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Regional economic disparities: the role of agglomeration, deindustrialisation and industrial policy
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Date
2024
Authors
Clifford, John Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
Regional development can be unbalanced between regions as some regions can become drivers of economic growth. However, other regions have experienced low, no or negative growth. This has led to some regions being ‘left behind’. The uneven nature of development has also led to economic disparities and populations shifting from one region to another, providing opportunities for some regions, and concerns for other regions’ economic performance. Considering these concerns and unique regional experiences, it is important to explore these elements further. This PhD explores economic disparities across several factors including agglomerations, deindustrialisation and industrial policy.
To explore these factors, several research questions have been developed. The overall research question for the PhD is: what impact does cities, decentralisation, deindustrialisation and business and technology parks have on economic growth, deprivation and employment across regions? These are investigated across three empirical Chapters which address the following research questions: Chapter 3 addresses three specific research questions; (i) does average city size impact national economic growth? (ii) does decentralisation impact national economic growth? and (iii) is the impact of city size on economic growth mitigated by the degree of decentralisation? The research questions for Chapter 4 are i) does deindustrialisation increase deprivation? and ii) does deindustrialisation influence local deprivation differently across urban and rural regions? Chapter 5 addresses two specific research questions; i) does business and technology park establishment impact local employment growth? and ii) does park size, FDI country of origin and sectoral composition in business and technology parks impact local employment growth?
The first empirical Chapter finds that increasing city size has a positive relationship with economic growth. Similarly, increasing decentralisation has a positive relationship with economic growth. Conversely, larger cities undergoing increased decentralisation experience a negative relationship with economic growth. This suggests that larger cities may have scale issues and provides growth opportunities for small and medium sized cities. The second empirical Chapter finds that deindustrialisation increases local deprivation. Upon a more nuanced regional analysis, cities and urban regions do not experience increased deprivation as a result of deindustrialisation. Conversely, rural regions experience increased deprivation, however rural regions closer to urban regions, experience the greatest increase in deprivation. This suggests that cities and urban regions may be able to absorb or reallocate labour which mitigates the deprivation effect. In rural regions closer to urban regions, an overreliance on employment from manufacturing may impact these regions most when deindustrialisation occurs. The third and final empirical Chapter, finds that the establishment of business and technology parks increases local employment, particularly in struggling peripheral regions. Business and technology parks with higher levels of pharmaceutical firms experience even higher levels of employment growth. This suggests an effective policy for addressing some regional development in struggling peripheral regions.
The results of this analysis provide nuanced findings which suggest that regions with different characteristics require specific place-based policies based on the characteristics of these regions. The findings of the first empirical Chapter also suggest that decentralisation can play a role in economic development, alongside being positioned to provide place-based policies within the regions they govern.
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Keywords
Cities , Regional development , FDI , Deindustrialisation , Deprivation , Fiscal decentralisation
Citation
Clifford, J. P. 2024. Regional economic disparities: the role of agglomeration, deindustrialisation and industrial policy. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.