Wrestling with Markets in Economic and Community Development

Purpose – This paper aims to review technical vocational education and training (TVET) literature, identify different components of the TVET system and develop a conceptual framework that integrates human resource development (HRD) and national human resource development (NHRD) outcomes. The renewed focus on technical vocational education and training (TVET) is important for human resource development (HRD), as it expands current understanding of its role in economic development through workforce training. National human resource development (NHRD) perspectives recognize the role of TVET in linking regional and national economic development strategies. Furthermore, TVET’s focus on literacy education, poverty alleviation and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations emphasizes social development outcomes that are critical for NHRD. Using this background, the integration of HRD and NHRD outcomes into one conceptual TVET framework for addressing workforce, economic and social development outcomes has been proposed. Design/methodology/approach – A targeted literature review approach was used for exploring relevant research on TVET systems, identifying the components which support and/or inhibit its effectiveness and an integrative framework that connects education, workforce development, social development and economic development was developed. Findings – Three major themes were identified. The first theme identifies nine sub-themes that make an effective TVET system. These are as follows: national TVET policy, regional TVET policy, training, participation, curriculum, coordination of stakeholder institutions, individual and institutional attitudes toward skill development, managing supply-demand mismatches and economic and social development outcomes. The second major theme underlines the increasing overlap and connection between workforce development, social development and economic development strategies. In the third and final finding, effective TVET systems are positioned as the linking pin connecting the four TVET components (skills, education, innovation and knowledge) to the strategic goals of workforce development, economic development and social development. Originality/value – Integrating national and organizational-based HRD strategies is a unique focus and reflects the broader examination of the differences in the relationship between corporate HRD and more traditional TVET systems. It is argued that the role of TVET in social and workforce development at the regional and societal level cannot be ignored. HRD and NHRD outcomes were integrated by utilizing TVET as a framework for linking economic, social and workforce development strategies.

Social and economic development is a difficult process in which positive and negative factors interact that causes rises and recessions in development of territories and public communities. Indicators of rating act as indicators of efficiency of management decisions at the central and local levels. However, the level of economic development doesn’t coincide with social development in most of regions of Ukraine.
 The purpose of article is adaptation of a matrix method to rating estimates of social and economic development of regions for identification of regional distinctions, definition of priorities and strategic management of development of regions.
 The economic development of the regions was estimated by GRP per capita, the average salary of employees and the unemployment rate (according to the ILO methodology). Social development is characterized by the number of people enrolled in higher education institutions per 10,000 population; coefficient of incidence of the population; volumes of emissions of pollutants in atmospheric air, thousand tons; crime rates.
 The multidimensional average method with the standardization of indicators based on the variation range was used to calculate the integral indicators of economic and social development. On the basis of integral coefficients, the ranking of regions according to economic and social development was executed. It is established that for the regions of Ukraine there is a characteristic imbalance between economic and social development, which is connected, first of all, with different structure of the economy and territorial differences of regions.
 The combination of results of economic and social development of regions was proposed with the help of building a matrix as a tool for strategic management. In the graphs (vertically), the level of economic development is singled out, in lines (horizontally) the level of social development of the regions is singled out, with the identification of three groups: low, medium and high levels.
 Regions with low economic and low social level get to 1 square; in 2 – with low economic and average social; in 3 – with low economic and high social; in 4 – with average economic and low social; in 5 – with average economic and average social; in 6 – with average economic and high social; in 7 – with high economic and low social; in 8 – with high economic and average social; in 9 – with high economic and high social level.
 Calculations show that in Ukraine no region was detected with simultaneous high levels of economic and social development (the 9th square). The vast majority are regions with average economic and average social development and also regions “below or above an average” level of development, that is one of the directions (economic or social) is “low”, and the second, accordingly, “average”. The position of the region in a matrix specifies what development strategy should be chosen. The economic and social development is higher; the capacity of the region for increase in the standard of living of the population is higher. High economic and social development is followed by the high potential of the region to increase the standard of living of the population.

The authors examine the hypothesis that the intelligence of the population is a major factor determining national differences in economic development. To test the hypothesis, national IQs were calculated for 81 nations and economic development measured by real Gross Domestic Product at Purchasing Power Parity for 1998. The correlation between the two is .733, indicating that 54 per cent of the variance in GDP is attributable to the IQs of the populations. Since the eighteenth century social scientists have attempted to find solutions to the problem of why some nations have developed economically and become wealthy while others have stagnated economically and remained poor. In contemporary times there are huge differences in per capita income between the economically developed world of North America, Western Europe, Australasia and the Pacific Rim, and the economically underdeveloped world of South Asia, the Caribbean, much of Latin America, and Africa. This problem has been discussed by economists, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and historians. These have advanced numerous theories of the causes of these disparities, including advantageous or disadvantages climates, the possession of natural resources, economic and political systems, and psychological attitudes and values such as the work ethic. We do not attempt to review all the theories of the causes of the wealth and poverty of nations. This is a subject on which numerous books have been written and with which several journals are concerned, notably the Journal of Economic Growth, the Journal of Comparative Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Development and Change, and Development Economics. Our purpose is to present a new theory that has not been advanced hitherto. This is that a major factor responsible for national disparities in economic development is the intelligence (IQ) of the populations. Theoretical Background: IQ and Earnings among Individuals There are strong theoretical reasons for the theory that the intelligence of national populations is likely to be a significant determinant of economic growth and development. The first of these is that it is well established that intelligence is a significant determinant of incomes among individuals. We believe it is reasonable to treat nations as aggregates of the individuals, so that nations with high average IQs can be expected to have high average earnings. The major studies of the relationship between intelligence and earnings are summarized in Table 1. All of these studies are for the United States. The first entry in the table (Duncan,1968) presents data from the 1964 Current Population Survey carried out by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) on a sample of white males aged 24-35. The second entry from Jencks (1972) is derived from a synthesis of the American research literature up to 1970. The third and fourth entries (Brown and Johnson,1995) are derived from a study of the relation between the IQ of males measured in early adulthood and earnings approximately 12 years later for samples of 24,819 whites and 4,008 blacks and reported correlations of .327 and .126, respectively. The fifth entry (Murray, 1998) is derived from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth nationally representative American sample of 12,686 and finds a correlation of .37 between the IQ of males measured in adolescence and income approximately twelve years later, assessed in the late twenties to mid-thirties. It is apparent that the four results for whites are closely similar, all lying in the range between .31 and .37 and averaging .34. The one correlation for blacks of .13 is substantially lower but nevertheless statistically significant. The main reason for the lower correlation among blacks is possibly that greater numbers of intelligent blacks born into poverty do not obtain the educational credentials generally required for average to high earnings. …

Economic developers are well aware of the live-work-play dynamic affecting downtowns and many other major employment centers across the country. This study of 90 employment centers, including 48 central business districts, offers a rigorous analysis of this dynamic. The authors first present a definition of vibrancy and show its connections to the fields of urban economics, economic geography, and urban design. Second, the authors offer face-valid measures of vibrancy that practitioners can replicate in their jurisdictions. Most important, the authors show that vibrancy is an important factor influencing economic development. The vibrancy index measured with 2010 data is positively associated with subsequent employment growth, property inventory expansion (tax base), and income growth. Economic developers should consider becoming more involved in downtown redevelopment by finding effective ways to serve economic-base companies and emerging entrepreneurial firms. As a result, major employment centers could become more productive and innovative places.

The evaluation of transportation projects has traditionally been carried out in the context of economic efficiency, in terms of savings in travel time, vehicle operating cost, and safety. The wider and longer-term effects on economic development (i.e., job, income and business growth) are a concern of transportation planners and decision-makers but have been often overlooked due to the lack of a reliable impact estimation methodology and/or data. Information on economic development impacts is valuable for understanding the total effect of projects and therefore, for a more balanced justification of proposed transportation infrastructure investments. This study extends the traditional transportation impact framework by examining how different types of highway improvements that have been programmed for implementation in the State of Indiana can affect the state’s economy, and how project- and location-specific factors interact to stimulate economic development. Temporal, spatial, and project characteristics are duly considered. The end product of this research is a quantitative tool that can be used at the project development phase by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) staff to estimate the economic development effects of different types of highway investments and make better decisions regarding highway investment. The study results provide a better understanding of the interrelationships among economic development, type of highway improvement and geographical location, and how investments in highway infrastructure can be ranked and prioritized based on sound economic development criteria. This study illustrates the types of data necessary to document these effects, and demonstrates how analysis can be carried out and ultimately improved. The study results can also assist INDOT to develop a quantitative approach to establish weights for the economic development criterion in a bid to rank and select projects based on their economic development potential and increase the efficiency of highway investment. Finally, the questionnaire survey targeted to transportation agencies and organizations across Indiana that have interests in economic development aspects could improve the understanding of economic development practices in the state. The survey results shed light into the circumstances under which economic developers and transportation agencies assess such effects, the measures that are or should typically be used, their associated weights, and the strategies/tools that are most often used.

This chapter explores financial management issues surrounding economic development. The intent is to construct a comprehensive overview of how community values impact financial management choices, which in turn shape a region’s economic development efforts. Attention is focused on how communities select and apply financial instruments in various situations. The chapter is organized into seven sections and each section approaches the financial management of economic development from a different perspective. Readers will develop an understanding of diverse economic development finance issues and demands placed on management structures and functions. This first section focuses on key definitions and the difficulty of delineating between economic development finance and other areas of public and private finance. It includes a discussion of the relationships between public finance, economic development, community development, planning, strategic planning, and government intervention. The second section employs a historical perspective to demonstrate how economicdevelopment policy and related financial instruments evolved. Section three looks at the ‘‘localness’’ of economic development, using a geographic perspective to review diversity of local financial management tools. Institutional perspectives of public sector, private sector, and not for profit sector roles are the focus of Section four. Section five focuses on federalism and how the availability and appropriateness of financial tools is impacted by the U.S. federal system. The sixth section uses an instrumental perspective to review financial instruments employed by economic developers. While not exhaustive, numerous financial tools and organizing principles are discussed. Finally, Section seven gives an overview of future opportunities and pitfalls that impact the financial management of economic development.Economic development has been variously defined. Practitioners and scholars have produced nearly countless case studies and meta-studies of the role of economic development in a community and recipes for success. One issue is clear from this plethora of study; there is no single, widely accepted definition. Definitions tend to fall into two categories, narrow and broad. The narrow definition focuses exclusively on economic impacts, most commonly job generation. The broad definition shares focus between purely economic measures and social measures such as community ambiance and quality of life. Unfortunately, the term economic development is used to convey both narrow and broad concepts. However, the broader concept is more accurately referred to as community development. It is not uncommon for two highly knowledgeable professionals, either academics or practitioners, to suffer confusion regarding definition.

Ensuring the profitability of economic activity on the appropriate level in a competitive and dynamic external environment requires companies to maintain a sufficient pace of their economic development. At another point, long-term economic development of economic entities is possible only if they have a significant potential for such development, as well as the ability to realize this potential. However, both the formation and realization of the economic potential development of the enterprises are quite complex tasks, the solution of which requires significant management efforts. At the same time, such efforts should be purposeful, in particular, provide an opportunity to identify in enterprises all the main reserves of their economic development. It is possible to satisfy the specified requirement to process of management realization of the economic potential development of business subjects on the basis of their management properties. This is due to the fact that the economic development of enterprises, as well as the development of any other management objects, involves the improvement of their properties. Given the above, the purpose of this study is to establish the realization features of the economic potential development of the enterprises on the basis of their properties management. The definition of the concept of economic development potential of enterprises has been specified. The interrelations between the process of realization of the economic potential development on economic entities and the mechanism of management of their properties have been analyzed. First of all, has been showed that such management requires a quantitative assessment of the properties level, the parameters determination of the factors influencing this level, and the main directions identification of purposeful change of these parameters. The proposed theoretical principles of realizing the economic potential development of the enterprises on the basis of managing their properties described in detail on examples of such properties of enterprises as their flexibility and financial stability. The obtained results can be used by owners and managers of enterprises in their development strategies and plans for the formation and implementation of the economic potential development of the enterprises.

Informatization intensification of the modern economy stresses the importance to discuss the following group of issues: 1) the establishment of criteria and measurement of the effectiveness of the information system; 2) the definition of the information potential of the agent and the assessment of effective information action; 3) information security of the social and economic system. The purpose of the study is to analyze theoretically the functions of various types of information with the determination of the efficiency of information and the modes of economic systems information development. Economic agents are known to search for relevant information that is only a part of total information in the system to make efficient decisions. The action of an agent as well as the development of an economic system is generally characterised with an efficiency coefficient that assesses the opportunity to obtain relevant information. The research methodology is the classification method that allows us to highlight the properties of information, to introduce quantitative indicators for measuring these properties and using mathematical tools to determine possible relationships between them, building theoretical models of the dynamics of information development of economy. Using this approach the functions of information, namely, notification, accumulation, cumulative amplification within the framework of consideration of the informational interaction schemes “object-agent” and “agent-agent” have been determined. The criterion of information potential of the controlled system and the information efficiency coefficient have been introduced. The latter means the ratio of information security to the level of information completeness of the system. Using the analysis of the dynamics of the efficiency and the ratio of relevant and general information, the modes of information development of the controlled system have been determined; three options for the accumulation of information with the ability to quantify the effect that determines the development of the knowledge economy have been suggested. Standard, enhanced and storage accumulations have been shown in the framework of the “object-agent” information interaction model, formal parameters for their quantitative assessment have been introduced. We have proved that one of the goals of economic policy should be the insurance of the necessary regime of information development of the economy, that is aimed at solving problems in the field of information security due to the fact that the functions of information can be violated, i. e. performed with different results, which indicates the dysfunction of the information system and economic management. Such the approach will reduce the depth of dysfunctions of economic policy measures and the application of the information security loop proposed by the author will provide the tool for comparing the damage and benefits from possible information threats, which predetermines the practical application of the conducted theoretical analysis applied to different information modes. Sustainable development of the modern economy should consider the elimination of information threats especially in the context of overcoming opportunism in the form of deliberate distortions of information in order to obtain additional benefits. At the same time, the use of the information security loop for the development of economic policy measures will allow not only to diagnose the damage and benefits within the existing information processing regime, but also to identify the dynamics of the economic system development as a result of changes in the ratio of information benefits and costs. Keywords information, informatization of economy, information potential of economy, function of information, information development mode, information interaction models, information security of economy, combinatory principle, information security loop, dysfunction of information system, dysfunction of economic policy.

Major industrialized countries, including China, are gradually aging, and resource constraints are increasingly tense. The traditional production system can no longer meet the requirements of sustainable economic development. However, with the rapid development of digital economy, it is becoming the main trend to promote the high-quality development of economy through the development of digital economy. At the same time, people are generally concerned about not only whether big data and AI can increase productivity but also whether Digital Gap will be deepened.The Chinese government also attaches importance to the development of digital economy and started the construction of National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone in 2015. Through undertaking seven tasks, the Pilot Zone has promoted the development of regional digital economy. Based on this rare quasi-natural experiment, this paper evaluates the effect of digital economy development on regional total factor productivity. We use the balanced panel data of China’s prefecture-level cities from 2013 to 2017 to estimate the Generalized DID model, and find that the Pilot Zone significantly improves the regional total factor productivity, which is dominated by pure technological progress. At the same time, the Pilot Zone helps to increase the innovation related to regional and digital industries, and enhance the intellectualization and R&D level of manufacturing enterprises in the zone.In addition to the average effect of the Pilot Zone on productivity, we also test whether the development of digital economy can help relatively backward areas achieve leapfrog development. We find that the Pilot Zone has a stronger promotion effect on total factor productivity in less developed areas, less innovative areas and areas with higher industrial structure. In addition, the Pilot Zone has a greater role in promoting the total factor productivity of areas with net labor loss. Therefore, we suggest that regions with insufficient economic growth momentum, especially those with aging and serious labor outflow, can develop big data and artificial intelligence industry to alleviate the pressure of development.The possible marginal contribution of this paper lies in the following aspects: First, in the environment of benign interaction between government and effective market, the government has issued regional industrial policies to promote the development of big data industry, but no literature has investigated whether these policies will promote regional productivity. Second, there is a lack of empirical research on whether big data industry can promote productivity at the meso level which is directly related to the local economy. From the perspective of National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone, this paper analyzes it as a policy variable to fill the gap in this aspect. Finally, although the existing literature generally agrees that the Internet and intellectualization play a positive role in economic growth, it does not reach a consensus on whether the digital divide will continue to deepen. Through the heterogeneity analysis, this paper examines whether the relatively backward regions can achieve leapfrog development through the development of digital industry under the background of unbalanced regional development in China.

Recognizes that uneven growth across space raises concerns for lagging places and those populations left behind, either by development or by the loss of a previous anchor industry. Programs leading to an orderly and humane process of encouraging migration will likely prove the better option, but such decisions do not always prove clear cut, because (1) many developing country cities do not show the gains in productivity expected from increased density; and (2) people move less than expected for a variety of reasons, which policy may or may not prove able to address. The political pressures to do something for a lagging or shocked region can prove intense, but often result in trade-offs. Investing in regions low on the viability continuum, or connecting them with thriving places, will likely preclude more productive investments of capital, and hence lead to slower aggregate growth. Not all places have equal potential, and failures exceed successes.

With the rise of smart phones, mobile applications have been widely used in daily life. However, the relationship between individuals’ mobile application usage and cities’ economic development has yet to be investigated. To study this question, this work utilizes a dataset containing users’ history of mobile application usage records (MAURs) and investigates how MAURs are related to Chinese cities’ economic development. Our analysis shows the cities’ GDP and number of MAURs are highly correlated, and at the individual level, people in wealthier cities (higher GDP per capita) tend to have more active mobile application usage (MAURs per capita). The results also demonstrate the relevance between cities’ GDP and MAURs varies significantly among different demographic groups, with male users’ relevance consistently higher than female users’ and working-age people’s relevance higher than other age groups. A boosted tree regression model is then applied to predict cities’ GDP with MAURs and proves to achieve high goodness-of-fit (over 0.8 R-square) and good prediction accuracy, especially for the economically developed and populous regions in China. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between MAURs and cities’ economic development is revealed, which contributes to novel knowledge discovery for regionalization and urban development.

International audience

Economic development (EcD) introduces new goods and services into a region's portfolio of traded products or expands the productive capabilities of existing members of a region's economic base. And EcD organizations are intermediaries that reduce risk and transaction costs by honestly representing their community and region to potential business investors. There are five closely related yet separate development practices. Four (community, workforce, housing, and commercial and industrial real estate development) create long-term regional EcD assets. While those assets are required for EcD to occur, they are insufficient to generate EcD outputs. Investments resulting in the production of goods and services are also necessary. EcD is a regional activity because the markets for three of the development practices are regional: labor, housing, and commercial and industrial real estate. Finally, EcD is both an art and a science. The art of EcD is connecting the dots that others cannot see. The science is getting deals done. Together they create investment momentum that builds optimism, generates trust, and mitigates risk.

Editorial: New conversations in development studies

With the economic and social development and the improvement of peoples living standards, the urban carbon emission increases. Studying the influence of industrial structure and spatial patterns on carbon emission under the economic development of different cities can help to find the main factors affecting carbon emission, formulate policies to solve the problem according to local conditions, and provide an important scientific basis for the transformation of economic growth mode and the construction of low-carbon cities. This paper draws conclusions by analyzing the trend curves of urban carbon emissions and economic factors over the years. Different regions of the citys economic development potential differences are obvious, and the potential for greater spatial concentration of cities; citys economic development potential in the spatial and temporal distribution of key cities and major urban agglomerations as the basis for the point - line - surface in order to promote. economically developed cities, the total carbon emissions, carbon emissions growth rate of a declining trend; economically underdeveloped areas, the total carbon emissions, carbon emissions growth rate of a year-on-year trend; the degree of carbon emissions and the degree of prosperity of the secondary industry is closely linked. Chinas urban carbon emissions have a significant positive spatial correlation between 2006 and 2016, the cold spot area of urban carbon emissions is relatively stable, mainly distributed in the eastern and southern economic zones, while the hot spot area is mainly distributed in the northwest, northeast and the middle reaches of the Yellow River economic zone.