Suchergebnisse

"Across Europe, regional development agencies (RDAs) have become a central feature of regional policy, both as innovative policy-makers and as the implementers of programmes and initiatives originating from the national or European level. Since the first generation of RDAs were established in the 1970s and 1980s, major changes have swept through the policy arena: - globalisation has increased competitive pressure and moved the position of regions in the international division of labour to the forefront of regional strategy-making - the digital revolution and the EU Lisbon agenda have highlighted the importance of production and access to knowledge as key factors in regional competitiveness - regional policy has become part of a wider system of multi-level governance so that their geographical horizon has expanded in terms of sponsors and collaborators - issues of governance and accountability of RDAs have been one of the drivers to devolution of powers to governments and bodies below the level of the nation state, raising questions over their status and distance from political control. The aim of this book is to develop a profile of the next generation of RDAs that will identify key issues and trends regarding: policy aims, strategy-making and the new role of knowledge; the organisation of policy delivery, with emphasis on interactive knowledge brokerage; the organisational shift towards smaller and more flexible RDAs; and the political governance of regional policy. By drawing on a combination of conceptual reflection, surveys, comparative research, and systematic use of critical case studies, the book provides a new point of reference by identifying key features of the current, and, indeed next, generation of regionally-based economic development organisations"--

In this paper, we propose a new methodology for the assessment of EU's regional policies, making use of the HERMIN macro econometric model. A major feature of our approach is that allows us to compare the actual evolution of the economy under analysis, with and without European funds, so that we should be able to assess in a more accurate way the effectiveness of the EU aid over the period of analysis. An empirical application of the methodology is also offered, using as a case study an Objective 1 Spanish region, Castilla - La Mancha, traditionally backward but showing in last years a special dynamism. Key words: EU's regional policies, Community Support Frameworks, HERMIN-Spain model, Castilla-La Mancha JEL classification: H50, H54, R58

Since the late 1990s, the regions in Italy have played a pivotal role in the immigrant integration policy, reinforced in 2001 because of the approval of federal reform assigning to the regions full autonomy on matters of social policy, immigrants' integration included. Notwithstanding this crucial position, during the 2000s Italian regions have faced considerable cuts to their social policy budget, as well as pressures from the national government to accommodate in their immigrant integration policy issues of civic integration and Italian language learning, regarded as priorities in the EU context. This paper analyses how these new constraints and requirements have been confronted in regional policy-making processes, which characterise for the closeness with local administrations and civil society organisations, i.e. the actors charged with the implementation of regional policy programmes. Five regions in different areas of the country will be considered: Piedmont and Lombardy in the North-West; Emilia-Romagna in the North-East; Tuscany in the Centre; and Apulia in the South. The main objective is that of highlighting the emerging of different regional policy styles and systems of governance of immigrant integration, even in a context of increasing pressures towards convergence on civic integration policy priorities.

A very prominent instrument of regional policy is to foster education and human capital for-mation in economically lagging regions. However, this type of regional policy might actually hurt instead of help the recipient areas. The reason is that individual geographical mobility increases with the personal skill level. Through education subsidies, particularly if targeted on relatively high skilled workers, individuals can cross some threshold level of qualification beyond which emigration pays off. Regional policies then result in a human capital flight harmful to individuals remaining in the economic periphery. This fatal result does not hold for policies that focus on the relatively low skilled.

One of the most prominent instruments of regional policy is to foster education and human capital formation in economically lagging regions. However, regional policy of this type can actually hurt instead of help the poor areas. The reason is that individual geographical mobility increases with the personal skill level. Through education subsidies, particularly if targeted on relatively high skilled workers, individuals can cross some threshold level of qualification beyond which emigration accrues. Regional policies then result in a human capital flight harmful to individuals remaining in the economic periphery. This fatal result does not hold for such policies that foster basic education and focus on the relatively low skilled.