Process Of Economic Restructuring Research Articles

The anthropology of neoliberal India

This special issue brings together ethnographic accounts exploring local and regional effects of transformations in India that social scientists have described under the heading of ‘neoliberalism’ (Alternative Survey Group 2007; Oza 2006; Patnaik 2007). Chief among these transformations in India are the economic restructuring processes after 1991 when the Government of India launched far-reaching policies of economic liberalisation, arguably under the pressure of global financial institutions. Acknowledging this significant turning point, we aim to highlight, however, the variegation with which neoliberal ideas, policies and technologies are dispersed and experienced among different segments of the population. In doing so, the authors of this special issue pursue an ethnographically informed ‘grounding’ of large neoliberal transformations. In Michael Burawoy’s terms, such grounding is about ‘extending out from the micro-processes to macro forces, from the space–time rhythms of the site to the geographical and historical context of the field’ (2000a: 27).

Aspectos da governança local: inserção internacional das cidades através de redes de cidades

Os efeitos dos processos da globalização ocorridos nas últimas décadas impulsionaram o debate acerca do papel das cidades em um contexto de aprofundamento da competição por recursos, acesso a investimentos estrangeiros, tecnologia, entre outros aspectos. Destaca-se neste debate a intensificação da inserção internacional das cidades como estratégia de criação de novos padrões de governança local. Este artigo argumentará que um dos mecanismos de inserção internacional é a formação de redes de cidades, que despontam como instrumentos de organização para promoção da integração e melhoria das políticas públicas das cidades, através do desenvolvimento de acordos e programas. Neste contexto, o artigo apresentará a Rede de Mercocidades em um estudo de caso

From Financialization to Sociospatial Polarization of the City? Evidence from Canada

Financialization is a key attribute of globalized neoliberal capitalism. Among other things, it is associated with rising household indebtedness, which has certainly been true in Canada. Another widely recognized trait of neoliberal capitalism is growing social inequality and polarization. However, despite growing awareness and understanding of the relationships between debt and inequality at the household, national, and international scales, it remains unclear what role household debt may have in fashioning patterns of income segregation within the metropolis and how it may be related to processes of urban economic restructuring. This article seeks to fill this gap through an empirical analysis of the spatial distribution of household debt and its relationship to prevailing patterns of neighborhood income inequality within Canadian metropolitan areas. The effects of household debt in either ameliorating or exacerbating prevailing levels of income segregation are analyzed, after which the metropolitan-level factors that are associated with regressive neighborhood distributions of debt are examined. The implications of the results for understanding the relationship between financialization and predominant patterns of urban economic restructuring are then discussed.

Immigration an Globalisation from Below: The Case of Ethnic Restaurants in Lisbon.

This paper aims to analyse the role of immigrants in the processof economic restructuring and secondary internationalisation of the metropolises in opposition to the hegemonic globalisation process associated to Transnational Corporations (TNC) and its strategies. This will be illustrated with a comparative reading of the diffusion process of ethnic restaurants (Chinese and Indian) and franchised pizza and hamburger (McDonald’s, Pizza Hut) outlets in Lisbon.

Urban Geographical Economics and per Capita GDP Growth in Romania

1. Introduction The processes of transition from a central planning economy to a more market oriented economy and EU accession, the two dominant political and socioeconomic processes that characterized the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since the collapse of communism, have, over the last two decades, been followed by different growth dynamics which lead to interesting patterns of convergence, divergence and polarization. CEE economies, contrary to Western European countries which have had the historical framework to be aware of the importance of protecting institutions and building a solid institutional framework, have ignored the important role of the institutions in their processes of transition, generating a defective institutional framework, with high transaction costs, uncertain property rights, inflation problems in many cases, not clearly imposed laws, barriers in the way products enter on the market, etc. Moreover, the accession of CEE countries to the European Union in 2004 and 2007 intensified the processes of economic integration, restructuring and national development, thus shrinking the evolutionary time during which the aforementioned processes were to take place. Economic transformations occurring globally and increased risk aversion contributed to a significant reduction of capital flows to Romania, increased pressures upon exchange rate (3). Under the influence of these processes, the last twenty years have seen an important change in the old spatial economic structures and a sharp increase in regional disparities across many Central and Eastern European countries. Romania did not escape to such changes. The deindustrialization process in Romania was very important. The share of industry in Romania's GDP decreased from 46% in 1985 to less than 28% in 1999, however, its contribution to the export sector is still decisive. In 1997 and 1998 respectively, 97% of the value of exported goods in Romania was produced in the industry sector, while in 1999 the figure was 95%. Moreover, strong patterns of polarization and core-periphery structures emerged which were characterized by the concentration of economic activities around Bucharest-Ilfov, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca, leaving other parts of the country, mainly in the North-East relatively underdeveloped. Therefore, the process of national convergence, stimulated by increasing openness and economic and political integration, has not been accompanied by a similar trend for cross-regional incomes equilibration. Transition was soon followed by increasing economic openness, with substantial shifts in trade partners and specializations and significant inflows of foreign investments, both of which contributed further to altering the economic geography of the countries concerned among them it was also the case of Romania. In order to analyze the growth dynamics of the Romanian economy during this twenty years (4) after the fall of its communism system in December 1989 we have broken down the whole period into 4 sub periods which are going to be analyze at national level and economic region (5) level. * 1995-2008 which constitutes our whole sample period * 1995-2000, this is a period mainly characterized by huge political instability, severe economic crises and also high inflation * 2000-2004 a period characterized by the recovery of the economy and subsequent high growth rates as a result of the reforms of the 90s combined with the positive effects coming from the rest of the countries in Europe. * 2004-2008 is a period characterized at the European level by a big enlargement of the European Union and unprecedented economic growth rates in Romania (average 8-10% annually). The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 presents a brief overview of the analysis of the growth dynamics in Romania over the period 1995-2008. Section 3 analyzes in detail the regional growth in Romania by typology of region. …

The Case of Cooperstown, New York: The Makings of a Perfect Village in an Urbanising World

In this paper we examine the question of how rural communities adapt to global processes of urbanisation and economic restructuring. We do this through a visual and historical case study analysis of Cooperstown, New York. This location is selected because it is a self-proclaimed ‘perfect village’ and by many counts a successful tourist destination. The impact on this community is examined using theoretical concepts that include urbanormativity, rural representations, rural simulacra, and the community capitals framework. We conclude that rural communities may risk sacrificing local qualities in order to appeal to externally imposed urban expectations for a rural experience.

Exhausted bodies and precious products: women's work in a Special Economic Zone for the electronics industry in Poland

This article presents case study research conducted by participant observation in an electronics assembly plant based in one of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Poland. The study was part of a broader research project on women workers' lives and SEZs development run by Feminist Think Tank, during which the author was author was employed as a temporary worker and worked on the production line for three months, from October to December 2011, during a production peak in the zone. Embedded in the context of industrial and labour market changes over the last decade, the case study illustrates the interrelated processes of neoliberal economic restructuring, development of SEZs and their consequences for women workers' lives in one Polish region.

Pathways and Strategies of Urban Regeneration—Deindustrialized Cities in Eastern Germany

Following the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, many cities of Eastern Germany embarked on a long-term process of shrinking, characterized by the complex interplay of changes in the demographic, socio-economic and urbanistic structure of the cities. Shrinking processes can be traced back to the complex interplay of processes associated with post-socialist transformation with overall processes of economic re-structuring in globalization context. The article begins with an overview of research on characteristics of shrinking processes in different medium-sized cities of the new federal states. Next, the article researches the political responses and the development policies of selected cities as a means of managing shifts in basic social, economic and investment conditions. The principal focus here is the different institutional pathways of regeneration that cities have embarked upon as a consequence of “shrinkage” and the concrete strategies that have emerged. As yet, however, no long-term or dominant development paths can be discerned in local governance modes and the formulation of new regeneration strategies. The regeneration of shrinking cities and the associated development of new futures for these cities must be understood as part of a long process, in which many paths of development can emerge through the long selection process, as each competes for acknowledgement, attention and limited financial resources.

China's 12th Five-Year Plan: a potential game changer for economic restructuring and socio-economic development

The 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP), 2010–2015, comes in at the critical juncture of China's political, economic and social development. It coincides with China's leadership transition when the younger generation of leadership under Xi Jinping will take power, and the new leaders are likely to pay more attention to the increasing demand across China for new direction in socio-economic development. China's economy having achieved spectacular growth at an annual average of 10% for over three decades is under a lot of structural stress and strains that are crying out for structural adjustment. Hence, one of the major economic objectives of the 12th FYP is to rebalance China's economic growth pattern by reducing its dependence on exports and increasing domestic demand as its major source of growth. Structural change is a natural part of the economic growth process, but it is not easy to speed up the economic restructuring process. This requires good policies as well as strong political commitment from the top leadership. The successful implementation of this important FYP will render China's economic growth more sustainable as well as better able to meet various social objectives. The 12th FYP could well be a significant ‘game changer’ if it would succeed in making the required breakthrough on many fronts. It has the spirit, but the real game change would need many more FYPs.

Considerations Regarding the Development of Romanian Regional Economies through Innovation and Entrepreneurship

In the current global economic situation characterized by increasingly processes of globalization and the growing need to promote the principles of sustainability in economic development, more and more theorists of development and development policy makers insist on the necessity of taking into account as key factors in ensuring long term economic growth: innovation and the ability to generate new knowledge, entrepreneurship and promotion of leading technologies at the global technological frontier, able to generate phenomena of “creative destruction”. In more or less paradoxically, many studies show that the regions have a decisive role and becoming more important in promoting economic growth based on innovation and entrepreneurship, through interaction and close ties that can arise between different stakeholders. Regional economies of Romania and other countries that have experienced profound economic restructuring processes face the problem of identifying new pathways and models of economic d evelopment, able to reducing the significant gap that separates them from developed EU regions. This study aims to explore the possibilities of promoting a development model able to use as the driving element the capacity of Romanian regions, and in particular the North East region, to gain competitive advantage and sustainable development through innovation, developing leading technology and stimulating entrepreneurship. For this we will try to find answer to some questions: Can be developed regional networks and clusters able to gather innovation and stimulate entrepreneurship? What are the factors and causes that stand in the way of promoting a development strategy based on knowledge and innovation? In what areas can be developed innovative regional clusters which underpin sustainable economic development?.

Beyond Neoliberalism? Crisis and the Prospects for Progressive Alternatives

The onset of the current global economic crisis was hailed by many as signalling the demise of neoliberal hegemony. Two years on however, neoliberalism appears to be quite durable. Indeed, after a brief period of Keynesian-type responses, states, on the whole, have embraced neoliberal solutions to the fiscal problems generated by the crisis. Greece, for example, is now following an IMF programme of privatisation and cuts to social expenditure, while other European nations are pursuing austerity policies. In the USA, state and municipal governments are selling off public assets in response to mounting deficits. This paper explains the durability of neoliberalism and the opportunities and challenges it creates for non-neoliberal progressive policy agendas. Drawing upon Karl Polanyi's conceptual framework, this paper argues that neoliberalism is best understood as a historically specific process of state and economic restructuring that is socially embedded through three mechanisms: ideological norms, class relations, and institutional rules. This paper examines responses by states to the crises and concludes that, although the ideological legitimacy of neoliberalism has been somewhat weakened, there is little evidence to suggest that the three mechanisms, through which neoliberalism is socially embedded, have been significantly eroded. The implication for progressive politics is that, just as neoliberalism is socially embedded, so would a successful progressive non-neoliberal political programme need to be socially embedded: through the articulation of a coherent alternative ideology; through the mobilisation of social forces; and through the institutionalisation of non-neoliberal rules and norms within the apparatuses of the state.

Gyula – város a határon. A központi funkciók határon átnyúló hatása

A Nemzeti Innovációs Hivatal által támogatott kutatás keretében 2009-től kezdődően az MTA RKK Békéscsabai Osztálya és a Településkutató Osztály (Budapest) munkatársai komplex vizsgálatot indítottak a határon átnyúló várostérségek témakörében.A kutatás főbb csomópontjai a következők voltak:a városrégió megjelenése az európai és hazai területi kutatásokban és politikákban; a városrégiók lehatárolásának módszertani kérdései, figyelembe véve, hogy az eredményeket a felsőoktatásban is szeretnénk alkalmazni; terepi felmérésekkel feltárni a magyar határon átnyúló várostérségek kialakulásának, fejlődésének mozgatórugóit, szakaszait, a határok átalakulásának fázisait. A tanulmányban szereplő Gyulán – az említett terepmunka mellett – elemeztük a város fejlesztési dokumentumait, értékeltük a határ menti együttműködési forrásért benyújtott pályázatokat, áttekintettük a megvalósult fejlesztésekhez kapcsolódó korábbi kérdőívezések eredményeit és a helyi sajtót, továbbá strukturált interjúkat készítettünk a kulcsszereplőkkel. (Helyben 45, kontrollként pedig a romániai oldalon – zömmel Nagyváradon és Aradon – 25 interjút vettünk fel.)A kutatás során tapasztalt térfolyamatok erős egyoldalúságot mutattak Gyula város, illetve a román oldalon elterülő községek viszonylatában. A magyar oldalról történő átmozgás döntően nem a határ közvetlen közelében fekvő kistelepülésekre irányul (kivéve talán Nagyszalontát), hanem erősebben a határhoz közeli partiumi nagyvárosokba – elsődlegesen Nagyváradra és Aradra –, illetve Erdély belső, magyarlakta területei felé. Ezzel szemben, a román határtérségből érkező mozgások egyik meghatározó céltelepülésévé Gyula (és részben Békéscsaba) vált az elmúlt két évtized során. Ennek oka a város megerősödő szolgáltatószerepkörében rejlik (pozitív tényezők), illetve a határ román oldalán a meghatározó térszervező centrumok hiányának, nagy távolságának, nehézkes elérhetőségének tudható be (negatív tényezők).A gazdasági fejlődés a rendszerváltást követően Romániában – még erőteljesebben, mint Magyarországon – a nagyvárosokra és közvetlen környezetükre koncentrálódott, miközben a rurális terekben stagnálás volt megfigyelhető, vagy a korábbi struktúrák leépülése zajlott. E kontextusban, a lokális szintre koncentrálva, Gyula relatív előnye még nőtt is a határ túloldalával összevetve (amit a 2008-ban kirobbant gazdasági válság tartósított). A kulcsszereplőknek a tanulmányban összesített reakciói jelzik, hogy a város képes a határ menti fekvésből, létből előnyt kovácsolni, és azt saját hosszú távú stratégiái elemévé tenni.Gyula és a határ túloldalán fekvő hajdani vonzásterület együttműködésének sajátos eleme, hogy a nemzetiségi arányok alakulása kevéssé zavarja, sokkal gyakoribbak a magyar–román közös akciók, mint a magyar–magyar vagy a román–román kapcsolatok. Éppen erre alapozva kockáztathatjuk meg a feltételezést, hogy a város határon átnyúló szerepkörei hosszabb távon is fennmaradnak sőt erősödhetnek, nem függetlenül a nemzeti szintű és a lokális politikai folyamatok alakulásától.

Economic Growth, Structural Change and Quality Upgrading in New Member States

The purpose of this research is to present the recent developments concerning structural change and productivity growth in New Member States and the role played in such process by country specific factors. We focus on ten countries (NMS-10) which joined the EU in 2004 and analyze productivity dynamics of their labor structures between the years 1995 and 2005 in a comparative setting versus EU-15 economies. NMS-10 have gone through a rapid process of economic restructuring and its speed has been positively related to the economic development. However, shift-share analysis of productivity growth indicates that changes in value added per hour worked were due mainly to positive developments (rising productivity) within single sectors and only to a lower extent to the shift towards higher productivity sectors. The process of a structural change and productivity growth has been characterized by beta convergence type mechanism, with public spending (especially on education, social protection, public order and safety) and trade (in particular with more advanced EU-15 countries) promoting overall and intra-industry productivity upgrading.

Going Global: The Transnationalization of Care

This article critically examines the contours of ‘care transnationalization’ as an ongoing social process and a field of enquiry. Care transnationalization scholarship combines structural understandings of global power relations with an emphasis on social interactions between defined actors in ways that keep sight of human agency, material welfare and wider social development. It has, however, tended to privilege particular forms, dynamics and sites of care transnationalization over others. The body of research on care labour migration, which is otherwise the most developed literature on care transnationalization to date, contains a number of biases and omissions in its coverage of border-spanning relations and their mediation across country contexts. At the same time, other significant forms of care transnationalization, such as those involving consumer-based care migration, corporate restructuring and the formation of care policy, have suffered from comparative neglect. Working towards an integrated agenda that addresses these diverse expressions of care transnationalization and how they ‘touch down’ in a range of sectoral, social and country contexts is of prime importance to policy research agendas directed at understanding the wider development impacts of processes of social and economic restructuring.

Informal Support Networks of Low-Income Senior Women Living Alone: Evidence from Fort St. John, BC

Within the context of an aging Canadian rural and small-town landscape, there is a growing trend of low-income senior women living alone. While there is a perception that rural seniors have well-developed social networks to meet their daily needs, some research suggests that economic and social restructuring processes have impacted the stability of seniors' support networks in small places. While much of the research on seniors' informal networks focuses upon small towns in decline, booming resource economies can also produce challenges for low-income senior women living alone due to both a higher cost of living and the retrenchment of government and service supports. Under such circumstances, an absence of informal supports can impact seniors' health and quality of life and may lead to premature institutionalization. Drawing upon a household survey in Fort St. John, British Columbia, we explore informal supports used by low-income senior women living alone in this different context of the Canadian landscape. Our findings indicate that these women not only have a support network that is comparable to other groups, but that they are also more likely to draw upon such supports to meet their independent-living needs. These women rely heavily on family support, however, and greater efforts are needed to diversify both their formal and informal sources of support as small family networks can quickly become overwhelmed.

Schicht- und Nachtarbeit – eine szientometrische Analyse

Economic restructuring processes in Germany require changes within all social and health care systems regarding night shiftwork. The aim of this paper was to analyse research results referring to shift- and nightwork using scientometric methods. A total of 3092 items could be detected. A constant increase in the number of publications per year since 1977, especially since 1990' was obvious. One third of the research results, a total of 884 articles could be assigned to the USA. Great Britain could be identified with 365 articles and France with 244 published articles. Sleep, Ergonomics and Chronobiology International are the most prolific journals. The Swedish scientist Torbjörn Akerstedt is to this date the most acclaimed researcher referring to his issue. He has written 105 articles about shift- and nightwork. He is not only a most efficient author, but also has the highest h-index [30]. Self-citations and multiple co-authorships distort parameters like impact factor and h-index enormously and should be regarded from a critical point of view.

O lugar da indústria no patrimônio cultural

Este artigo destaca como os efeitos do processo de desindustrialização e de reestruturação econômica, intensificados na década de 1990, atingiram grandes complexos fabris que foram grandes motores econômicos e os principais indutores da urbanização dos lugares, e que embora tenham imprimido, de modo inconfundível, caráter e identidade espacial, e organizado a dinâmica urbana e as relações sociais, seu lugar dentro da paisagem onde se inserem está ameaçada de desaparecer. Desta forma, o presente artigo aborda a potencialidade e a singularidade do patrimônio industrial na produção do espaço contemporâneo e a sua valoração enquanto patrimônio Cultural no Brasil, a partir das iniciativas de tombamento empreendidas pelo IPHAN. Ressalta como, apesar da ainda pequena representatividade desta tipologia na listagem de bens tombados pelo IPHAN, estas edificações estão mudando as percepções públicas a respeito dos aspectos importantes de sua história, conseguindo conquistar sua devida valoração enquanto representantes da expressão cultural e social brasileira.

House Price Keynesianism and the Contradictions of the Modern Investor Subject

This paper conceptualises the marked downturn in UK house prices in the 2007–2009 period in relation to longer-term processes of national economic restructuring centred on a new model of homeownership. The structure of UK house prices has been impacted markedly by the Labour Government's efforts to ingrain a particular notion of financial literacy amid the move towards an increasingly asset-based system of welfare. New model welfare recipients and new model homeowners have thereby been co-constituted in a manner consistent with a new UK growth regime of ‘house price Keynesianism’. However, the investor subjects who drive such growth are necessarily rendered uncertain compared with the idealised image of government policy because of their reliance on the credit-creating decisions of private financial institutions. The recent steep decline in UK house prices is explained here as an epiphenomenon of the disruptive effect on the idealised image caused by the dependence of investor subjects on pricing dynamics not of their making.

La vertebración territorial en regiones de alta especialización: Valle Central de Chile. Alcances para el desarrollo de zonas rezagadas en torno a los recursos naturales

Economic restructuring processes and market opening have generated multiple and varied consequences in our territories. Perhaps for Chile, as with other Latin American countries, one of the most important processes at the regional level is the development of highly specialized spaces or commodity-regions. Different academic work indicates that within these spaces, as well as areas of high competitiveness, there are also backward areas with limited economic dynamism. Consequently: What has happened to the model of a territorial spine and a system of population centers? What are the characteristics of these backward areas? And what are the challenges to be faced? Chiles Central Val- ley is one of the areas that reveals this specialization. We analyze the physical structure of the territory that has been generated in these regions and the role that population centers play in these new scenarios. Based on a characterization of the territorial spine, we move towards a definition of most favoured areas and generate hypotheses relating to challenges and future requirements.

Nuevo Estado, nuevos territorios. Una aproximación a las nuevas tendencias en la construcción del territorio metropolitano de Buenos Aires

El presente trabajo surge del proyecto “Grandes Inversiones en la Producción del Espacio Metropolitano”, subvencionado por la Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas (CIC) de la provincia de Buenos Aires, y se centra en el estudio de las inversiones de los grandes capitales privados, determinando en qué y dónde invierten para analizar el impacto en la organización territorial metropolitana. Para ello se parte de que el proceso de reestructuración económica en la última década ha dado lugar a un rediseño de la relación entre la sociedad y el espacio, como así también la creación de nuevas estructuras espaciales de producción y de consumo. La producción simultánea de nuevos espacios, cada vez más especializados y estratificados, sobre una estructura socioeconómica desigual, así como la reorganización de los centros urbanos alrededor del consumo, han provocado impactos en la organización espacial alterando los patrones de metropolización, característicos de la década de 1970.