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This thesis examines the implications of the alleged rise of the `knowledge economy' for regional economic change in Europe. In particular, it is concerned with `postindustrial' trajectories of less-favoured regions, in both the Western and Eastern parts of the `New Europe'. In doing so, the thesis critically engages with the `new regionalism' economic geography approaches that draw on institutional/evolutionary economics, and on the `knowledge economy' or 'learning economy' discourses. These approaches invariably identify localised forms of knowledge production and learning and various supporting institutions as key factors behind regional prosperity. Considered as the most important organisational units of contemporary global knowledge-intensive capitalism, economically successful regions are understood as `learning regions' acting as collectors and repositories of knowledge, and displaying the ability to learn and innovate, while being supported by regional `institutional thickness'. Less-favoured regions are themselves claimed to have a capacity to improve their own economic fortunes by becoming `learning regions'. These claims are exposed to a theoretical scrutiny that reveals serious conceptual weaknesses in the `knowledge economy' and `learning region' paradigms and the thesis suggests an alternative conceptualisation of regional economic change. This alternative conceptualisation places emphasis on the `socio-spatial divisions of labour' and the accompanying `socio-spatial value chains/networks' as a useful prism through which increasingly uneven regional development in Europe can be understood. The case studies of two former industrial region-states are then presented - one in the `Western' periphery (Scotland) and one in the `Eastern' post-socialist periphery (Slovakia) of the `New Europe' - both attempting a transformation to the high value-added `knowledge-based' economy. The empirical evidence supports the view that, although institutions can play an important role in economic development of regions, their room for manoeuvre is nevertheless significantly constrained by their own historical legacies and the wider neo-liberal political economy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. College of Social Science, 1987. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 295-322).

Governance vis-à-vis management has broad means, it includes formal and informal institutions, which need to have 1.agile, 2.adapt and 3.adjust ability in order to achieve ¡§Good¡¨ governance. The taxonomy of local decentralization includes: 1.delegate type, 2.creative type, 3.conservative type, 4.concentrative type and 5.coorperative type, that is essential for central government providing subsidy fund to local government under imperfect information to prevent misallocation of resources. Looking at intergovernmental relationship, this thesis classified it as 1.accountable type, 2.collusive type, 3.self-interest type and 4.responsible type, and utilizes this classification to study public issues, and argue that only the accountable-type local government can well manage local public affairs. In order to incubate and local competitiveness and attract outside investment, industrial cluster has became the most important development strategy for government to pursue, this thesis argues that integrate regional innovation, industrial network and social capital for concreting industrial embeddedness would be inductive to industrial cluster and helpful to create industry¡¦s competitive advantage. To develop regions competitive advantage, the cooperation between business entrepreneur, government officials and scholars to concrete 1.agile, 2.adapt 3.adjust and 4.atmosphere ability is essential to cope with changing environment and enlarging globalization.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, December 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-225).

In 2008, a severe economic crisis hit economies around the world. Its effects included a significant loss of GDP and employment which led to several social ills associated with recessions. However, the crisis did not impact all places with the same severity. This thesis investigates the crisis impact across GB Local Authority Districts during 2008-2014 within a framework that utilises the concept of economic resilience. However, this concept does not have a universally accepted definition or methodology of investigation. Hence, the study adopts an operational definition, comparing the conditions in local labour markets before and after the start of the recession. Using this method, a wide variation in resilience performance is identified across spatial areas. To identify the determinants of these differences, the study critically examines existing empirical studies and relevant theories. The factors identified range from past labour market performance to industrial structure, skills, demographics and other variables. The thesis then adopts an empirical method of investigation utilising a cross-sectional model. The results indicate that places which performed well before the start of the crisis have suffered deeper crisis impacts. However, the share of younger aged population and degree level qualification holders has mitigated the impact. The results are confirmed by robustness checks concerning the influence of outliers, migration and exploring the use of a composite indicator of resilience. It is the first time that a study of the crisis has focused on GB Local Authority Districts and comprehensively examined local labour markets. Moreover, the study makes a contribution by providing an operational definition and methodology for measuring resilience and empirically testing the impact of a range of determinants of resilience performance. The policy implications suggest a greater focus on skills and the attraction of younger aged workers through increased embeddedness of anchor institutions such as universities, as well as the inclusion of resilience as a core element of place-based policies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-153). Print copy also available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1981. / "UMI Number: 9818031." Includes bibliographical references.