the economics of regional powers. This framework is then tested using descriptive statistics as well as regressions analysis, with a focus on the four regional powers Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. As economic power is relational, the re-lationship of regional powers to other nations in the region is analyzed. According to the findings, only limited statements on the economics of regional powers are possible: a regional power can be described as an economy with a relatively large population and land area which plays a dominant role in trade within the region and in the regional governance. The regional power develops its technological capacities, and its businesses act regionally and globally with increasing strength.