Population concentration in the Seoul Metropolitan Area has continued unabated since the 1970s. In the 2010s, diverging productivity drove this trend-gains in semiconductor and knowledge-based sectors in the capital region versus losses in manufacturingoriented regional cities. Planned city...

This paper examines the impact of the European Union's Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 on enterprise dynamics at the NUTS-2 level. Using discrete eligibility thresholds at 75 and 90 percent of EU average GDP per capita, we implement sharp and fuzzy regression discontinuity designs to assess effects on...

This paper evaluates EU Cohesion Policy interventions during 2014-2020 using regression discontinuity design (RDD), exploiting funding thresholds at 75 and 90 percent of EU average GDP per capita across 281 NUTS-2 regions. The analysis examines nominal and real GDP per capita growth, GDP per...

The paper aims to provide spatial evidence on where to prioritize place-based support for women's entrepreneurship by linking the geography of female founders to the proximity of formal support infrastructure in Germany. To pursue this objective, we assemble nationwide venture microdata covering...

This paper examines the effects of public infrastructure spending across Ecuadorian cantons on adequate employment and the multidimensional poverty rate over the period 2008-2022, assessing whether such spending operated as a mechanism of convergence. The analysis is grounded in the hypothesis...

This paper provides a non-technical summary of recent research on why people stay put rather than move, even in the face of adverse local economic shocks. I compare three frameworks for understanding migration: the moving costs model, the spatial frictions model, and a newer approach called the...

STRING (South Western Baltic Sea Transregional Region - Implementing New Geography) is a regional cooperation of urban centers and regions in the Nordic countries and Northern Germany. The study shows that the member countries of STRING have developed dynamically over the last decades, both...

We examine the local effects of South Korea's large-scale place-based industrial policy of constructing industrial complexes in left-behind regions. We compile a novel dataset on industrial complex designations dating back to the 1960s and link it to administrative establishment surveys. Using a...

STRING (South Western Baltic Sea Transregional Region - Implementing New Geography) is a regional cooperation of urban centers and regions in the Nordic countries and Northern Germany. The study shows that the member countries of STRING have developed dynamically over the last decades, both...

Lower-income countries face a persistent challenge: innovation activities tend to concentrate in more developed regions. Existing research offers limited solutions, often emphasizing local advantages or frugal innovation to reduce regional disparities. This study challenges the conventional...

Policies aimed at supporting economically lagging regions have changed considerably in the past decades. This includes an increased link between innovation and regional policy, as well as more recently transformative policy. The WIR! Programme, funded by the Ministry of Research and Education in...

To study the distribution of economic activity across space and place-based policies, I develop a model of the location choice of new establishments incorporating monopsonistic labor markets, taxes, and spillovers. Estimates using German administrative data indicate that establishments prefer...

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the integration of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) into Sabadell's territorial policies, focusing on the development of an inclusive innovative ecosystem. Through various methodologies, the study seeks to enhance territorial specialization in design...

Protected areas are crucial for landscape-scale conservation, but striking a balance between centralised guidance (heteronomy) and local autonomy (self-determination) is essential. This balance is particularly important for parks that cross administrative boundaries or impose land-use...

Am 13. Februar 2025 wurde der zweite Zwischenbericht zur begleitenden Evaluierung des Investitionsgesetzes Kohleregionen (InvKG) und des STARK-Bundesprogramms von den Wirtschaftsforschungsinstituten IWH und RWI veröffentlicht. Die Evaluierung, die im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für...

This paper proposes that spatial policies improve economic outcomes by reducing barriers to supplying labour, with heterogeneous effects across demographic groups. Using quasi-experimental variation in Germany's fiscal transfer system, we estimate higher employment elasticities for female...

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Aragón's Regional Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization (RIS3) 2014-2020 by applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) to a comprehensive dataset of regional, national, and European competitive public projects involving Aragonese entities between...

The place-based approach in regional policy emphasizes the need for interventions tailored to local contexts and functional linkages. FUAs serve as essential spatial units, delineating urban-rural interactions shaped by labour markets, migration, and service accessibility. This study advocates...

Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft, Energie und Tourismus (BMWET) hat EcoAustria untersucht, wie Österreichs unterentwickelter Venture-Capital-Markt gestärkt werden kann. Ausgangspunkt ist die Diagnose, dass Österreich mit einem VC-Volumen von lediglich 0,02 Prozent des BIP im...

In 1991, the average labor productivity of the then-new federal states (plus West Berlin) only reached nearly half of the total national productivity level. Since then, the average labor productivity of these states has climbed up to nearly 90 percent. However, the ranking of the individual...

In this discussion paper, we explore the concept of "societal innovativeness" as a key driver of transformative regional development, particularly within the context of regions facing structural weaknesses. Our explorative study delves into the multifaceted nature of societal innovativeness,...

In the context of both domestic and international economic landscapes, regional policy has emerged as an increasingly influential factor shaping the developmental trajectories of Chinese enterprises. Despite its growing significance, the extant literature lacks a comprehensive and systematically...

This paper applies a multi-level social network analysis to examine Aragón's innovation ecosystem, focusing on a decade of competitive public projects (2014-2023) aligned with the region's Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) 2021-2027. By mapping and weighting the participation of regional...

This study provides new evidence on the impact of the EU Cohesion Policy on income growth in less developed regions. Our panel includes data from all European regions for the years 1989-2020. Using a fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design, we model treatment dynamics by applying a random effects...

This report explores the role of local and regional actors in mission-oriented innovation and industrial policies. It examines how current mission-oriented approaches engage regions, cities, and rural communities in mission design and implementation, and whether these policies have the potential...

Smart specialisation is an EU policy approach, fully implemented from the 2014-2020 programming period onwards, wherein regions identify investment priorities and focus their EU regional innovation spending on them. The goal is to maximise competitive advantage and to build on the regions' own...

This policy brief presents one such initiative: a Peer2Peer study visit by the Andalusian delegation to their counterparts in Finland and Denmark. Facilitated by the Joint Research Centre and supported by the TAIEX-REGIO Peer2Peer instrument in collaboration with DG REGIO, the visit aimed to...

As one of the EU's key tools for participatory democracy, the European citizens' initiative (ECI) allows citizens to call directly on the European Commission to propose new laws in areas where the EU has competence. Since its launch, the ECI has given Europeans a stronger voice in shaping Union...