Regional Industrial Policy Research Articles

Features of the innovative approach in the formation of regional industrial policy

The article is considering the phenomenon of blurring boundaries between economic sectors, the merging of various stages and functions within the production process occurs, which is a distinctive feature of modern economic development. The authors emphasize imbalance in the distribution of capital: in conditions of excess financial resources throughout the national economy, there is a shortage of funds allocated for innovative projects. A key aspect of this problem is the lack of a long-term perspective and development strategy among economic entities. It is substantiated that insufficient attention to the development and implementation of risk management strategies leads to underestimation of the value of innovations with a long-term perspective, and in order to effectively overcome innovation shortsightedness, necessary an integrated approach that includes not only improving corporate culture and developing innovation infrastructure, but also improving legal and regulatory environment. The concept of innovative short-sightedness is considered, which reflects the underestimation of future benefits and the narrowing of the planning horizon of economic agents. Attention is focused on the fact that government policy and regulation can also have a significant impact on innovation activity; an imperfect legal framework in the field of intellectual property or unpredictability of tax policy creates uncertainty for entrepreneurs and investors, which can discourage investment in innovative projects. It is argued that in the context of industrial policy formation, the most significant aspects are the establishment and support of economic entities. It is emphasized that industrial policy should be focused on stimulating the primary links of production; it can be aimed at ensuring the development of high-tech sectors of the economy, which can become the driving force of innovative growth and increasing the competitiveness of national producers in world markets. In the realm of investment strategies, significant attention is directed towards crafting standards for utilizing approaches that simplify the integration of intellectual assets into economic systems, all while considering the expected duration of product viability.

Трудовая миграция в российских регионах в контексте обеспечения экономической безопасности

In the accepted understanding of the role of labor migration as a leading factor in ensuring the economic security of Russia and its regions, it is necessary to proceed from the content of migration as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon, characterized by multidirectional and contradictory dynamics of the processes occurring in it. In conditions of geopolitical and macroeconomic instability, the diagnosis of these processes is updated in connection with sharp structural shifts in labor migration and changes in their influence on the economic security of Russian regions and the country. Based on a structural-dynamic analysis made with the use of official statistical information, the dynamics and effectiveness of the processes accompanying labor migration and their impact on the economic security of Russia, its regions, and macro-regions were identified. The main trends in labor migration at the macro level are the predominance of internal migration flows over external ones against the negative increase in labor migrants from countries outside the CIS countries and the reorientation of labor flows to other countries; changes in the sectoral structure of migration; and the high share and growth of illegal migration. At the meso level, there is a high level of differentiation in labor migration flows and, as a result, their ambiguous impact on the economic security of Russian macro-regions and their constituent entities. The main factors hindering the positive impact of labor migration on the economic security of the regions of the Southern Federal District are differences in their sectoral specialization; the state of social infrastructure, education, and healthcare; level of employment; environmental and climatic living conditions; composition and structure of the population; and quality of life. The solution to the problems of labor migration in the Southern Federal District, which can ensure an increase in the migration attractiveness of the territories of the macro-region, lies, first of all, in the growth and balance of the quality of life of the population in the regions of the Southern Federal District, increasing the effectiveness of the state regional industrial and social policy, and strengthening the place and role of migration policy in long-term programs of regional development.

Towards sustainable prosperity? Policy evaluation of Jiangsu advanced manufacturing clusters

The government of China, to hone manufacturing's competitive edge, has adopted a series of regional industrial policies to stimulate advanced manufacturing clusters as facilitators of agglomeration effects, utilisers of factor endowments, and implementers of innovation solutions, by playing the role of facilitating state. Focusing on advanced manufacturing cluster policies in East China's Jiangsu Province, the research employs a mixed data analysis methodology on a sample of 52 documents collected from the Jiangsu government and affiliated units. The policy orientations and priorities are examined under the triple analytical framework in terms of themes, instruments, and controls, applying textual mining and the PMC index model. The results reveal the alignment of policy themes with high-quality development strategy, the government preferences for the supply dimension in policy instruments, the emphasis on planning directive in policy controls, together with the relatively high internal consistency of the AMC policy toolkit by Jiangsu. Therefore, the research spotlights the importance of leveraging comparative strengths based upon the facilitating state institution, and of deploying internally coherent, scientific, and efficient initiatives that exploit more potential of advanced manufacturing clusters to foster sustainable prosperity from the perspective of New Structural Economics.

Creating Low‐Carbon Economies: Probing Transition Dynamics through the Lens of Field Theory

AbstractWe employ field theory as an approach to analysing sustainable regional development by reconciling funding needs and funding procurement. Initial expectations that private capital would bridge the financial gap to decarbonize our economies and societies have not materialized. Instead, state‐led coalitions increasingly introduce spatialized decarbonization strategies in which public development banks are pivotal, yet underappreciated, actors. Field theory provides a fresh perspective for mapping the particular context in which regional industrial policies intersect with broader national and supra‐national investment programmes and funding needs for these long‐term initiatives. Transitions are typically directed but open‐ended social processes, necessitating agency to both alter context and institutions and stabilize the emerging new structures. Field theory can surpass limitations in approaches like transition studies and integrate change mechanisms across scales.

Making it right: socio-environmental conditionalities in regional industrial policies

This article discusses the need for heightened consideration of business-related human rights infringements in regional industrial policies. It discusses why human rights have been neglected in accounts of regional economic growth and proposes a novel policy agenda based on socio-environmental conditionalities. Policy-wise it also recommends that regions build new identities as socially and environmentally responsible places in order to attract investors.

ИННОВАЦИОННОЕ И ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ РАЗВИТИЕ РЕГИОНОВ ОБРАБАТЫВАЮЩЕЙ ПРОМЫШЛЕННОСТИ: ОЦЕНКА КОНВЕРГЕНЦИИ ИНДУСТРИАЛЬНОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА

When assessing regional industry in the transition to the post-industrial stage of develop-ment, it is necessary to take into account the productive, technological, and innovative potential of the in-dustries themselves, the regions in which they are located, and the ratio of different technological levels of industrial sectors (high-, medium-, or low-tech levels and HT, HMT, or LMT, or LT sectors). This article assesses the technological and innovative homogeneity of the industrial space of Russian regions specializ-ing in manufacturing. The study analyzes innovation parameters and the convergence of regions, taking into account the dominance of industries with different levels of technology. The study investigates HT, HMT, LMT and LT regions of the Russian manufacturing industry. Research methods include comparative, eco-nomic, and statistical analysis (σ- and β-convergence). The hypothesis is that there are uneven shifts in the innovation and technological development of regions, the presence of distinctive advantages, and resistance to external restrictions and violations of system technologies. The assessment of these features will increase the technological sovereignty and independence of innovation development of the regions and the country as a whole. The results revealed that LT and LMT regions have stable growth in the volume of shipped in-novative goods which ensures sustainable innovation efficiency. HT and HMT regions are characterized by the high costs of innovation and high innovation efficiency. In regions with different levels of technology, a reduction in disproportions based on σ-convergence was revealed; β-convergence was revealed in the group of HT, HMT, and LMT regions by the share of innovative products in the structure of shipped products and the share of medium- and high-tech industries in shipped products. The conclusions can be used in the de-velopment of regional industrial policy.

РАЗВИТИЕ ИНДУСТРИАЛЬНЫХ РЕГИОНОВ: ДИФФЕРЕНЦИАЦИЯ ТЕХНОЛОГИЧНОСТИ И ИННОВАЦИОННОСТИ В УСЛОВИЯХ ВНЕШНЕЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ НЕСТАБИЛЬНОСТИ

The development of regional industry, structural changes, industry diversification, and the transition to a new industrial level in modern conditions are limited by the strict conditions of external investment, trade, and financial sanctions. The paper aims to analyze changes in the technological effectiveness and innovativeness of regional industry, identifying trends that contribute to economic dynamics in conditions of external uncertainty and economic instability. The objectives of the study include the development and testing of a system of indicators for a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of industrial and innovative development of regions with different levels of technological structure (the ratio between high/medium/low technology sectors; aggregated – HT, HMT, LMT- and LT-sectors), allowing for comparative studies of regional parameters contributing to the development of the industry in the regime of external restrictions. Research methods include comparative analysis, economic and statistical methods, the use of correlation analysis, etc. The research hypothesis of the study is to substantiate different formats for the development of industrial regions, distinguished by the differentiation of the technological structure of industry, the complementarity of the economic advantages of technological sectors, which allows the region in the conditions of external destabilization to ensure the effectiveness of industrial development and innovative dynamics. As a result of the study, it was revealed that industrial regions have different technological structures and are developing at different rates; the technological competencies of the LMT sector ensure sustainable industrial dynamics in all analyzed regions, and the HT, HMT sectors ensure the preservation of innovative intensity of development. The technological and logical advantages of industries and the combination of technologically heterogeneous sectors are one of the factors that allow the region, under conditions of external restrictions, to simultaneously ensure both effectiveness and promotion of industrial and innovative development. The proposed conclusions and analytics can be used in developing regional industrial policies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Динамика промышленного производства регионов: оценка резилиентности реакции на внешние ограничения

The Russian economy is at the centre of destabilising events. The article assesses the resilience of responses of industrial production to external constraints. Long – and short-term regional responses were examined using the methods of estimation of trend and cyclical components of production volume changes, construction of phase dynamics models (sectoral and cross-sectoral tracers) of relevant and prospective specialisation areas, assessment of the resilience of industrial regions based on the indicators of long-term, short-term and prospective dynamics. Analysis of particular resilience indicators demonstrated regional differences in production indices before and after destabilising events, duration of the recovery period, degree of reaching the pre-shock level, presence or absence of stabilising industries, etc. Three levels of production resilience were distinguished: elastic response characterises regions that managed to reach the pre-shock level; super-elastic response indicates compensatory recovery and positive post-shock growth; plastic response means negative consequences after the normalisation of events. The paper analysed export-oriented single-industry metallurgical regions using official statistics on industrial production indices for 2006–2021. As a result, their resilience profiles were differentiated: the research noted a negative impact and slowdown in economic growth in Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk oblasts, as well as a positive reaction in Vologda and Lipetsk oblasts. Additionally, it was revealed that stabilising industries with counter-phase dynamics are present in Vologda and Lipetsk oblasts and absent in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk oblasts. According on the identified levels of production resilience, targets and tools of regional industrial policy were determined. Regions with plastic responses to external constraints require support for prospective specialisations. In regions with elastic and super-elastic responses, it is necessary to implement strategies and policy measures for the stabilisation of development through economic diversification.

The Emergence of Regional Industrial Policy in Britain: The Case of Wales, 1939 to 1947

From the 1940s to the 1970s, British governments steered manufacturing businesses to peripheral regions designated as needing more employment. This approach was delivered through a Regional Policy that deployed industrial location controls and financial incentives. Effectiveness varied over time but was dramatic in the mid-1940s, when it boosted the regional stock of secondary manufacturing to the extent that its legacy remains visible today. The literature describes how this Regional Policy was a peacetime policy, albeit one formulated during the war. This article, however, proposes that the most successful phase of Regional Policy was an extension of wartime policies governing regional manufacturing businesses producing munitions. It uses a case study of Wales to make two arguments. One is that the Regional Policy associated with the postwar period began to be implemented before the war had ended. The other is that the Board of Trade pursued the policy through repurposed wartime governance mechanisms within an economy that remained subject to onerous state controls. The case outlines a short but consequential burst of assertive state involvement that shaped business activity throughout much of regional Britain, echoing Philip Scranton and Patrick Fridenson’s arguments concerning “the state always being in” given its role in shaping markets, business behavior, and regulations.

New regional industrial policy and environmental problems

Aim. The need to accelerate the transition to "green" and digital technologies leads to a more active participation of the state in the economy, including through an active industrial policy. In this regard, the main attention should be paid to the development and use of modern methodological approaches to the formation of a new regional industrial policy, taking into account the environmental aspect.Discussion. One of the main sources of pollutant emissions is industrial production. The article analyses the level of emissions of pollutants from industrial enterprises into the atmosphere in Russia as a whole, as well as for the regions that are leading in the growth of emissions into the atmosphere of industrial enterprises and in the growth in the number of polluting enterprises. Based on the analysis, it is concluded that in many regions of Russia industrial policy is carried out inefficiently. The growth of industrial production occurs extensively by increasing the number of enterprises or industries without taking into account environmental consequences and without the use of modern technologies that reduce the negative impact on the environment. An analysis of methodological approaches to the definition of the "new" industrial policy has been carried out and its general principles have been identified.Conclusion. To date, there is no clear definition of the "new" industrial policy, however, in modern scientific literature there are various methodological approaches that differ from the "old" type of industrial policy. The approaches discussed above differ in the emphasis either on the choice of specialisation – what to produce – or on the process by which prioritization and implementation occurs – how to produce.

Digital transformation in the region's machine-building complex: Problems and prospects

Subject. This article discusses the issues of modernization of the Russian industry, the workforce capacity and investment potential of the machine-building industry. Objectives. The article aims to develop a tool that can help comprehensively compare the capabilities of the engineering industry and the capacity of utilization of digital technologies. Methods. For the study, we used a statistical analysis. Results. The article presents a developed algorithm that makes it possible to rank engineering industries taking into account resource capabilities and the digital technology utilization capacity. Conclusions. The results of the study will be in demand when determining the priorities of regional industrial policy.

Где в Арктике лучшие условия для реализации мер региональной промышленной политики?

This article addresses the research question concerning the assessment of current prerequisites for implementing industrial policy within the Arctic territories of Russia through the efforts of local and regional authorities. The research goal required solving methodological problems, including how to evaluate these prerequisites, analytical problems encompassing individual and integrated scoring, and practical problems such as the differentiation of Arctic territories into responsive,neutral, or conservative regarding regional industrial policy measures. The study is based on regional and municipal statistical indicators, legal documents outlining industrial policy within Arctic regions, and data from the monthly monitoring of the Arctic conducted by the Institute of Regional Consulting. To perform an integrated assessment of the conditions, we employed 17 indicators grouped into five categories: 1) material factors (four indicators reflecting the volume and weight of the industrial sector in the regional economy); 2) spatial factors (four indicators assessing the degree of dispersion or concentration of regional industry locations); 3) technological factors (three indicators measuring the Arctic territory's readiness for the fifth Kondratieff wave); 4) institutional factors (three indicators evaluating the involvement of key actors in industrial activities, the effectiveness of industrial partnerships, and the presence of established regional industrial policy institutions); 5) natural resource factors (three indicators offering a qualitative assessment of the region's key resource assets). Upon integrating individual scores for five categories, which were derived as the arithmetic mean of normalized scores, four distinct groups of regions were identified. The first group, represented by the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO) and the Krasnoyarsk Arctic, has the most favorable conditions for the deployment of new industrial policy measures. The second group, consisting of the well-established industrial region of Murmansk and the Arctic territories of the Arkhangelsk region, has relatively favorable conditions. The third group, comprising the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and the Arctic territories of the Komi Republic, is characterized by less favorable conditions. The fourth group, which includes the Arctic territories of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Republic of Karelia, ranks as the least favorable in terms of implementing regional industrial policy measures.

РОЛЬ СЕТЕВЫХ СТРУКТУР В ИННОВАЦИОННОМ РАЗВИТИИ РЕГИОНОВ СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДНОГО ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОГО ОКРУГА РОССИИ

In the context of the transformation of the Russian economy, the task of studying the current innovative potential of the regions, as well as searching for new development drivers, has become more urgent. Network structures as a tool for regional development and revitalization of innovation have long been known and used in many countries. The article discusses how the network structures formed in the region affect the innovative development of the regions of the Northwestern Federal District, depending on their industrial specialization. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that only in regions with a high share of the manufacturing industry in gross value added, network structures affect the innovative activity of the region. The influence of network structures on the dynamics of the gross regional product was not revealed in any group. The results obtained can be used to develop an industrial and innovative regional policy, serve as a basis for further research in the field of formation and development of network structures for assessing the effectiveness of a regional industrial and innovative policy.

Regional specialization and diversification of industries in Kazakhstan

This research aims to assess the degree of specialization and diversification in the regions of Kazakhstan. The method of calculating the location quotient is used to determine the degree of specialization of the regions. The industrial location quotient for three periods - 2010, 2015, and 2019 - is calculated to observe the dynamics of specialization of industries in the regions. The research identified sustainable, unstable, fading, and emerging. The degree of industrial diversification in the region is determined based on the number of sustainable industries in the region. The categorization of industries according to the dynamics of specialization makes it possible to apply various mechanisms and ways to recover fading industries and support unstable and emerging industries. The research results can be used in designing Kazakhstan's regional industrial and innovation policies.

Economic and statistical analysis of industrial production in the North Caucasian Federal District of the Russian Federation

The article substantiates the need to assess the industrial potential of a region to form an effective regional industrial policy with due regard to economic constraints and ongoing global exogenous changes. To attain this end, the study uses the tools and methods of mathematical statistics and system analysis. The authors of the article analyze the dynamics of industrial production in the North Caucasian Federal District of the Russian Federation, as well as the efficiency of using resources by certain industries and activities. As a result, they determine promising directions for the development of industrial potential in the region.

Transformation of regional industrial policy in the context of sanctions and priority areas for its development, taking into account the processes of import substitution

The regional industrial policy of import substitution is currently of particular importance for enterprises that find themselves in a difficult economic situation caused by international sanctions. The regional authorities see the solution to this problem in the development of knowledge-intensive industries, which can be a breakthrough for industrial enterprises in terms of import substitution. The ongoing assistance programs are being implemented for the sustainable development of the region and ensuring its independence from import supplies and broken logistics ties with foreign companies that previously supply equipment and components to enterprises in the Samara region. For the smooth operation of industrial enterprises, conditions are created for state regulation of the industrial complex and its development within the framework of innovative processes, based on the existing potential of all types of resources. For this, the main directions of import substitution with the involvement of the scientific potential of the region have been determined, which makes it possible to form a staff of qualified specialists from the field of science and entrepreneurship. In this situation, predictive analytics, automation of production processes and artificial intelligence are of particular importance. The indexes of industrial production in the Samara region considered in the article for the second half of 2022 show positive trends and opportunities for reorientation, both to new logistics and to import substitution of many types of products to meet the needs of the regional market. The decrease in the export component of the region also led to changes in the regional policy aimed at supporting industrial enterprises and consolidating the business community in terms of existing innovative developments that can be introduced in the near future and create competition for imported components and finished products. At the same time, development programs are being developed with countries interested in cooperating with industrial enterprises of the Samara region.

Does "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" Promote OFDI Reverse Innovation Spillovers in Provinces Along the Line?

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities with provincial status across the country from 2011 to 2016, this paper explores the impact of Initiative of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on the development of OFDI reverse innovation spillovers in the provinces along the line. This paper empirically tests the impact of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Initiative on the development level of OFDI reverse innovation spillovers in the provinces along the line by using the difference-in-differences method. The study found that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Initiative has effectively improved the development level of OFDI reverse innovation spillovers in the provinces along the line in China. From the dynamic test results, it can be seen that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Initiative has had an impact on the development of OFDI reverse innovation spillovers in the provinces along the line since it was proposed, and the policy effect has gradually strengthened. The robustness of the regression results is further verified by eliminating the 11 provinces of the Yangtze River Economic Belt to eliminate the impact of exogenous events, which shows that the promotion of the policy of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Region on OFDI in the provinces along the line is not affected by the pre-policy factors, nor by other events. The conclusion of this paper has important implications for the optimization of regional industrial policies and the development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the background of dual circulation.

‘Northern Ireland and the Economic Consequences of Brexit: taking back control or perpetuating underperformance?’

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the economic implications of Brexit by making recourse to original archival studies as well as the literatures concerning modern British and European economic history as well as the Two Irelands. An overriding lesson is that Northern Ireland, like the UK as whole, has suffered from weaknesses in competition and productivity that have given rise to long-run economic underperformance. Only after Brentry was this legislation reversed. Yet while European integration overall tended to improve economic performance, political instability tended to offset these benefits. Despite the political settlement in 1998, much room for improvement remains. Brexit, and in particular the Protocol, has complicated matters further. While the Windsor Framework offers greater economic opportunities than the original Protocol, seising these opportunities is far from inevitable. A better regional industrial policy is possible if the right lessons emerge from the historical evidence. Such a regional policy requires consideration of 'place-based' issues and in turn consideration of such issues return us to the importance of historical factors in determining long-run economic performance. Economic history matters more than is often understood.

Regional Industrial Policy in the Western Balkans: Neither Specialization nor Spatialization?

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes post-socialist industrial development and policy in the Western Balkans through the lens of its regional specialization and spatial concentration. Against a conceptual framework revolving around place-based industrial policy, and using the Concentration index (modified Herfindahl-Hirschman index) and location coefficients (Balassa index), a comparative analysis over three decades (1990–2020) highlights weak regional diversification and intra-regional integration of industrial activity. The findings offer a new industrial policy that transcends regional specialization and spatial concentration to address regional development, planning and governance. The concluding remarks reveal some basic paths toward effective and pro-European regional industrial policy in the Western Balkans.

Place-based public investment in regional infrastructure, the locational choice of firms and regional performance: the case of India

ABSTRACT We discuss conceptual reasons for and propose public investment in regional infrastructure as a hybrid form of a place-based regional industrial policy aiming to foster the regional economic activity of lagging regions. We present and empirically test a baseline model using data for 14 Indian regions/states over a period of 39 years. Our results show that place-based regional infrastructure investments, particularly in electricity-generating capacity and width-adjusted length of national highways, positively impact the relative number of firms operating in a region and help foster its economic performance.