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Conclusions: Local and Global Sources of Capitalist Diversity

Colin Crouch, Martin SchröDer, and Helmut Voelzkow

in Innovation in Local Economies: Germany in Comparative Context

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts. It begins with a review of the objectives of the research project on which this book was based. It then discusses the findings of the case studies. It ... More

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts. It begins with a review of the objectives of the research project on which this book was based. It then discusses the findings of the case studies. It provides answers to the three questions raised in Chapter 1: Do governance structures of the local economies conform to the national innovation regime of their country, in which they are ‘embedded’, or do local economies institutionally diverge? Can it be shown that particularities in the governance of local economies contribute to the economic success of these entities? Does the divergence of local economies from structural patterns of the national innovation and production system enable us to suggest in which institutional elements local economies may successfully diverge from the national model and in which not?Less

Regeneration in Sheffield: From Council Dominance to Partnership

Colin Crouch and Martin Scott Hill

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

The global crisis in the steel industry from the mid-1970s led to plant closures and massive unemployment in Sheffield. This chapter examines the attempts to halt the decline of Sheffield’s ... More

The global crisis in the steel industry from the mid-1970s led to plant closures and massive unemployment in Sheffield. This chapter examines the attempts to halt the decline of Sheffield’s industrial base, and the development of partnerships between local, regional, and European levels of government and the private sector from the mid-1980s. It then looks at some of the main projects aimed at reviving the city’s economy.Less

After Steel: Some Minor Emergence of Local Production Systems Based on SMEs

Patrick Le Galès

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

This chapter synthesizes the results of the four case studies discussed in chapters nine to twelve. The changing modes of governance in steel cities, and provision of local collective competition ... More

This chapter synthesizes the results of the four case studies discussed in chapters nine to twelve. The changing modes of governance in steel cities, and provision of local collective competition goods are discussed. It is shown that the restructuring of former steel cities requires heavy public policies and investments; partnerships between the public and private sectors; and the use of concepts, rhetorics, and strategies associated with networked small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), governance, and local clusters.Less

Life After Industrial Decline in St Etienne: Robust SMEs, Deterritorialization, and the Making of a Local Mode of Governance

Patrick Le GalÈs and Olivier Tirmarche

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

This chapter examines the impact of the restructuring of economic policies in St Etienne. It discusses the rise and fall of industrial development, the slow rise of services and dynamism of small- ... More

This chapter examines the impact of the restructuring of economic policies in St Etienne. It discusses the rise and fall of industrial development, the slow rise of services and dynamism of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), firms’ use of collective competition goods (CCGs), and economic development polices in St Etienne. It shows that economic programmes led to the deterritorialization of production and use of CCGs; and clustering for certain kinds of CCGs to establish a solid base prior to facing foreign markets.Less

Introduction

Colin Crouch and Helmut Voelzkow

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

The main aim of this book is to determine the national patterns of local production systems, particularly those involving small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in France, Germany, Italy, and ... More

The main aim of this book is to determine the national patterns of local production systems, particularly those involving small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. This chapter lays down the theoretical foundations for this volume then explains the methodologies used for the selection and analysis of case studies. An overview of the case studies is then presented.Less

Collective Goods in the Local Economy: The Packaging Machinery Cluster in Bologna

Henry Farrell and Louise Holten

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

This chapter examines the packaging machinery cluster in Bologna. It focuses on the mix of governance institutions affecting the industrial district of packaging machine producers, and the ‘Emilian ... More

This chapter examines the packaging machinery cluster in Bologna. It focuses on the mix of governance institutions affecting the industrial district of packaging machine producers, and the ‘Emilian model’ as a whole — the state, associations, and relations among firms. It argues that local collective competition goods determine the success or failure of industrial districts.Less

Industrial Decline and Local Development Policies in the Steel Area of Piombino

Annalisa Tonarelli

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

This chapter examines the efforts to revitalize the Piombino area following the decline of the steel industry. The strategies and actors involved in managing the decline are discussed. It is shown ... More

This chapter examines the efforts to revitalize the Piombino area following the decline of the steel industry. The strategies and actors involved in managing the decline are discussed. It is shown that revitalization strategies succeeded due to the early attention given by the local political class to the initial signs of crisis in the steel sector, and the acceptance of financial opportunities offered by the EU and other institutions.Less

. Impacts on Places

Michael L. Walden

in North Carolina in the Connected Age: Challenges and Opportunities in a Globalizing Economy

This chapter demonstrates that North Carolina has many varied local economies. Furthermore, the trends and forces of the Connected Age have affected these diverse economies in different ways. Some ... More

This chapter demonstrates that North Carolina has many varied local economies. Furthermore, the trends and forces of the Connected Age have affected these diverse economies in different ways. Some have benefited from and excelled as a result of the Connected Age's emphasis on education, deregulation, and international trade, while others have been battered and challenged to remain viable. Thus, at the ground level, in the multiple regions, counties, towns, and places that make up North Carolina, the story of the modern economy has been a dream for some and a virtual nightmare for others. The chapter also examines the impact of the Connected Age on North Carolina's places in two ways. First, a comparative analysis of the state's local economies during the Connected Age is presented, emphasizing how performance has varied during the era. Second, each of the state's local economies is analyzed. The analyses show how each local economy has changed during the Connected Age and its prospects for the future.Less

Remaking Urban Economies

Oliver Zimmer

in Remaking the Rhythms of Life: German Communities in the Age of the Nation-State

This chapter examines the remaking of economic life as a struggle fought out between different sections within the urban economy that subscribed to competing spatial visions. Some envisaged their ... More

This chapter examines the remaking of economic life as a struggle fought out between different sections within the urban economy that subscribed to competing spatial visions. Some envisaged their town as the result of a journey, whilst others imagined it as a well-ordered place. The remaking of urban economies took place in a competitive climate, one in which town authorities and the wider public drew on available statistical information to compare themselves with their closest rivals.Less

Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwangtung: (1978)*

Marjorie Topley

Jean DeBernardi (ed.)

in Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money

Women all over Kwangtung traditionally worked outside their home, and by this century women in other provinces were also working in cash-earning occupations. However, marriage resistance remained ... More

Women all over Kwangtung traditionally worked outside their home, and by this century women in other provinces were also working in cash-earning occupations. However, marriage resistance remained unique to one small area. In the last twenty years, however, a few social scientists have interviewed women from the resistance area who had emigrated to Hong Kong and Singapore. The interviews conducted by Ho It Chong, a former social work student at the University of Singapore, are of particular value. This chapter describes the physical environment and its effect on the local economy and culture. It then tries to isolate local factors that helped generate the resistance, encouraged the particular forms it took, and perpetuated its existence. Finally, it looks at changes in the area and elsewhere that may have contributed to the movement's decline.Less

Understanding Subnational Variation in Chinese Social Health Insurance

Xian Huang

in Social Protection under Authoritarianism: Health Politics and Policy in China

Chapter 6 investigates the coverage and generosity of Chinese social health insurance in the first decade of the 2000s, with a focus on the regional (i.e., cross-provincial) variation using a ... More

Chapter 6 investigates the coverage and generosity of Chinese social health insurance in the first decade of the 2000s, with a focus on the regional (i.e., cross-provincial) variation using a cross-sectional time-series research design. First, a cluster analysis provides supportive evidence for the existence of four models of social health insurance expansion in China. The clustering of Chinese provinces in social health insurance expansion also corresponds to the differences among local political economies. Second, the chapter makes detailed inter-regional comparisons and intra-regional studies to reconstruct the mechanism linking a local political economy to the local distributive patterns of health insurance benefits—that is, local socioeconomic conditions shape local leaders’ policy preferences and choices for allocating social health insurance benefits in their jurisdictions. Finally, a regression analysis demonstrates significant correlations between local social risks and social health insurance coverage, and between local fiscal resources and social health insurance generosity.Less

Children and the local economy: another way to achieve social inclusion

Rosie Edwards

in Children, young people and social inclusion: Participation for what?

This chapter sets three challenges to those seeking to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. The first is that the local economy can have an impact on child poverty. The second is that an asset- ... More

This chapter sets three challenges to those seeking to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. The first is that the local economy can have an impact on child poverty. The second is that an asset- and solution-based focus on child poverty can have a more positive and sustainable impact. The third is that children and young people should be seen as positive agents for change in their communities, who can also have an impact on both child poverty and social inclusion. The chapter starts with the perceived picture as it stands, and mention briefly some recent challenges to that picture. The chapter then explores in more detail the way in which children and young people currently feature in moves to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. It goes on to ask how different that might look from an asset-based, child- or young person-led approach that focuses on the local economy.Less

Drugs, Taxes, and Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia

Carl A. Trocki

in Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952

This chapter demonstrates how much the development of Singapore, the most important opium trading post between India and China, hinged on Chinese economic networks. It explains that opium in ... More

This chapter demonstrates how much the development of Singapore, the most important opium trading post between India and China, hinged on Chinese economic networks. It explains that opium in Singapore was handled through privately held monopolies granted by the colonial stat known as “opium farms.” The chapter notes that these farms were owned and operated by Chinese kongsi or shareholding partnerships, and argues that opium was the trap in which the kongsi economies were captured by colonial capitalism. It shows that although as the local economies were trapped, British merchants were able, perhaps even forced, to leave the details of the opium trade to others, they relied on its presence. The British attempted to replicate their Singapore success in Hong Kong, but found it impossible to trap the local economy there, thus exposing any notion of establishing a genuine colonial foothold in China as impossible.Less

Local Economy-Wide Impact Evaluation of Social Cash Transfer Programmes

J. Edward Taylor, Karen Thome, and Mateusz Filipski

in From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub Saharan Africa

Poor households are the focus of social cash transfer (SCT) programmes, but they are also a conduit through which cash enters local economies. As beneficiaries spend their transfers, local demand ... More

Poor households are the focus of social cash transfer (SCT) programmes, but they are also a conduit through which cash enters local economies. As beneficiaries spend their transfers, local demand increases. If production expands to meet this demand, SCT programmes can create income multipliers; each dollar transferred can increase local income by more than one dollar. This chapter explains how local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) is used to uncover impacts of SCTs not only on eligible households, but also on the local economies of which they are part. We find that most of the African SCT programmes examined in this book create large income multipliers in local economies, ranging from 1.27 to 2.52 per dollar transferred to eligible households.Less

Development

Neil M. Coe and Henry Wai-chung Yeung

in Global Production Networks: Theorizing Economic Development in an Interconnected World

This chapter uses the preceding analysis of the organization, dynamics, and strategies of global production networks to explain the diverse patterns of uneven economic development within the global ... More

This chapter uses the preceding analysis of the organization, dynamics, and strategies of global production networks to explain the diverse patterns of uneven economic development within the global economy. As such, it completes the book’s three-step approach to theorizing economic development in an interconnected world with global production networks as the central driver. The chapter develops the concept of ‘value capture trajectories’ as a new way of thinking about the highly varied and dynamic outcomes for firms both articulated into, and disarticulated from, global production networks. In turn, the developmental implications of those value trajectories are analysed through the lens of the different modes and types of strategic coupling that may become apparent at the sub-national regional level. The chapter also discusses how these dynamic modes of coupling are themselves highly contested by a range of actors both within and beyond the constituent global production networks.Less

The Civics of Economic Restructuring

Souza Briggs

in Democracy as Problem Solving: Civic Capacity in Communities Across the Globe

This chapter examines three different perspectives on economic restructuring as a civic or public problem for local democracy. These models view economic restructuring as either a problem for ... More

This chapter examines three different perspectives on economic restructuring as a civic or public problem for local democracy. These models view economic restructuring as either a problem for government decision-makers, a problem of public–private partnership, or a problem of cultivating innovative ideas, perspectives which also help in identifying problems that need to be solved by public, private, and nongovernmental sectors in the process of restructuring. The barriers and decisions faced by different stakeholders while mobilizing resources for the transformation of a local economy are also discussed. The chapter emphasizes that partnerships and cooperative networks are needed for transforming a local economy, as the problems and challenges associated with this kind of economic restructuring are complex and serious.Less

Coda: Butter Buyers

in On Demand: Writing for the Market in Early Modern England

This chapter considers William Harrison's Description, where he complains that middlemen are ruining local economies all over England, and suggests that Harrison is not simply the retrograde ... More

This chapter considers William Harrison's Description, where he complains that middlemen are ruining local economies all over England, and suggests that Harrison is not simply the retrograde clergyman he appears, nor as inattentive as he seems. It is rather that he does not quite know what he knows, or does not know how to express what he knows, about demand. His Description implies a gathering tendency of behaviors, desires, and thought that has yet to find a fully articulated rationale, and which must co-exist, perforce, with a very powerful strain of entrenched opinion.Less