Territories with the greatest needs in emerging economies often fail to receive social investment transfers, and the absence of diagnostic tools limits the detection of such imbalances. This paper presents the Bivariate Equity Index (BEI) as a low-cost, replicable, and straightforward auditing tool designed to identify efficiency or inefficiency in territorial management by cross-referencing poverty rates and income inequality with per capita social investment at the municipal level. We apply the BEI through a longitudinal case study (2000, 2010, and 2020) conducted in the state of Querétaro, Mexico, using municipal public expenditure records and census microdata from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). Querétaro is a region characterized by high economic growth and persistent internal inequalities.The main findings are threefold. First, over time, the source of imbalance shifted: the generalized public spending deficit observed in the most vulnerable municipalities in 2000 evolved into a more complex scenario by 2020, wherein territories with lower levels of need exhibit potential over-allocation. Second, the state capital, Querétaro, presents a critical misalignment, as it remains trapped in a cycle of high inequality and low per capita social investment. Third, results derived from poverty and inequality analyses differ substantially, suggesting that unidimensional targeting criteria obscure inequality gaps that persist within the social fabric. The BEI does not seek to identify causes but rather to provide public managers and civil society with a diagnostic tool based on a scenario matrix that facilitates the detection of budgetary routines, compares municipal performance, and prioritizes interventions.
The European Union (EU) confronts a widening productivity gap with the United States (US) and China. Informed by the Draghi Report (2024), the emerging response is a bold but narrow one, dominated by massive investment in the technologies and sectors where Europe most conspicuously lags. This article argues that pursuing parity in areas where Europe shows considerable weakness is the wrong race. The surer path runs through Europe's existing strengths —its pharmaceutical hubs, aerospace clusters, machine-tool districts and chemical bases, among others— used not as a pretext for standing still but as a springboard for reinvention. This implies mobilising the potential of every European territory by climbing the complexity ladder, absorbing new technologies into living industrial ecosystems, and diversifying into related activities that grow organically out of existing capabilities. A differentiated, place-sensitive strategy built on path dependence, brownfield digitalisation and the deliberate strengthening of European chokepoints in strategic sectors offers a more durable route to competitiveness than chasing after American or Chinese shadows. Europe is not short of talent or invention: the problem lies in institutional barriers to integration, the weakness of its knowledge-to-innovation pipeline, and its chronic inability to help promising start-ups graduate into globally significant firms. Fix those, and the case for territorial myopia collapses. For if Europe is bound to struggle at imitation, it might as well succeed at being itself and, on its own terms, lead.
In resilience theory, regions can be persistent to the crisis or adapt to a new situation and even change their dependence path. In that, the text author focuses on the regional resilience of Ukrainian oblasts. To measure the resilience of regions, a resilience index was created using the following indicators: 1) GDP per capita, 2) employment diversity, 3) employment rate, 4) number of SMEs per 10.000 people, 5) investment rate by GDP, 6) expenditures on R&D by GDP. That index was created for the years 2012–2021, and for the last year, a typology was created, which divided oblasts into four categories: very low, low, medium, and high. Only Kyiv was in the last type for the whole period. Using the Pearson correlation coefficient, the Resilience index for 2021 was compared with the dynamics (2021 =100%) of the following data: 1) number of active enterprises, 2) number of employed in business enterprises, 3) capital investments, 4) turnover of enterprises for 2022–2024. The result shows no correlation between the index and the data. There is a negative correlation between warfare damage and the data, but it was lower in 2024 than in previous years. Sources of regional resilience are eRobota, foreign aid, businesses' ability to adapt, and the relocation of enterprises, while obstacles include warfare, blackouts, and floods. The best situation was in the western regions of Ukraine: Lvivska, Zakarpatska, Volynska, Chernivetska, and Ternpoliska, which are adapting to new challenges and have a chance to change their dependence path in the future.
Counterurban migration from metropolitan to smaller and rural regions has attracted renewed attention as a potential driver of regional revitalisation, yet its economic consequences remain poorly understood. This paper examines whether and how counterurban migrants contribute to structural change in non-metropolitan labour markets in Sweden. Using longitudinally matched employer–employee data for the period 2002–2019, we analyse how the activities of counterurban migrants relate to regional capability structures, compared with those of local incumbents across the urban hierarchy. Drawing on evolutionary measures of match, coherence, and structural change, the results show that counterurban migrants are more likely to enter activities that are less aligned with existing regional structures, particularly in small-town and rural regions, thereby introducing short-run labour market variation. However, this variation is not sustained. Over time, the activities in which migrants are employed become increasingly similar to those of incumbents, indicating that incoming skills and experiences are largely absorbed and filtered by existing regional capability structures. Overall, the findings suggest that counterurban migration contributes to gradual and context-dependent adjustment rather than serving as a general engine of regional diversification or transformation.
This paper examines interpersonal income inequality across the Greek regions over the period 2002–2019. Based on individualised household income data, it investigates the geographical pattern and socioeconomic correlates of interpersonal/intraregional inequality. The results show strong evidence of a negative correlation between the Gini index and GDP per capita and a positive correlation between the Gini index and the unemployment rate. Thus, higher regional economic performance is associated with lower, rather than higher, interpersonal inequality, whereas higher unemployment is associated with greater inequality. Unemployment therefore emerges as a persistent factor associated with interpersonal/ intraregional inequality. These findings provide important inputs for the design of policies aimed at more territorially balanced and socially inclusive development.
Hot-spring resources are abundant in Japan, yet they have not consistently generated broad-based regional prosperity. This study examines the conditions under which hot-spring cities can evolve from tourism-dependent destinations into higher-value urban service clusters. It compares Beppu (Japan) with Bath (UK) and Vichy (France), two benchmark spa cities included among the Great Spa Towns of Europe. Using a qualitative comparative case study supported by descriptive statistical evidence and location quotient profiles, the study shows that outcomes depend less on the volume of hot-spring resources than on institutional coordination, brand credibility, and the integration of wellness, heritage, healthcare, education, and related service industries. Bath and Vichy demonstrate how relatively limited hydrothermal resources can be converted into more durable and higher-value urban development through coordinated governance, long-stay demand, and clear quality signalling. By contrast, Beppu retains exceptional resource endowments and a strong domestic tourism base but remains dependent on volume-based tourism and shows weaker cross-sector orchestration. The study argues that the developmental potential of hot-spring cities should be understood as a place-based institutional and spatial process rather than an automatic consequence of resource abundance. Policy implications are presented for Beppu and for Japanese hot-spring cities generally.
Amid global innovation competition and China's economic transition, advancing Strategic Emerging Industries (SEIs) is crucial for driving industrial upgrading and sustaining economic growth. Utilizing data from 909 listed companies and applying spatial statistics and the Geodetector method, this study analyzes the spatial pattern and driving factors of SEIs in the Yangtze River Delta region. The findings reveal that: (1) SEIs exhibit significant agglomeration, forming a spatial hierarchical pattern characterized as "one core, one axis, two wings, and multiple points; (2) "Openness, domestic demand, innovation" system — operating through mechanisms of dynamic balancing, positive feedback, and risk mitigation— is strongly associated with the observed distribution of SEIs; (3) Spatial heterogeneity prevails across provinces and industries, yet the interactive effects among these three factors demonstrate universality. Accordingly, the findings suggest several possible policy implications, including: furthering institutional openness through coordinated Pilot Free Trade Zones and cross-border innovation cooperation; stimulating domestic demand via interregional consumer credit and green procurement policies; and fostering innovation-industrial chain integration through cross-regional intellectual property sharing platforms. The proposed "openness, domestic demand, innovation" system offers a useful analytical perspective and suggests avenues for policy discussion and comparative research for optimizing SEI distribution and fostering innovation-led regional development within urban agglomerations of transitioning economies.
This paper develops quantitative regional economic scenarios for Dutch NUTS2 provinces, with varying global structural conditions, over 2020–2060 to assess regional economic resilience. Using panel econometric estimations combined with the EU-EMS recursive-dynamic spatial computable general equilibrium model, we translate scenario narratives, grounded in the SSP1 and SSP3 global pathways, into internally consistent projections of production value, employment, and sectoral specialization. The high-growth scenario assumes continued globalization and knowledge-intensive service expansion, whereas the low-growth scenario assumes deglobalization, reshoring of industrial production, and demographic stagnation. While the Dutch economy grows under both scenarios, growth falls substantially below the historical average and its spatial distribution diverges sharply. The high-growth scenario deepens the urban–peripheral divide by concentrating knowledge-intensive activity in the Randstad whereas the low-growth scenario revitalises industrial production in Noord-Brabant and Limburg through reshoring. The northern peripheral provinces face negative employment growth regardless of scenario, pointing to structural vulnerabilities that persist across both futures. The findings argue for adaptive, geographically differentiated resilience strategies rather than static policy commitments to a single structural future.
This paper examines how deep integration into global value chains (GVCs) reshapes the distribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Czechia. It shows that the main environmental consequence of GVC integration is not simply the scale of emissions, but their redistribution across domestic production, foreign upstream supply chains, and final demand. Drawing on OECD GHG Footprints and TiVA data for 1995–2020, the paper analyses the geography of embodied emissions and links it to Czechia’s dependence on foreign inputs and external demand. The results indicate that Czechia remains a relatively emissions-intensive production base, while a growing share of the carbon footprint associated with its final demand is displaced into foreign upstream production and Czech-origin emissions continue to be transmitted into external markets through export-oriented manufacturing and related services. This pattern reflects high backward linkages, reliance on imported intermediates, and the central role of trade in intermediates. The automotive industry makes these dynamics particularly visible: while external integration underpins export competitiveness, the transition to electromobility reconfigures environmental pressures towards electricity, raw materials, battery production, and supplier networks within foreign-led production systems. The paper argues that, in manufacturing-oriented CEE (Central and Eastern European) economies, decarbonisation must be understood not only as emissions reduction, but also as structural adaptation within externally coordinated value chains in which control over greener restructuring remains unevenly distributed.
Conserving and restoring wildlife habitat is increasingly prioritized as economies focus on sustainable development. This study estimates the nonmarket value of the 7,000-acre Pilot Hill Recreation and Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) in southeastern Wyoming, which connects the City of Laramie to over 65,000 acres of national forest and state recreation lands. Using both a benefit transfer analysis and a contingent valuation survey of more than 1000 households, we evaluate willingness to pay (WTP) for the area’s recreational and habitat attributes. The contingent valuation estimates show that the average WTP for this WHMA was $9.43 per household per visit, which aggregates to a regional economic benefit of $4.27 million per year. The benefit transfer approach yields a higher aggregate value of $16.76 million. Households also reported preferring the current WHMA plan with trails more than 2:1 over leaving the area as open space or using it for other economic development projects. Survey respondents indicate that the two most important attributes of this WHMA are protecting the area from residential development and connecting the adjacent city to recreation lands. Results suggest that the total cost of Pilot Hill, $10.5 million for the land purchase and $4.5 million for facilities and trails, represents an efficient and socially beneficial investment in conservation and recreation.
The Brenner Corridor is the busiest trans-Alpine transit route and a central focus of transport policy debates. These debates are driven primarily by concerns about the significant environmental impact caused by high traffic volumes. Although the ongoing construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel represents one of the most prominent transport infrastructure investments in Europe, shifting traffic from road to rail remains a lengthy process, meaning that pressure on the existing road network will continue for the foreseeable future. Against this background, the temporary closure of the Brenner Corridor on 30 May 2026 provided a unique opportunity to examine the vulnerability of trans-Alpine transport networks. The closure resulted from a demonstration by the local population against increasing transport volumes and associated pollution. Given its timing during the holiday season in southern Germany, concerns emerged that diverted traffic could cause severe disruption on neighbouring trans-Alpine corridors. This article analyses real-time travel time data to assess the impacts of the closure on surrounding Alpine routes. Contrary to widespread expectations, the results show no significant disruption on the analysed corridors. The findings suggest that early communication and travellers’ ability to adapt their behaviour may have helped prevent major congestion. The article discusses the lessons that can be drawn from this case for future Alpine and European transport policy.
The current geopolitical landscape is highly fragmented and complex. It is characterized by rising tensions, shifting alliances, and by a largely uncertain global governance. This turbulence has dire consequences, especially at territorial level: it may contribute to widening interregional disparities. Prior ex ante assessments of the way these instabilities may find a solution suggest that a scenario with the EU deepening its internal integration, coupled with tighter global economic linkages (Integration scenario), would yield stronger economic performance, associated with smaller increases in cross-country disparities. By contrast, a scenario with looser internal integration within the EU, coupled with a fragmented global economy (Fragmentation scenario), would bring about comparatively larger within-country disparities, as slower economic expansion would keep internal inequality more contained. In this paper we propose a set of simulations aiming at disentangling the role played by pre-market, in-market, and post-market factors in driving regional inequalities. Simulations are based on the fifth generation of the MAcroeconometric Social Sectoral Territorial (MASST5) model. Our results suggest a mosaic of often contradictory effects. Should either state of the world depicted in the two scenarios prevail, our simulation results provide a detailed picture of the mechanisms driving overall results, thereby informing policy interventions aiming at minimizing the negative effects of specific development patterns.
This study replicates Gallardo and Whitacre's (2018) finding that remote work was positively associated with median household income using 2020-2024 American Community Survey data at the Census tract level. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated remote work, with the share of workers primarily based at home rising from 5.2% (pre-pandemic) to 15.1% by 2024. This sharp increase warrants an updated examination of this relationship. Using Ordinary Least Squares and Spatial Durbin Error Models (SDEM), we estimate the direct and spillover effects of remote work on median household income while controlling for demographic, educational, industrial, and broadband access variables. Results confirm that remote work retains a positive association with household income nearly a decade later. Notably, the spillover effects from neighboring tract wage-and-salary remote workers increased substantially - a finding with meaningful implications for regional economic development policy. New to this study, industry-specific remote work variables reveal considerable heterogeneity. Finance, insurance, and real estate remote workers generate the strongest direct and spillover income effects, while remote workers in educational services and health care are associated with negative income effects and spillovers. Despite significant federal broadband investments during this period, the digital divide index maintains a persistently negative association with income across all regions, underscoring the continued importance of broadband affordability and adoption alongside infrastructure deployment. These findings are consistent with the view that remote work remains a viable component of economic development strategy, though causal interpretation requires further research.
This article analyzes how the growing prominence of decentralized cooperation in Morocco interacts—or fails to interact—with the regional development planning instruments put in place under advanced regionalization. Drawing on contributions from the literatures on multi-level governance, development planning in the Global South, and territorial cohesion, it examines institutional gaps between the legal framework, planning tools, and the actual practices of territorial actors. Based on a structured documentary review combining a systematic search protocol, qualitative content analysis of legislative texts and twelve post-2015 regional development plans, and critical engagement with institutional reports, the study identifies three types of misalignments: a largely implicit and fragmented integration of decentralized cooperation projects into planning documents; uneven coordination between levels of government around external resources; and a persistent tension between stated territorial cohesion objectives and competitive logics of partnership capture by certain regions. The article argues that these gaps currently limit the capacity of decentralized cooperation to become a structuring lever for territorial convergence, while at the same time opening up prospects for institutional reforms. It contributes to debates in regional science and regional policy by showing how the design and coordination of planning instruments condition the ability of decentralized cooperation to support more inclusive regional development and territorial cohesion within the framework of advanced regionalization.
This article explores the impact of technological transformation as one of the global megatrends in modern times. We focus on how new technologies, especially digitalization, have made it possible for people in peripheral places to work remotely. The focus is on the case municipalities in Iceland, especially H & uacute;sav & iacute;k in in Nor & eth;ur & thorn;ing in northern Iceland, but also in a comparative context with remote municipalities in Norway, Sweden, and & Aring;land. The empirical data used is from the Nordic project SUNREM (Sustainable Nordic Remote Labour Markets), which has been studying the impacts of megatrends on the sustainability of remote labour markets in four Nordic countries. Data is collected from in-depth interviews with stakeholders, policymakers, and ordinary citizens in seven selected cases in the four countries. The key research questions dealt with here are: What is the situation of remote work in selected cases in Nordic sparsely populated areas? What preconditions are needed for remote digital working? Has remote work made the labour market more sustainable? The main conclusions are that remote working exists in all of the Nordic cases investigated. The town of H & uacute;sav & iacute;k in the municipality of Nor & eth;ur & thorn;ing in North Iceland, stands out with its well-developed remote work centres. There are clear signs that facilities where people can work and meet other remote workers are important. This enables broader recruitment into the labour market, since for example spouses can use this option, enabling them to move to more remote places. Remote work from people's homes has some disadvantages, as pointed out by various researchers, and therefore infrastructure for remote working contributes to making labour markets in the periphery more sustainable.
