Abstract
(Former) old industrial regions are a specific kind of lagging regions that suffer from long-term restructuring problems and deindustrialization. They are back in the focus of many researchers as well as media observers, because of the rise of populist parties in many of these regions in North America and Europe. Therefore, new policy options are discussed in the literature. In this paper, we critically discuss the effects of smart specialization as the most recent regional policy strategy in Europe on solving the restructuring problems and deindustrialization in (former) old industrial regions and we illustrate our analysis with a view on the Ruhr in Germany. Since smart specialization focuses on existing endogenous potential and entrepreneurial discovery processes from the region, vested interests in (former) old industrial regions might hinder necessary restructuring. Although potentially path transformation might be fostered in some cases, overall, smart specialization is certainly not a quick fix for solving long-term negative effects of restructuring and deindustrialization in (former) old industrial regions.
Highlights
We live in times of increasing economic and political instability in large parts of the world
Abstract (Former) old industrial regions are a specific kind of lagging regions that suffer from long-term restructuring problems and deindustrialization
We critically discuss the effects of smart specialization as the most recent regional policy strategy in Europe on solving the restructuring problems and deindustrialization in old industrial regions and we illustrate our analysis with a view on the Ruhr in Germany
Summary
We live in times of increasing economic and political instability in large parts of the world. Some of the latter still suffer from the problems and legacies of the past, illustrated by for instance the impact of Rust Belt voters in the USA on the outcome of the 2017 presidential election, and of voters in former old industrial regions in Northern England on the Brexit referendum (Economist 2016) This voting behavior reflects the variety of economic trajectories that (former) rustbelt regions have taken in different dimensions: the shift of output and employment from mining and manufacturing to services, the transformation into innovation-driven knowledge economies (“structural change 2.0” according to Kiese 2019), and the resulting restoration of prosperity and employment opportunities for broad constituencies.
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