Lagging regions differ in their characteristics, implying a need for tailor-made policy measures to improve the economic situation in these regions. However, while there are differences between these regions, certain "archetypes" of regions might exist that share the same obstacles to...

In recent decades industrial clusters and agglomerations were recognized as drivers of regional and often national economic growth and competitiveness. Based on this cluster policy has been widely used to spur economic change, especially on the sub-national level. The public support to cluster...

The interpretation and measurement of the innovation performance of territorial units represent well established research areas. Nevertheless the way this issue is usually addressed raises several questions. In present paper we are dealing with two of these problematic fields: the level of...

Functional delineated labour market regions are needed for regional economic analyses. In dependence of the definition of regions economic regions in space can be seen as rich or poor areas. In addition to this statistical and econometric reasons argue for using functional labour market regions....

This paper provides an analysis of the impact of the German “Joint Task for the Improve-ment of Regional Economic Structures” (GRW) on labour productivity growth of 225 German labour market regions for the period 1994 to 2006. The empirical regression approach builds on a “Barro-type”...

The convergence of German regions represents a politically explosive question. Different studies examined convergence processes of Germany. We derive equations to estimate the convergence speed on basis of a Solow model, to which human capital is added. The geographically weighted regression...

The CFA-zone is basically composed of two sub-zones, characterized by significant structural economic and political differences within and between its member countries: the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU/UEMOA) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa...

Applied econometrics has recently emphasized the identification of causal parameters for policy analysis. This revolution has yet to fully propagate to the field of regional science. We examine the scope for application of the matching approach – part of the modern applied econometrics toolkit...

In the north-western corner of Germany, the Ems-Achse, a rural region, has witnessed a decade of economic growth. This growth has exacerbated labour shortages, primarily due to an aging population and the outmigration of youth. Acknowledging the potential of teleworking, regional stakeholders...