In this paper, we examine the macro-to-micro-transition of cluster externalities to firms and how it is affected by the macroeconomic instability caused by the recessionary shock of 2008/2009. Using data from 16,166 manufacturing and business services firms nested in 390 German regions, we...

Regional disparities in the development of regions of a country may slow the growth of the entire national economy. Determination of such disparities is required for the creation of proper economic policies, needed to take actions against factors hindering economic growth. Hidden economy is, on...

Maßnahmen zugunsten von Regionen mit Entwicklungsrückstand sind oft nur dann erfolgreich, wenn eine Region bereits mit einigen notwendigen "Zutaten" für Wachstum ausgestattet ist - Geschichte zählt! Es wäre sinnvoller, ärmere Regionen und Kommunen in die Lage zu versetzen, eigene...

In the European Union and its neighborhood, regional development has increasingly come to focus on agglomerations during the last three decades. Notably, during the 1990s and early 2000s, clustering was the major policy focus in regional development. Currently, the concept of smart...

The aim of this paper is to give an insight into the link between corruption and the implementation of structural and cohesion funds in Romania and the other Central and Eastern European states (CEE). Although there is a great interest within the mass-media and the civil society for this topic,...

In Bayern herrscht so etwas wie 'Brexit-Stimmung'. Die Stadt Neu-Ulm will aus ihrem Landkreis austreten und zu einer kreisfreien Stadt mit mehr Autonomie werden. Das baden-württembergische Reutlingen verfolgt bereits seit etlichen Jahren den gleichen Plan. Die Kreisfreiheit würde mehr...

There is still hardly any empirical evidence on how divergent broadband technologies, and, by extension, bandwidth levels, influence GDP growth, or on the extent of spatial externalities at a regional level. Our study aims to assess the economic benefits of high-speed broadband networks within...

This paper examines the aspects of changes in China's consumer market since the mid-1980s. By comparing urban and rural residents' expenditures, I find that the rural consumer market has exhibited extraordinary growth. Over the past decade, the consumption growth rate and average propensity to...

The paper aims to show how policy makers can stimulate firms' cooperation with research organisations in innovation. We argue that the administration of an R&D subsidy can be effective. Furthermore, this should be more so for extra-regional than intra-regional cooperation. The firms' propensity...

The paper aims at investigating whether Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) can have a role in facilitating regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3). Drawing on the economic geography approach to S3, we formulate some hypotheses about the impact that KETs-related knowledge can have on the...