This article closely examines two industrial clusters in China, and compares the various adaptations these two clusters have undergone, as well as the mechanisms underlying the industrial and geographical dynamics within these two clusters. Specifically, based on recent field investigation and in-depth interviews during 2011–2014, we examine two types of local governance, and pay attention to the articulation between “governance within global value chains” and “governance within local clusters,” and to how global and local governance co-shape the ways in which and the extents to which local firms participate in the global economy, producing diverse geographies of production and generating diverse trajectories of regional development. The article concludes that local and global governance co-determine domestic firms’ upgrading sources, the strength of their local embeddedness, and the ways in which they conduct spatial and organizational restructuring, such as factory consolidation, factory closure, industrial upgrading, and geographical relocation.
This work makes two major innovations within the empirical literature on the effect of electoral systems on corruption. First, in order to distinguish electoral systems, we propose to measure their degree of proportionality, instead of using dummy variables. A measure of the proportionality degree seems the appropriate way to identify electoral systems in an empirical setting because it allows all their variants to be considered. Second, alongside a parametric panel data approach, we provide a new (in this field) semi-parametric technique to estimate a non-linear relationship between the proportionality degree of electoral systems and corruption. Our results show that, when we increase plurality elements into proportional, both voters’ and opponents’ monitoring power induce politicians to avoid corrupt behaviour. But it is beneficial only up to certain proportionality degrees, after which this effect stops. Moreover, data show that the ‘best’ range of proportionality degrees is most likely found under mixed electoral rules. For governors the choice of the proportionality degree therefore becomes fundamental.
This paper examines how actors in the UK electricity sector are attempting to deliver investment in low carbon generation. Low carbon technologies, because of their relative immaturity, capital intensity and low operational costs, do not readily fit with existing electricity markets and investment templates which were designed for fossil fuel based energy. We analyse key electricity market and infrastructure policies in the UK and highlight how these are aimed at making low carbon technologies ‘investable’ by reducing uncertainty, managing investment risks and repositioning actors within the electricity socio-technical ‘regime’. We argue that our study can inform contemporary debates on the politics and governance of sustainability transitions by empirically investigating the agency of incumbent regime actors in the face of uncertainty and by offering critical insights on the role of markets and finance in shaping socio-technical change.
This paper explores whether and how frames used within different sectors in Sweden concerned with bioenergy from forest products are driven by environmental objectives. It complements existing research on environmental policy integration (EPI) in bioenergy policies of political-administrative Swedish sectors by conducting a frame analysis of articles published in three journals in Sweden that represent the energy, agricultural and forestry sectors. Ten frames that were used consistently across the three sectors in the time period from 2001 to 2010 were identified. Environmental rhetoric, one of the prerequisites for EPI, was identified; however, it plays only a secondary role given that bioenergy frames focus mainly on economic objectives, presenting bioenergy as a means of increasing profitability.
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest by policy makers in high growth firms. Interest in these dynamic firms has primarily been driven by their prodigious ability to create new employment. Despite this, very little is known about the complex corporate geographies of these firms and their internationalisation processes. Using quantitative and qualitative data, this paper explores this issue by examining Scottish high growth firms. High growth firms were found to adopt more aggressive forms of international expansion, such as overseas acquisitions, than their non-high growth firm counterparts. As a result of these complex growth processes, a large proportion of high growth firm employment growth is generated outside Scotland. The paper concludes that the regional development impact of high growth firms for small peripheral economies in the UK is more limited than originally envisaged. The implications of the study for further research and public policy are examined.
This article analyses how national governments seek to enrol different subjects and objects in energy-carbon restructuring. It takes analysis beyond consideration of particular subjectivities and governmentalities to consider an expanded range of objects and subjects of governing at a distance. Developing an analytical model of ‘modes of enrolment’ focusing on power modalities, forms of policy integration and policy targets, the article explores five broad modes of enrolment employed in England. The article shows how policy across all modes of enrolment in England has increasingly tended towards disordered, syndromic experimentation and government by-project rather than any systematic programme of government.
Local business associations can be important mechanisms for stimulating inter-firm cooperation leading to economic growth and development. However, previous research suggests that the unfulfilled expectations of their members can lead to low participation, high membership churn and network instability over time. As a departure from studies that have explored why local associations supply certain benefits and services, this paper draws on an original, demand side membership survey of local business associations to identify for the first time the bundles of benefits sought by members. Two bundles of benefits (instrumental and info-social) relating to thin and thick models of rational choice, respectively, are identified in explaining why firms join and remain part of associations. The relevance of these bundles to members was found to vary with business profile and length of membership, with the value of instrumental benefits reducing over time, whereas the demand for info-social benefits remained relatively stable. The findings have important implications for local strategies for sustaining business networks.
Cities have emerged as important actors in climate change policy, implementing measures to reduce emissions from transportation, buildings, and waste. More recently, states such as California have implemented cap-and-trade programs to control greenhouse gases. However, a state-level cap handcuffs cities: by fixing emissions at the level of the cap, it precludes local governments from further reducing aggregate emissions. In this paper, we examine whether cities respond to the changed incentives presented by state-level programs. We find no evidence for crowding out: cities plan their emission reductions in similar ways regardless of state-level cap-and-trade programs. Our results suggest that cities likely have a range of motivations for their climate policy efforts- not simply a altruistic desire to improve the global environment.
Public-private partnerships for infrastructure development are often conceived as puzzling governance tools. A peculiar case in Belgium has been the procurement of multiple similar projects to single private sector partners who design, build, finance and maintain infrastructure for a fixed period—bundled procurement. Under the umbrella of the Flemish Sports Infrastructure Program, several of these bundles were tendered, particularly in order to achieve economies of scale. However, bundled procurement came at a price. This article scrutinizes its tense relationship with local governments' interests and competitive tendering. It shows that competition was hampered to a certain extent, but an equally important role in this respect was played by high contractual demands. As for local interests, in some cases the voice of local governments was given too much weight during the procurement phase. Consequently, political interests intervened and uncertainty arose.
The paper uses a case study of urban regeneration policy in Sheffield, UK, to explore local public entrepreneurship in a system of multi-level governance. Recent analyses of public entrepreneurs have directed attention to the macro-political structural and institutional conditions that enable and constrain these actors, and to their individual characteristics and attributes. The stress has been on the national level and on individual action at the expense of the agency of local networks of entrepreneurs. In order to address this lacuna, we consider how local policy entrepreneurs work across governance levels and develop ideas, institutional structures and support in pursuit of their goals, using Kingdon's notion of policy streams as a vehicle for our analysis. We highlight the contingent and path-dependent nature of such entrepreneurship. In particular, we identify the temporal sequencing of agenda shifts and entrepreneurial actions as a crucial aspect of the policy process.
In the last decade, in the context of debates about climate change, the Australian road construction industry has focused on increasing efficiencies within road construction processes. This approach to environmental impact management is congruent with existing (road-centric) trajectories of infrastructure development. At the same time, however, it also institutionalises the systemic environmental impacts of the road network. This article examines the historical conditions within which this focus on construction efficiencies emerged as the basis of practical action. Firstly, it examines the neoliberal strategies that led to the privatisation of the Australian road construction industry in the 1990s. Secondly, these Australian road industry strategies are compared with other industry-centred harm-management initiatives and traced back to the tobacco industry tactics of the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, this article argues for a broader, interdisciplinary approach to the analysis and management of environmental impact.
The role of Bourdieu’s non-material forms of capital (cultural, social and symbolic) in the entrepreneurial process has received little dedicated research attention. Similarly, the link between occupationally distinct entrepreneurship and accumulation of non-material capitals is understudied. Addressing this, we examine the non-material capitals of different nascent entrepreneurs by occupational classification who participated on two enterprise-training programmes funded by the 1997–2010 Labour Government; each with considerably different foci. Findings demonstrate that professional and higher technician entrepreneurs possess valuable non-material capitals, in contrast to non-professional entrepreneurs. Against the backdrop of recent business enterprise policy, findings suggest that policy-makers should prioritise focused support that nurtures the valuable, productive non-material capitals of professional and higher technician entrepreneurs. Furthermore, initiatives should be tailored to improve the less distinguished non-material capitals of non-professional entrepreneurs.
In recent years, the relationship between public housing and children's educational attainment has been a hotly debated topic in urban housing and education policy studies. Most studies on the subject have been based on experiences in western cities characterized by a diminishing and residualized public housing sector. It remains unknown whether the same mechanisms identified in the extant literature can be applied to make sense of the situation in alternative social and housing contexts. This study assesses the impact of public housing residence on the educational achievement of children in Hong Kong within a stable and resilient public housing sector. A propensity score matching estimation reveals that children aged 19–22 living in public housing are less likely to study for a degree in a local university and more likely to be not in employment, education or training than their private housing counterparts. Given the favorable physical and neighborhood environment characterizing public housing in Hong Kong, this negative relationship tends to suggest an account in connection with the restricted access to high-performing schools for public housing children. The paper challenges the perceived notion about the unambiguously positive social impact of public housing scheme in the context of Hong Kong. The case study points to the need for a place-specific analysis of the variegated mechanisms linking public housing with children's education. It highlights the practical implications for a closer integration of public housing and public school policies in Hong Kong.
The ‘Public interest’, even if viewed with ambiguity or scepticism, has been one of the primary means by which various professional roles of planners have been justified. Many objections to the concept have been advanced by writers in planning academia. Notwithstanding these, ‘public interest’ continues to be mobilised, to justify, defend or argue for planning interventions and reforms. This has led to arguments that planning will have to adopt and recognise some form of public interest in practice to legitimise itself. This paper explores current debates around public interest and social justice and advances a vision of the public interest informed by complexity theory. The empirical context of the paper is the poverty alleviation programme, the Kudumbashree project in Kerala, India.
We make the case that the adoption of the asset-based approach to community development could reframe how we think of Indigenous policy development and implementation. We present the case of a specific site which explicitly adopted this approach and delivered enhanced outcomes for communities. Drawing on this example we identify elements of successful Indigenous policy in terms of enhanced services for citizens: new ways of developing and implementing policy; widening the circle of participation and developing social and human capital. We identify the crucial role of appropriate resource allocation and the need for effective, ongoing facilitation to ensure the asset-based approach can be used effectively to improve community development at the local level. Based on the successful adoption of this approach in this example, we call for more research into the potential of this approach to drive new approaches in Indigenous policy and implementation.
Most of the empirical analysis explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth within an institutional void. This paper investigates the connection between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in different institutional settings in 21 OECD countries over the period 1970–2010. We find that the pro-growth effects of fiscal decentralization depend critically on the authority of sub-national governments: tax decentralization leads to higher (lower) rates of economic growth when coupled with high (low) administrative and political decentralization. Tax decentralization is more conducive for growth if sub-national taxes accrue mostly from autonomous revenues such as property taxes. Overall, this provides evidence of institutional complementarities at work among decentralization dimensions leading to relevant insights for policy implications.
In England, appraisals of the financial viability of development schemes have become an integral part of planning policy-making, initially in determining the amount of planning obligations that might be obtained via legal agreements (known as Section 106 agreements) and latterly as a basis for establishing charging schedules for the Community Infrastructure Levy. Local planning authorities set these policies on an area-wide basis but ultimately development proposals require consent on a site-by-site basis. It is at this site-specific level that issues of viability are hotly contested.This paper examines case documents, proofs of evidence and decisions from a sample of planning disputes in order to address two research issues within development viability; the veracity and extent of the knowledge base underpinning development appraisal modelling and the distribution of the development gain between the developer, landowner and community. The paper finds that development viability appraisal is being practiced within a poorly specified and misunderstood modelling framework that compromises the equitable distribution of development land value. It also finds that the use of either market value or price paid as a basis for determining the allocation of development gain to landowners within the modelling framework allows them to maximise their return at the expense of the community by introducing an element of circularity into viability appraisal.
Multicriteria decision analysis is a decision support aid touted for its ability to help participants overcome bias and make holistic assessments. However, few offer empirical tests of this thesis. This research examines the use of multicriteria decision analysis to implement the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. The Act called upon federal, regional, and local agencies to develop a connected system of parks, trails, and natural areas throughout Nevada. The partners used multicriteria decision analysis to make decisions about which parks, trails, and natural areas projects to fund. We assess the extent of political and cognitive biases among the participants when using the multicriteria decision analysis process. We find no strong evidence of strategic behavior, a finding that highlights many of the celebratory claims made about multicriteria decision analysis. However, we also note a preference for projects adjacent to high-income areas as well as the presence of cognitive biases in the assignment of scores to projects.
Recent European studies present persistently critical views of the under performance of government-backed venture capital (GVC) schemes when compared to their private sector counterparts. However, they assess the performance of outmoded funding models and fail to contextualise the economic development role of these schemes. This paper provides a contemporary assessment of the business impacts of the UK government’s flagship Enterprise Capital Funds VC scheme in addressing the sub-£2 m equity finance gap facing young potential high-growth businesses requiring investments. Supply and demand-side evidence is presented from interviews with ECF fund managers, alternative private VCs, industry experts and surveys of successful and unsuccessful scheme applicants. We find that, despite the limitations of mid-scheme evaluation, Enterprise Capital Funds are addressing the UK equity gap and delivering business employment, revenue and innovation impacts. However, further progress is required in order to achieve optimal business exits and sustainable early stage private VC system impacts.
Rulemaking is central to policymaking in the United States. Additionally, regulatory authority is devolved to the states in many instances. However, our knowledge of state-level rulemaking is not as advanced as that related to federal rulemaking. To advance the scholarship on state rulemaking, this study compares environmental rulemaking across three environmental issues (renewable portfolio standards, concentrated animal feeding operation regulations, and hydraulic fracturing disclosure rules) in five states (California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) to understand procedural and stakeholder participation commonalities among the cases. Using data from public rulemaking documents, stakeholder comment during rulemaking, and in-depth interviews with agency staff and stakeholders, the findings suggest that there are common patterns of pre-process informal stakeholder consultation, public comment and outreach mechanisms, and corollary issues related to stakeholder access across these cases. These findings advance our knowledge of state-level rulemaking as it relates to public input and procedural equity for stakeholders.
