Regional Policy Framework Research Articles

Инновационная инфраструктура как фактор повышения конкурентоспособности региона

In modern conditions, innovative infrastructure is a fundamental element for the development of a regional economic system. The availability of an efficient innovation infrastructure optimizes the process of the implementation of promising production ideas and their commercialization in the industrial sector of the region. The purpose of this study is connected with the assessment possibility of the influence level of innovations on the competitiveness of regional economic system in the context of global competition and uncertainty growth in social and production processes. The methodological basis of the study is presented by the results of research studies by domestic and foreign experts, within which a comprehensive analysis of conditions and specifics of innovative transformations in the development of the region was carried out, with the identification of promising opportunities for relevant innovations’ integration into the regional socio-economic system. In accordance with this, in the course of the study, the following general theoretical and special research methods were applied: statistical analysis, generalization, grouping, systematization, deduction, induction, and graph theory. The result of the study is the assessment of the impact of innovations on the development of the regional economic system, as well as to form the conditions for construction of innovative infrastructure and predict the results of its impact on the level of competitiveness of the region in case of its optimal integration in accordance with the functioning of national or international organizations. The results obtained can be used by state and regional authorities that provide optimal innovative development and implementation of an economically determined sequence of activities within the framework of regional innovation policy, as well as small and medium-sized production entities, scientific and educational organizations operating in the development and implementation of high-tech products with increased value.

Life cycle costing approaches of fuel cell and hydrogen systems: A literature review

Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier which can be produced from variety of feedstocks, stored and transported in various forms for multi-functional end-uses in transportation, energy and manufacturing sectors. Several regional, national and supra-national climate policy frameworks emphasize the need, value and importance of Fuel cell and Hydrogen (FCH) technologies for deep and sector-wide decarbonization. Despite these multi-faceted advantages, familiar and proven FCH technologies such as alkaline electrolysis and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) often face economic, technical and societal barriers to mass-market adoption. There is no single, unified, standardized, and globally harmonized normative definition of costs. Nevertheless, the discussion and debates surrounding plausible candidates and/or constituents integral for assessing the economics and value proposition of status-quo as well as developmental FCH technologies are steadily increasing—Life Cycle Costing (LCC) being one of them, if not the most important outcome of such exercises.To that end, this review article seeks to improve our collective understanding of LCC of FCH technologies by scrutinizing close to a few hundred publications drawn from representative databases—SCOPUS and Web of Science encompassing several tens of technologies for production and select transportation, storage and end-user utilization cases. This comprehensive review forms part of and serves as the basis for the Clean Hydrogen Partnership funded SH2E project, whose ultimate goal is the methodical development a formal set of principles and guardrails for evaluating the economic, environmental and social impacts of FCH technologies. Additionally, the SH2E projects will also facilitate the proper comparison of different FCH technologies whilst reconciling range of technologies, methodologies, modelling assumptions, and parameterization found in existing literature.

Central bank coordinated policies and bank market power: an insight from the African context

The paper examines the impact of central bank regulatory policies on market power in Africa. The study presents a representative sample of 52 African economies over the period 2006–2020. The study shows that the individual regulatory policies of the central bank (i.e. monetary and macro-prudential policies) enhance banks’ market power. Also, it reveals that central bank regulatory policies are better coordinated, as complements, in achieving greater market power of banks in countries with strong central bank independence (CBI) framework. However, the coordinated policies are substitutes in determining bank’s market power in countries with weak CBI framework. The policy implication is that the right policy mix of coordinated central bank regulatory policy framework is important in determining an optimal outcome of bank’s market power in both an inclusive central bank (monetary-prudential) policy targeting economies and an independent policy targeting economies.

Understanding China's Economic Growth from a Regional Policy Perspective

AbstractThere has been ongoing interest in China's economic growth. What were the drivers of China's economic growth in past years? What policies were used to promote China's economic growth? Although different lenses may be used to understand and explain China's economic growth, this paper draws on historical, theoretical, and empirical perspectives to discuss the nexus between China's regional policies and economic growth. First, we review the evolution of China's regional policy and the policy's changing emphasis in different development stages, from balanced, unbalanced, and coordinated development to synergistic development. Then we construct a theoretical model to illustrate the impact of regional policy on the local economy and conduct an empirical examination with a case study of regional policy using regression discontinuity design. This paper analyzes the concept of regional policy and the underpinning logic of economic growth and presents practical approaches to formulate a better regional policy framework.

Implementing coastal adaptation: assessing and explaining success by local governments in Nova Scotia, Canada

As coastal communities increasingly plan for climate change, there is a need to understand factors that influence whether planned actions get implemented. This study examines the implementation of coastal adaptation actions across Nova Scotia, Canada, the first province in the country to establish a regional policy framework to address adaptation by requiring municipalities to prepare Municipal Climate Change Action Plans (MCCAPs). Using the MCCAPs from 20 coastal communities, this study employs a mixed-methods approach that includes content analysis, surveys, and expert interviews to follow up on the actions identified as priorities in these plans. It finds that the MCCAPs successfully stimulated coastal adaptation throughout the province: within six years, nearly 75% of the 331 priority actions in these plans were implemented to some degree. Logistic regression models, supported by interviews with municipal representatives, indicate that political continuity and public participation throughout the planning process are significant determinants of successful implementation.

Геоинформационное моделирование индекса человеческого развития стран ОЭСР и их регионов

The article is devoted to the development of the Human development Index (HDI) in the framework of inter-territorial comparisons of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and their regions. The processes of creating a basic cartographic basis for conducting geoinformation modeling of the human development index at the country and regional levels at the same time are considered. New features of the mathematical-cartographic modeling apparatus are revealed, the main conceptual difficulties of developing the thematic content of such modeling are described. Based on the analysis of the international and Russian versions of the human development index, the concept of thematic content of this index is proposed to ensure inter-territorial comparisons. Within the framework of geoinformation modeling, the results were obtained from the standpoint of general ideas about the differentiation of territories according to the values of the human development index. An approach to the integration of evaluation and typological models is proposed, which allowed not only to consider the typology of territories according to the degree of intensity of the values of the human development index indicators, but also to consider them in conjunction with the entire variety of index values within this type, which made it possible to give a comprehensive characteristic of the territory. The analysis made it possible to consider the territory from the standpoint of public health, the effectiveness of the system of secondary specialized and higher education, as well as to assess the size of the territory’s economy in relation to the population. On the basis of this, a number of the main problems of the territories were identified from the standpoint of the components of the human development index and a number of recommendations were given to those making managerial decisions within the framework of national and regional policy.

Ecological Footprint-Environmental Regulations Nexus: The Case of the Union for the Mediterranean

The environmental regulations–ecological footprint nexus is occupying an important space in the current debate of energy economics. As a counter measure to environmental degradation, implementing environmental regulations remains on the agenda of scholars and policymakers alike, but whether these regulations have a reducing impact on the ecological footprint remains open since the literature on the topic, and empirical evidence, remains fragmented and dissimilar. The current approach aimed to investigate this for five member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean with panel data econometric techniques. Panel data from France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Türkiye were considered for 1992–2015 and were tested for cross-sectional dependence, unit roots, and cointegration. Panel fixed effect regression estimations were conducted, also with Newey-West and Driscoll-Kraay standard errors. In addition, a country-level analysis was conducted by using fully modified ordinary least squares estimation. The results showed that energy consumption and trade increased the environmental footprint, but for environmental regulations, no conclusive effect was identified. The country-level analysis indicated that there is a divergent situation for environmental regulations among the five member countries, where only one out of five member countries showed a significant negative effect. This new empirical evidence for Union for the Mediterranean member countries highlights the importance of a common regulatory policy framework to combat the negative impacts of environmental degradation.

INTERREGIONAL COMPETITION AS A WAY TO INCREASE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE REGION

The processes of expansion of regional actors in the world market have led to significant changes not only in approaches, methods and tools for managing and regulating international economic relations, but also in the framework of regional economic policies implemented in countries. Regional economic policy is no longer an instrument of purely domestic economic policy of the state and has become a management tool that is largely responsible for the country's competitiveness. This new status is also due to the fact that the region, compared to the national economy, has a much more adaptive potential in terms of changing external conditions and less inertia in the development process. This is a broad way of concentrating factors of production in a relatively short period of time, creating the necessary conditions for the impact of the scale of production, the influence of agglomeration, which is significantly affected by the competitiveness of the territory and the economic entities operating in it.

Assessment of the environmental sustainability practices of nigerian banks: focus on clean technology adoption

There is no doubt that the Nigerian banking industry is visible in the global sustainable banking radar and this traceable to its embrace of international trends and practices. However, given a number of factors, its uptake of clean technology as a means of attaining environmental sustainability remains challenging. Relying on survey method and content analysis of secondary data this study assessed three clean technology adoption issues – propensity, intensity, and staff awareness among two strategic groups of the banking industry. The findings showed that propensity for adoption and level of staff awareness differ significantly between the international and national groups of banks. But the variation between them in terms of intensity was not significant. One of the policy implications of the findings is that the key regulatory (policy) framework, the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles needs to be strengthened in the area of e-waste and intensity of adoption.

MARKETING APPROACH TO ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS ATTRACTIVENESS OF TERRITORIES

The marketing approach to the assessment and management of the business attractiveness of territories is considered. It was determined that the initial condition for the implementation of the marketing approach to business attractiveness is the need to study, analyze and forecast the needs of the business audience and develop a system of measures to support, increase or decrease it within the framework of regional policy.
 A group of basic partial statistical indicators and group indices has been formed, which are proposed to be considered as indicators of business attractiveness. It is also proposed to use an expert assessment of the attractiveness of the region based on subjective-objective perceptions, a feature of this approach is to focus attention on the detailing of individual criteria that reveal the attractiveness of the territory in terms of satisfying the interests of defined groups of target audiences.
 The modern experience of forming the business attractiveness of European countries was systematized, which made it possible to highlight the experience of Poland, which demonstrates the multi-vector attractiveness of its regions; the successful practice of promoting the region to the target audience "external business", demonstrating North Limburg, which five hundred international companies have chosen as the basis for their pan-European operations; the experience of formation of territorial marketing through such organizational forms as promotion agencies of Canada, China, Slovakia, Spain, Palestine, India was studied.
 The problems that exist in the regions of Ukraine and require a national solution are identified (protection of property rights, permits for temporary stay in the country, highly bureaucratized procedures for obtaining a work permit, difficulties with opening accounts for non-residents and providing administrative services, currency restrictions, the inability to normally repatriate capital).

Inclusive Growth and Climate Change Mitigation Programs and Policies in the ASEAN: Fiscal Implications

Abstract Addressing urgent global climate change and inequality issues has been a major challenge for the ten AMS (ASEAN Member countries) given the diversity and local agendas with divergent political, economic, and social objectives. While regional policy frameworks prioritise harmonisation and inter-regional integration outcomes over national inequality and climate change policy goals, governments typically address the latter through discretionary policy add-ons that lead to policy fragmentation and competing fiscal goals that interfere with intermediate development plans. To achieve the aspired inequality outcomes (Regional Framework and Action Plan, ASEAN Declaration, 2013) and the ratified global climate targets (Paris Treaty 2015) simultaneously, such policy outcomes and commitments to collaborative policy action will need to be aligned within an integrated policy framework at the regional or global level, and externalities of economic activity internalised into a sustainable and inclusive fiscal model. Focusing on policy design, integration and evaluation aspects, this paper tests the hypothesis that, given the urgency of these issues, the ASEAN governments devised corrective and preventive measures to systematically mitigate these externalities through intervention at the policy level and multilateral coordination at the regional and global levels to achieve pro-green and pro-equity policy outcomes with a net social surplus. Adopting a qualitative methodology, this study conducts a structured literature search and subsequent document analysis, using advanced text mining techniques to extract, contextualise and map policy-relevant themes by geopolitical scope, policy intent and outcomes. Literature evidence confirmed that the ASEAN Member States have recognised and acknowledged the urgency of climate change and inequality challenges, and that these governments intervene at the local policy level and also engage in multilateral discussions, which lack formal commitment and transparency. This study could not produce literature evidence of a systematic approach by these governments internalising mitigation mechanisms into the fiscal policy frameworks to achieve the aspired inclusive and sustainable outcomes - by design, rather than discretionary policy add-ons - and thus, the hypothesis was rejected. Keywords: Sustainable fiscal policy, inclusive growth, climate change mitigation, policy integration, multilateral intervention, document analysis.

Rehabilitation and mine closure policies creating a pathway to relinquishment: an Australian perspective

Mine closure practices have continued to improve over the last few decades; however, across the industry rehabilitation outcomes continue to fall short of community expectations. While examples of successful rehabilitation exist, there are still limited examples of mines closing, relinquishing, and transitioning to another land use. Barriers to relinquishment such as residual risk, land transfer liability, and limited next land use options are compounded by the lack of legislated mine relinquishment policy. Broader mine closure policy has evolved significantly over the last few decades in Australia, with recent changes in some states enhancing mandates requiring progressive rehabilitation and financial assurance mechanisms in an effort to continue to improve mine closure outcomes. Government authorities with legislative powers to report and influence rehabilitation activities in Queensland and Victoria are also considered a positive mine closure policy direction. Despite these recent legislative developments there is still no multi‐agency regulatory policy framework integrating mine closure and relinquishment in any Australian jurisdiction. This article explores how recent mine closure policy changes in Australia could be used by policy makers to enable relinquishment in the future and provides recommendations for an integrated multi‐agency relinquishment policy framework.

Collaborative efforts on energy transition in urban China: Institutional enabling and constraining conditions

Concern about carbon has led to China's energy transition and dedication to large-scale renewable energy projects. Handling energy transition problems and implementing energy policies require integrated and collaborative strategies involving an array of stakeholders. Pursuing a successful collaboration among stakeholders is indeed complicated, particularly within China's strong top-down, regulatory policy framework. This article seeks to understand how current institutional rules and routines affect local energy practices, and identifies key institutional barriers and opportunities for collaborative governance in local energy practices. This article opts for an expansion of the IAD framework. In doing so, it targets the informal patterns of interaction to conduct our institutional analysis through a case study of a decentralised photovoltaic (PV) power generation project in Guangzhou, southern China. A total of 16 semi-structured interviews together with an in-depth analysis of policy documents were conducted. This article identifies several key problems in Guangzhou related to the structure of Chinese energy governance that are also likely to occur in other Chinese cities. Notably this study discovered important power imbalances between stakeholders, and found that the grid operators hold the monopoly position in the development of the decentralised PV projects. The issue of power imbalances has triggered a chain of problems within the decentralised PV project, including financial difficulties, information opacity, and ineffective supervision. As such, these problems are major barriers to situation-specific policies that build on integrated strategies and collaborative approaches.

Does FDI Generate Employment? An Empirical Study of Indian Service Sector

<p>Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) considered as a component of investment is needed by India to accomplish the ambition behind economic reforms and speed up the growth of the economy. The inflow of FDI in India initially was low due to regulatory policy framework but there is a sharp rise in investment flows from 2005 onwards as the new policy has broadened. The purpose of this paper is to look for evidence regarding the precise relationship between FDI inflows and employment in service sector of India. The used Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model explains long run and short run relationship between FDI inflows and employment in service sector. The empirical results confirm that though negative relationship exists between FDI and employment in service sector but it is not statistically significant. According to the findings, FDI introduces skilled skewed technical changes to the host country, increasing demand for highly skilled employees. Because India’s labour force is relatively unskilled, FDI in the service sector fails to provide jobs for the country’s rising labour force. The ARDL results also confirm the existence of the long run co-integration between FDI and employment in service sector. The finding shows that the stock of the FDI is a significant factor for Indian service sector.</p>

The mopane worm (Gonimbrasia belina Westwood): a review of its biology, ecology and utilisation in Zimbabwe

The study was aimed at reviewing literature related to traditional mopane production as well as exploring the potential for diapause termination to allow for continuous year-round production. Larvae of mopane worms (Gonimbrasia belina) are highly nutritious and popular food for many people in Southern Africa. Improved and sustained supplies of mopane worms in urban and rural areas can potentially address food and nutrition security problems of the mopane worm harvesters and producers financially. This also has the added advantage of improving people’s access to high-protein food. However, harvesting ofG. belina larvae takes place during a short period (main harvesting period is from November to December and a smaller second harvest April-May). In addition, the availability ofG. belina is a function of parasitism, time of the year, and amount of rainfall, making the production not only seasonal but also erratic and unreliable. The absence of a regulatory and monitoring policy framework that protectsG. belina from over harvesting and over exploitation is also a major concern. These problems, coupled with the seasonal nature of the production hinders all year round harvesting and supply. Findings from this study reveal that the literature is outdated, scant and highlights the need for more research to be conducted on the species. Furthermore, the findings suggest that mopane worms are a significant source of protein for vulnerable population groups, capable of addressing their nutritional protein and livelihood needs. To this end, the paper highlights opportunities for further research and the optimisation of production processes.

Towards a regional approach for skills policy

ABSTRACT Focusing on the UK as a case study, this paper offers a critical discussion of current approaches for skills policy in the context of the increasing spatial imbalances that characterize advanced economies. We outline an integrated framework for regional skills policy, allowing a shift from ex-post interventions on industry-specific skills deficiencies towards a place-based perspective reflecting the dynamic evolution of skills requirements. Building on a systemic institutional approach, the proposed framework identifies synergies across skills and regional development policies connecting them through the role of shared skills in providing horizontal platforms, enhancing combinatorial opportunities across sectors for resilient structural change.

СТРАТЕГІЧНІ МЕХАНІЗМИ ПОВОЄННОЇ РОЗБУДОВИ ПРОМИСЛОВОСТІ: ГАЛУЗЕВИЙ ТА РЕГІОНАЛЬНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

The problem of maintaining the effectiveness of industrial policy is one of the most important not only in Ukraine, but also in most countries of the world. It is emphasized that the development of structural and fundamental factors should focus on the formation of promising competitive advantages based on knowledge and technologies, which will allow changing the structure of the national economy, overcoming its technological backwardness. Such branches of industry as machine building, iron ore and metallurgical industry, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, as well as a modern and powerful military-industrial complex should become strategically important for the national economy in the post-war period. It is emphasized that mechanical engineering in industrial policy needs special attention from the state, as this branch is a powerful moderator of the development of the entire economy of the country, creates a long economic chain of added value. The concept of smart specialization is relevant for implementation, which has an economic basis with a focus on regions through the identification of factors that can influence economic, scientific, and technological specialization within the framework of regional policy or within the framework of their impact on the mechanism of productivity, competitiveness, and economic growth. The problems of Donetsk and Luhansk regions – a region that needs modernization based on an innovative development model, sustainable development of territorial communities, stimulation of entrepreneurial activity, and strengthening of interregional ties – are considered. The reconstruction program should also focus on the restoration of industrial production with the mass introduction of new technologies and provide for the use of special tools for the restoration and modernization of industry, as a key area for generating the flow of income and increasing the employment of the population. Also, for a country that is rebuilding after the war, it is important to monitor and control financial flows aimed at the development of industry, in order to avoid the concentration of funds in the hands of one corporation or firm that will only care about its own profits.

Examining Nigeria’s Digital Identity Project as Tool for Economic Inclusion and Regional Integration

Access to the digitised economy has an increased penetration across the spectrum of Africa's rural and urban population. In Nigeria, which is the context of this study, there is a long unsettling debate delineating citizens residing within any locality in Nigeria as 'indigenes' or 'settlers'. This is at variance with the concept of 'transnational citizenship', which confers rights to social inclusion in any individual's nation-state. Digital identity registration becomes imperative to preserve social order and broaden the lines of inclusion for access to social services and monitoring access to the digital economy. The National Identity Number (NIN) is the digital identity for Nigerian citizens and residents, which can be leveraged for economic digitisation and regional and continental integration efforts. The research methodology employs descriptive and explanatory analysis of national, regional and continental policy frameworks applicable to Nigeria's digital identity management systems. Boundaries of inclusion, transnational citizenship and the Westphalian Treaty of nation sovereignty form the theoretical underpinning of the study. This is used to present digital identity as a vital tool for socioeconomic inclusion, regional and continental integration. The case study of the Schengen Agreement as a successful integrative digital identity system fostering economic integration in Europe forms the basis of the recommendation. This calls for the ultimate use of digital identity to enhance international operable smart border practice, which would in turn guarantee border security while encouraging the desired free movement of persons and goods within the African continent

A conceptual system dynamics model for cybersecurity assessment of connected and autonomous vehicles

Emerging Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) technology have a ubiquitous communication framework. It poses security challenges in the form of cyber-attacks, prompting rigorous cybersecurity measures. There is a lack of knowledge on the anticipated cause-effect relationships and mechanisms of CAVs cybersecurity and the possible system behaviour, especially the unintended consequences. Therefore, this study aims to develop a conceptual System Dynamics (SD) model to analyse cybersecurity in the complex, uncertain deployment of CAVs. Specifically, the SD model integrates six critical avenues and maps their respective parameters that either trigger or mitigate cyber-attacks in the operation of CAVs using a systematic theoretical approach. These six avenues are: i) CAVs communication framework, ii) secured physical access, iii) human factors, iv) CAVs penetration, v) regulatory laws and policy framework, and iv) trust—across the CAVs-industry and among the public.Based on the conceptual model, various system archetypes are analysed. “Fixes that Fail”, in which the upsurge in hacker capability is the unintended natural result of technology maturity, requires continuous efforts to combat it. The primary mitigation steps are human behaviour analysis, knowledge of motivations and characteristics of CAVs cyber-attackers, CAVs users and Original Equipment Manufacturers education. “Shifting the burden”, where policymakers counter the perceived cyber threats of hackers by updating legislation that also reduces CAVs adaptation by imitations, indicated the need for calculated regulatory and policy intervention. The “limits to success” triggered by CAVs penetration increase the defended hacks to establish regulatory laws, improve trust, and develop more human analysis. However, it may also open up caveats for cyber-crimes and alert that CAVs deployment to be alignment with the intended goals for enhancing cybersecurity. The proposed model can support decision-making and training and stimulate the roadmap towards an optimized, self-regulating, and resilient cyber-safe CAV system.

Challenges of implementing transitional justice in the Lake Chad Basin and the integration/reintegration of displaced persons

This work contributes to the few case studies that have examined the challenges of implementing transitional justice in displacement contexts by using the specific case of the displacement trend in the Conventional Basin of Lake Chad to further underscore the dynamics of the problems involved in the issue. The work finds that lack of commitment to the implementation of regional policy frameworks and also the numerous weaknesses of the demobilization, deradicalization and reintegration (DDR) programmes implemented in the region have all had specific hindrances, especially in the social and political (re)integration of displaced persons in the region. The work therefore calls for more regional efforts that take into account clearer screening methods, accountability measures, as well as the (re)integration of displaced persons in the study area into the wider systems of their various home countries.