Concept Of Path Dependence Research Articles

Should I stay or should I go: uma análise comparada dos movimentos separatistas catalão e escocês

Quais as diferenças entre o separatismo catalão e o escocês que permitiram resultados distintos nos plebiscitos da década de 2010? O presente trabalho propõe um estudo comparado entre a trajetória das duas regiões utilizando o conceito de path dependency. O nosso argumento é o de que o padrão de relacionamento da Espanha com a Catalunha desde a anexação, centralizador e repressivo aos anseios nacionalistas catalãs, é uma constante ao longo da história, por se tratar da opção que acarreta menos custos para a Espanha. A trajetória do relacionamento da Escócia com o Reino Unido, por sua vez, é marcada por concessões de autonomia a partir da demanda escocesa, desde a anexação no século XVIII. Essas distinções permitiram que os contextos dos plebiscitos fossem diferentes, ainda que sustentado por argumentos separatistas semelhantes (identidade, economia), e que os próprios movimentos tenham se enraizado na sociedade de maneira distintas. A partir das limitações da metodologia empregada, o objetivo do trabalho não é o estabelecimento de uma relação causal, mas a sustentação do nosso argumento enquanto uma hipótese à pergunta levantada

Breaking away or holding on to the past? Exploring HRM systems of export-oriented SMEs in a highly uncertain context: insights from a transition economy in the periphery

This article advances understanding of the interplay between high levels of environmental uncertainty and HRM challenges and practices of exporting SMEs in the garment industry of Kyrgyzstan. Uncertainty in this post-Socialist country emanates from the complex, conflict-ridden and ongoing process of transition from planned to market-based economy, resulting in a volatile institutional environment with under-developed formal institutions at its core. Drawing on qualitative data and framed by a novel theoretical framework consisting of HRM systems theory, North’s institutional approach and the concept of path-dependency, the article advances knowledge of the distinctive set of HRM challenges faced by SMEs and the contrasting HRM systems adopted by them. The article draws particular attention to how the embeddedness of socialist-era norms and the diffusion of new market-oriented institutional features influence the utilisation of HRM systems in SMEs, whilst also revealing their evolutionary nature in a transition economy context. The article contributes by extending the scope of HRM research to the little-explored transitional periphery of Central Asia and adds to the nascent body of knowledge on HRM in SMEs by offering a more nuanced understanding of HRM systems in exporting SMEs in a highly uncertain context.

Carceral lock-in: How organizational conditions stymie the development of justice alternatives in a rape crisis center

Many perpetrators of sexual violence are themselves victims of similar crimes. Such “complex victims” do not fit neatly into the dichotomous categories of victim and perpetrator essential to the functioning of the adversarial criminal-legal system. How anti-rape activists attempt to incorporate complex victims into their work illustrates challenges they experience when wrestling with the carceral state more broadly. In this article, I draw on 32 months of participant observation and 40 in-depth interviews to show how organizational conditions—departmental silos and physical infrastructure—prevent activists’ treatment of complex victims. Building on the concept of path dependence from organization theory, I argue that carceral understandings of harm become “locked-in” despite activists’ anti-carceral attitudes. This article identifies barriers to the treatment of complex victims, further explains feminist activists’ simultaneously contentious and coalitional relationship with the carceral state, and introduces the concept of carceral lock-in to help understand impediments to justice alternatives.

Understanding the Impact of Historical Policy Legacies on Nutrition Policy Space: Economic Policy Agendas and Current Food Policy Paradigms in Ghana.

Background: The global food system is not delivering affordable, healthy, diverse diets, which are needed to address malnutrition in all its forms for sustainable development. This will require policy change across the economic sectors that govern food systems, including agriculture, trade, finance, commerce and industry – a goal that has been beset by political challenges. These sectors have been strongly influenced by entrenched policy agendas and paradigms supported by influential global actors such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Methods: This study draws on the concept of path dependency to examine how historical economic policy agendas and paradigms have influenced current food and nutrition policy and politics in Ghana. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with 29 relevant policy actors, and documentary data were collected from current policies, academic and grey literature, historical budget statements and World Bank Group Archives (1950-present). Results: Despite increased political priority for nutrition in Ghana, its integration into food policy remains limited. Food policy agendas are strongly focused on production, employment and economic returns, and existing market-based incentives do not support a nutrition-sensitive food supply. This policy focus appears to be rooted in a liberal economic approach to food policy arising from structural adjustment in the 1980s and trade liberalization in the 1990s, combined with historical experience of ‘failure’ of food policy intervention and an entrenched narrowly economic conception of food security. Conclusion: This study suggests that attention to policy paradigms, in addition to specific points of policy change, will be essential for improving the outcomes of food systems for nutrition. An historical perspective can provide food and health policy-makers with insights to foster the revisioning of food policy to address multiple national policy objectives, including nutrition.

Lock-in and New Path Development of China Commodity City: The Role of Policies

China Commodity City (Yiwu) has evolved from a poor, isolated region into one of the world largest mass-producers of low-tech products. This study applies the concept of path dependence in order to trace Yiwu’s industrial development trajectory. It zooms in on factors leading towards lock in, path extension and path creation. The study identifies multiple factors leading towards a lock-in and possible path decay. At the same time, related diversification and industrial policies such as the China Belt and Road Initiative enable path extension. New path creation is however less likely in the nearby future. While China moves towards a knowledge economy, innovation policies in Yiwu have not yet been successful, as they don’t specifically target low-tech family firms, implementation capacity is limited, instruments are not well targeted and institutional incentives are diffuse. To create an alternative innovation-driven industrial pathway, the study recommends landscape pressure and multilevel experimentation.

Road to digital manufacturing – a longitudinal case-based analysis

PurposeThe authors’ main objective is to examine the resource alteration underlying the digital manufacturing transformation. The authors rely on the adaptation aspect of dynamic capabilities (DC) theory and their analysis shows how and why a factory adapts its resources and capabilities during digital transformation.Design/methodology/approachTo grasp the change, the authors apply the longitudinal case study method within a revelatory case setting. The digital transformation is detailed from the perspective of a subsidiary that has played a key role in the division's digital transformation.FindingsAnalysing the revealed four stages of the transformation through the lenses of the DC components of adaptation (sensing capability, absorptive capacity, integrative capability, relational capability), this study suggests a sequence with unbalanced characteristics. Each stage starts with sensing capability, each component appears during each stage and each stage is dominated by a different component. Relying on the path dependency concept, the authors also present that the interplay between lean as an old resource stock and digital manufacturing as a new resource stock is rather a necessity, especially at the beginning of the transformation (at a corporation that pursues lean for years).Practical implicationsDigital strategy development is rather an intermediate element of the transformation, since committed personnel (or maybe their network) start bottom-up and coordinate initiatives as they sense the opportunities in the environment. Top managers should rely on their accumulated knowledge and involve them into the transfer coalition in the top-down phase of digitalization. The authors’ case also underlines that starting to experiment with novel technologies requires a solid (and usually expensive) technological and human basis. Finally, process improvement focussed developments at a high-performing factory might be just enough to deal with ever-demanding customer expectations.Originality/valueThis study is among the firsts in operations management that relies on the DC theory to follow up the digital transformation of a factory. A further valuable contribution is that the adaptation process is examined in a longitudinal case study.

Path Dependency, the High Court, and the Constitution

Path dependence is a concept that originally arose in the field of economics before gaining currency with political scientists and historians. The essence of path dependency is that temporality matters: once a decision is made, it often becomes 'locked-in' and persists despite the existence of more efficient or otherwise better alternatives that could become apparent later. The tentative hypothesis advanced here is that the concept of path dependency is useful for understanding why some doctrines of Australian constitutional law have changed dramatically since first developed while others remain largely the same. An example of one arguably path-dependent line of doctrine and one arguably non-path-dependent line of doctrine are discussed and analysed to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of the theory.

Stuck in the middle

Given the increasing number of people seeking refuge in Belgium and across Europe more broadly, it is essential that governments assume responsibility for the integration of refugees into society. An essential aspect of this process is the provision of a durable path from shelter to housing. Choosing a place of residence, and the success in obtaining suitable housing conditions, are factors that significantly shape the integration process. In the context of refugee settlement in Belgium, however, asylum and migration policies to date have been predominantly focused on tackling temporary crises with little consideration paid to long-term integration and housing strategies. Due to separated policy competences (reception at the federal policy level, and housing at the regional level), and the absence of a sense of responsibility from both Flemish (regional) and federal government, voluntary organisations have developed significant roles at the local level in the transition from shelter to housing, and in further housing needs of recognised refugees. Achieving this transition is impeded by capacity problems, discrimination, lack of local social networks, and limited timeframes. Using the concept of path dependency as a theoretical starting point, this article employs qualitative methods to highlight the impact of both asylum policies and the spatial characteristics of reception centres on transitions towards more permanent housing. Recommendations for refugee accommodation are made to enhance the transition from shelter to housing. Finally, it addresses alternative housing projects that are conducive to social integration as well as to the transition of refugees to the regular housing market.

Delineation of the Path Dependence in Development of Central Business Districts (CBD) in Turkey's Kayseri

This article examines the demolition-oriented restructuring relationship during urban development processes in the case study of the central business district in Kayseri (Turkey) by systematically analysing externally-conditioned events and trajectories. This transformation, characterised by changing periods of development and the analysis of the actors who are particularly active in the process, is explored through the socio-spatial developments in Kayseri. In this study, this has been expounded through the concept of path dependence, which states that current conditions are more dependent on past events and those past events lead to today's results. The decisions on the historically contingent periods and three critical junctures identified in the study were found to have been maintained until the next stage and strengthened by following the path-dependent tendency.

Institutional Determinants of Budgetary Expenditures. A BMA-Based Re-Evaluation of Contemporary Theories for OECD Countries

The article tackles the problem of the most important institutional determinants of public expenditures. Within the traditions of public choice and institutional economics, it tests several theories ranging from the fiscal commons framework, Political Business/Budget Cycle (PBC) and path dependence to veto players theory. Its novelty compared to previous research stems from an attempt to test several theories simultaneously, dealing with model uncertainty by using sensitivity analysis within the Bayesian Model Averaging framework with a vast prior structure in terms of model, g and multicollinearity dilution priors. The results confirm several hypotheses tested in the area of fiscal management across the recent decades within the group of developed economies, giving especially strong support to the tragedy of the fiscal commons and path dependence concepts, while only partial support to veto players theory. In contrast, explanations based on political budget cycle (PBC) theory are dismissed. Among other interesting findings reported in the study, Scandinavian countries turn out to be the most fiscally responsible when other institutional factors are taken into account. Similarly, contrary to other recent research into the issue of EU fiscal institutional framework, Euro area countries are characterized by limited public expenditures.

Policy path dependency in a less developed region: The evolution of regional innovation policy in Wales (UK)

The paper examines the concept of path dependency in policies, and seeks to examine how different pathways emerge in policy and how these change over time. It does so with reference to a case study of regional innovation policy development in Wales (UK) over a period of more than thirty years. Building on recent developments in regional studies and economic geography the paper considers whether path dependency is an inevitable feature of the policy process at the regional level. Drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with policy makers, it finds that policy decisions taken early on in the path creation phase (to support technological innovation) endure despite attempts to broaden out the pathway to a more inclusive form of innovation policy in Wales. While path dependency, most evident in core technological and R&D policy instruments, hasn’t prevented path experimentation, the findings suggest that rigidity and renewal co-exist in policies and the policy process for regional innovation over time. The findings contribute towards the growing focus on the temporal dynamics of policy change at the regional level and the complexity of policy as it seeks to address the challenge of innovation in less developed regions.

Dysfunctional path dependence in mid‐century butterfat dairy farming on eastern Australia's subtropical coastlands: case studies at Moruya and Copmanhurst

AbstractThe concept of path dependence is central to the current discourse on evolutionary approaches in regional transformations. Along the subtropical coastlands of eastern Australia, low‐input, low‐income, and labour‐intensive dairy farms were subject to prolonged dysfunction. Their creation and entrenchment serve as a potent case study of path dependence and lock‐in that were driven by mutually reinforcing attributes—behavioural, socio‐economic, cultural, political, and infrastructural. Functional rigidification and incipient dissolution were scrutinised in farm surveys undertaken from 1952 to 1954 in the Moruya and Copmanhurst districts of coastal New South Wales. At both locales, the dairy industry comprised a core of long‐term stable producers located mainly on the more accessible and productive alluvial soils, together with a fluctuating number of marginal producers motivated by a variable mix of personal, locational, and temporal influences. The demise of dairying was prolonged, in part by the industry's exceptional survival capabilities and in part by the lack of any viable alternative farming staple. The belated collapse of dairy farming in the 1960s and 1970s has facilitated the emergence and lock‐in of an alternative multifunctional pathway, driven primarily by consumption with subordinate production and protection values. The two case studies reveal synergies between the closely aligned path dependence and the multifunctional trajectory/transition concepts in yielding insights into the dynamics of rural change and in offering guidelines for further research within evolutionary economic geography.

The Political Economy of UHC Reform in Thailand: Lessons for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Thailand achieved full population coverage of financial protection for health care in 2002 with successful implementation of the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS). The three public health insurance schemes covered 98.5% of the population by 2015. Current evidence shows a high level of service coverage and financial risk protection and low level of unmet healthcare need, but the path toward UHC was not straightforward. Applying the Political Economy of UHC Reform Framework and the concept of path dependency, this study reviews how these factors influenced the evolution of the UHC reform in Thailand. We highlight how path dependency both set the groundwork for future insurance expansion and contributed to the persistence of a fragmented insurance pool even as the reform team was able to overcome certain path inefficient institutions and adopt more evidence-based payment schemes in the UCS. We then highlight two critical political economy challenges that can hamper reform, if not managed well, regarding the budgeting processes, which minimized the discretionary power previously exerted by Bureau of Budget, and the purchaser–provider split that created long-term tensions between the Ministry of Public Health and the National Health Security Office. Though resisted, these two changes were key to generating adequate resources to, and good governance of, the UCS. We conclude that although path dependence played a significant role in exerting pressure to resist change, the reform team’s capacity to generate and effectively utilize evidence to guide policy decision-making process enabled the reform to be placed on a “good path” that overcame opposition.

Path creation and the role of entrepreneurial actors: The case of the Otago Central Rail Trail

Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) has emerged as a theoretical framework offering insights into how tourism activities develop in different places. Much of this research has drawn upon path dependence concepts and takes a macro or regional perspective. This paper takes a different approach and uses path creation concepts to explore the emergence and evolution of a cycle tourism attraction that has become an important development path for the Central Otago region in New Zealand. Insights drawn from the case highlight the potential of path creation concepts such as distributed and embedded agency, action nets and mindful deviation to understand the decisive role that entrepreneurial actors and the organisations they belong to may play in the development of significant tourism products.

Strategic adaptation of city-regions in federal systems: comparing Canada and the United States

ABSTRACT The paper investigates the institutional resilience and adaptability of industrialized mid-sized city-regions nested within multitiered federal systems. The wider context of the discussion is the complex and shifting boundaries of subnational territorial politics as spaces of governance, and the attendant dynamic political organization of space amidst ongoing economic shifts and perturbations. The empirical focus is an in-depth comparative case study of two city-regions in Canada and the United States to explore the mechanics of institutional adaptation in the face of economic changes over the past few decades. Revisiting the concept of path dependency as a framework for understanding regional economic development governance, the discussion shifts the analytical focus from explaining stability to accounting for change. It also expands the analytical scope of urban policy governance platforms to shed a greater light on the complex multitiered institutional infrastructure of city-regions nested within federal systems as they seek to navigate through the challenges and opportunities of socioeconomic change.

Formación de Agenda de los Programas de Trasferencia de Renta en los países del Cono Sur de América

This article presents the research on the agenda formation process of the Income Transfer Programs (PTR) in the countries of the Southern Cone of America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The objective was to know which were the main institutions, social policies, actors and critical junctures that influenced the entry into the governmental agenda of the PTR in these nations. The approaches to agenda formation and historical institutionalism with their concepts of path dependence and critical junctures were used as a theoretical reference, because they allow a comparative study of public policies. It is a hermeneutic investigation, documentary, descriptive, analytical and comparative. It is a case study whose units of analysis are the PTR in the countries of the Southern Cone of America. The temporality defined was the first decade of the 21st century, because in that period those programs were implemented and with very important results. The results of the investigation show the elements and particularities of the processes in each nation.Keywords: social policies; PTR; agenda formation, historical institutionalism. CIJANES, Felipe José Luna; FLEXOR, Georges Gérard. Formación de Agenda de los Programas de Trasferencia de Renta en los países del Cono Sur de América. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura,v. 26, n. 3, p. 584-607, out. 2018.Submitted in july 2018.Accepted in august 2018.

Why Adolf Hitler Spared the Judges: Judicial Opposition Against the Nazi State

The Nazi regime had loyal judges who willingly transformed the liberal German law into an instrument of oppression, discrimination and genocide. This was achieved without substantially interfering with the operation of the courts and without applying disciplinary measures on the judges. But, not all judges were congenial servants of the regime—some resisted in their capacity as judges. Based on case-studies and existing literature, this Article distinguishes between two different lines of judicial opposition to those in power: Between opposition taking place in the open and opposition in secret, and between opposition within what is accepted by those in power as being within the law and opposition that is in breach of the law. The Article then seeks to explain the deference the regime gave to judicial by employing institutional theory and the concept of path dependence. Germany was deeply embedded in the Western legal tradition of emphasis on law as an autonomous institution with an independent judiciary.

Thailand Trapped: Catch-up Legacies and Contemporary Malaise

AbstractA better understanding of Thailand's contemporary malaise needs a perspective that combines political and economic aspects without losing sight of history. This article applies the concept of path dependence to examine how pre-1997 catch-up industrialisation shaped the post-crisis trajectory. It argues that the catch-up process has left a number of important legacies, especially the symbiotic relationship between the military, banking conglomerates, and technocrats; dominant growth narrative with a focus on macroeconomic stability; and overly centralised and bloated state structures. These legacies have shaped the strategies and legitimacies of today's political actors and rendered the pursuit of growth increasingly contradictory to maintaining order.

Looking Back to the Future: Time Strata and Economic Analysis

Abstract In mainstream economics cultural differences, habits and mind-sets are considered to be reflected in the institutional setting. To reintroduce historical time, we combine the concept of path dependency with the concept of time strata; instead of explaining a fact isolated from its historical conditionality, the perspective moves from a contemporary phenomenon to several paths incorporated in it and questions their time-differentiated interlocking, mutual influence and conditioning. At the same time, the direction of the perspective changes: the path is analysed from today to yesterday. We use this approach to explain the particular current economic situation in Germany: namely, the strength in manufacturing and in global exports. JEL Codes: B5, N0, O1

INSTITUTIONAL DETERMINANTS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SMART SPECIALISATION CONCEPT: CASE FOR OLD INDUSTRIAL COAL-MINING REGIONS IN UKRAINE

The paper considers the special features of applying the concept of smart specialization in the old industrial coal-mining regions to implementing the strategy for future sustainable development of the regions, as well as providing recommendations for ensuring the compliance of the institutional environment in such regions of Ukraine with the principles and organizational requirements for the implementation of this concept. The research is methodologically based on the theoretical principles of the evolutionary economics, in particular, on the concepts of path dependency, lock-ins, and others. As an initial step towards creating new path development of old industrial coal-mining areas, the paper proposes to forming institutional and organizational foundations for the development of industries built on the principles of circular economy. It can be done by returning waste from coal-mining and coal enrichment into production cycles using innovative technologies. It is proved that in the case of the of smart specialization concept application in the conditions of the old coal-mining regions it should be necessary to take a number of institutional measures, the main ones of which are proposed in the paper.