Regional Socio-economic Context Research Articles

Empowering super-stars or rising-stars? Dynamics of the high-speed rail network planning in China

ABSTRACT The development of high-speed rail (HSR) systems as a critical component of the global 'infrastructure turn' is deeply embedded in regional socioeconomic contexts. Drawing on advances in actor-oriented network modelling and longitudinal inter-city HSR data in China during 2008-2022, this study explores how the evolution of the HSR network is dynamically and differentially underpinned by attribute-based effects of socioeconomic scale and growth rate to balance the short-term efficiency and long-term equity of nationwide development. After controlling for structure-based effects (transitive triads and balance) as well as attribute-based effects related to geographic, natural and cultural contexts, the results provide evidence that while the scale and the growth rate of economy and population both positively impact HSR link formation, the impacts of scale-related effects significantly diminish over time whereas the impacts of growth-rate-related effects exhibit a significant strengthening trend. The results further illustrate that while the scale-related and growth-rate-related effects of economy function as substitutes in driving HSR link formation, the two corresponding effects of population complement each other, providing evidence for the heterogeneous roles of economic and social contexts in underpinning HSR network planning. The findings provide implications for more effective and equitable regional socioeconomic development through strategic HSR network planning.

Outsourcing elderly care to private companies in Russia: (non)compliance and creative compliance as responses to the principal-agent problem

ABSTRACT Why do regions (non)comply or creatively comply in response to federal-driven reforms in Russia? This article studies the interplay of interests and incentives prompted by a contract between a principal and agents on the one hand, and shaped by the regional socio-economic context on the other. The analysis proved that the incapacity of the public sector to satisfy the societal demand for services in urbanised areas encouraged compliance. The creative compliance results from a need to demonstrate commitment to the reform in regions with a lack of favourable conditions. Non-compliance is adopted in ethnic republics and in relatively poor regions.

Zmiana sympatii wyborczych w regionie zachodniej Ukrainy według wyników głosowania podczas wyborów parlamentarnych w 2019 roku

The aim of the study is to compare the results of electoral sympathies of Ukrainian voters with the prevailing trends on this issue in Europe. We analyzed Western Ukraine regions (9 units in total) in relation to constituencies to identify the relationship between voting results and a wide range of variables that define the regional socio-economic, historical and socio-cultural context. The conducted research is based on the data of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, including the data of different territorial levels of coverage (polling station – constituency – administrative region). The spatial multi-vector study was based on the analysis of the following variables: support for the “Servant of the People” party, support for other parliamentary parties in the 2019 elections, distribution of votes between centre-right and liberal-centre parliamentary parties, support/opposition of the so-called “old” and “new” parliamentary parties during the 2019 voting, as well as a spatial analysis of voter turnout. In addition, methods of spatial analysis and differentiation, generalization and forecasting were used. The results of the study showed an unconventionally low voter turnout, which is not typical for the studied region, significant fluctuations in support of the unprecedented election leader (the “Servant of the People” party), orientation to young parliamentary parties as a hope for change of the inner state of the country. The region was marked by significantly higher support for centre-right parties, which is a traditional phenomenon for this territory, and generally lower support for non-standard liberal views.

One size does not fit all: Framing smart city policy narratives within regional socio-economic contexts in Brussels and Wallonia

Smart city initiatives are increasingly dominating urban policy scripts worldwide, and their diffusion is centered upon different regional strategies. Adopting the Narrative Policy Framework as methodological basis, this article examines the smart city strategies developed by the Wallonia and Brussels-capital regions during the 2014–2019 period. Moving away from corporate-led deterministic models of smart city development, it shows that there is no one-size-fit-all approach to smart urbanism. Regional governments attribute different meanings to urban innovation and formulate place-based strategies of smart city development in relation to their socio-economic contexts, seeking to advance technological solutions to what they perceive as the most pressing problems of their territories and populaces.

Diferencia regional de factores que afectan el desempeño escolar para la misma modalidad educativa

En México existen diversas modalidades de enseñanza en la educación primaria. Las investigaciones sobre eficacia escolar identifican y cuantifican diferentes factores que influyen en el desempeño académico en cada una de éstas. En este trabajo se analiza el caso del estado de Hidalgo, México. Mediante pruebas estadísticas no paramétricas, se muestra la existencia de discrepancias en el logro escolar entre las regiones de la entidad para cada modalidad educativa. Además, con base en modelos econométricos de coeficientes beta, se explican las diferencias con los factores asociados a la composición de los estudiantes, a la escuela y a la localidad. Los resultados sugieren que hay modalidades educativas más sensibles que otras en cuanto a las interacciones entre el entorno socioeconómico regional y los factores escolares que afectan el logro escolar.

Indicators of Efficiency in the Pharmaceutical Management of a Public Health System

This practical research arises from a growing interest in offering models that provide a measure of the efficiency of pharmaceutical management in the Public Health System, beyond spending per inhabitant or other similar indices that do not incorporate the effects of the environment. The main objective of the paper is to design a tool that can measure the relative efficiency of health systems, with respect to the rational use of medicament based on its regional socioeconomic context. The first step was to check if it is possible to apply the efficiency and productivity analysis models, widely used in the economy and companies. We have carefully chosen the context factors that are pertinent and influential in the final index: demographic, sanitary, economic, and social. After selecting and ordering the context variables of the different regions of Spain, they are normalized using the index number transformation or ‘distance’ to a reference. The weighted sum method is used to build the synthetic indicators. The main contribution of this paper is to propose a relative efficiency indicator that assumes the context of performance and allows a comparison between health organizations. The methodology offered in this manuscript could assist policymakers to make better decisions in order to enhance the productivity of the public pharmaceutical system, and it makes available feedback about past decisions.

Social and Territorial Cohesion in Spain: Relevance of the Socioeconomic Context

Exclusion processes are shaped through the accumulation of social disadvantages in seven life dimensions: income, employment, education, health, housing, social and family relationships and participation. This paper conducts a factor analysis to build seven partial indices that synthesise the relevant information of each of the dimensions under consideration, providing the explanatory factors underlying social exclusion risk. A multidimensional social exclusion index is constructed from the explanatory factors to account for the social and territorial inequalities existing in Spain during the crisis, 2009–2014. At the same time, an indicator of the regional socioeconomic context is built to contrast its influence over the social cohesion outcomes obtained. This work includes all Spanish territories with a regional government, that is, seventeen autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, and considers a wide set of both demographic and economic social indicators. Results show broad gaps across regions in both the social scenario and socioeconomic context conditions. Additionally, the influence of the socioeconomic context over the social wellbeing levels found in each territory is confirmed, as the analysis reveals a high correlation between the social exclusion index and the indicator.

Alternative pathways to a sustainable future lead to contrasting biodiversity responses

Land-use change is currently the main driver of biodiversity loss. Projections of land-use change are often used to estimate potential impacts on biodiversity of future pathways of human development. However, such analyses frequently neglect that species can persist in human-modified habitats. Our aim was to estimate changes in biodiversity, considering affinities for multiple habitats, for three different land-use scenarios. Two scenarios focused on more sustainable trajectories of land-use change, based on either technological improvements (Pathway A) or societal changes (Pathway B), and the third reflected the historical or business-as-usual trends (Pathway 0). Using Portugal as a case study, we produced spatially-explicit projections of land-use change based on these pathways, and then we assessed the resulting changes in bird species richness and composition projected to occur by 2050 in each of the scenarios. By 2050, alpha and gamma diversity were projected to decrease, relative to 2010, in Pathway 0 and increase in Pathways A and B. However, different pathways favored different species groups, and presented strong regional differences. In the technological improvement pathway, loss of extensive agricultural areas led to an increase in both natural and extensive forest areas. In this pathway, forest species increase at the expense of farmland species, while in the societal change pathway the reverse occurs, as extensive agricultural areas were projected to increase. We show that while multiple positive pathways (A and B) for biodiversity can be envisioned, they will lead to differential impacts on biodiversity depending on the transformational changes in place and the regional socio-economic context. Our results suggest that considering compositional aspects of biodiversity can be critical in choosing the appropriate regional land-use policies.

The Effect of HOPSCA on Residential Property Values: Exploratory Findings from Wuhan, China

Mixed-use development is theoretically considered to enhance the residential value of an area. However, limited empirical research has focused on European and North American cities. HOPSCA is a real estate project that integrates hotels, offices, parks, shopping malls, conference centers, and apartments. As an important mixed-use development project in Chinese cities, HOPSCA is designed to improve the quality of urban life and to enhance the residential value of an area. Few studies have explicitly examined the effect of HOPSCA on residential property values, let alone linked this question to particular types of HOPSCA. To bridge this research gap, we selected Wuhan City in China as a case study to explore the effects of HOPSCA on residential property values. Specifically, we used the potential model to quantify the effects of HOPSCA and used the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method to estimate the relationship between HOPSCA variables and residential property values. The results are as follows: (1) the effects of HOPSCA on residential property values are statistically significant with positive and negative effects. The balanced-development HOPSCA generated the greatest effects, with the highest premium of 10.76% placed on residential properties. Moderate price premiums of 3.57% and 1.83% were generated under the influence of the commerce-oriented HOPSCA and housing-oriented HOPSCA, respectively. By contrast, the business-oriented HOPSCA exerted a negative effect on residential property (−2.43%). (2) Significant spatial heterogeneity exists on the effect of HOPSCA on residential property values. The results showed that the influence of different types of HOPSCA, viz. the higher the compatibility between the HOPSCA type and the socioeconomic context of Wuhan, the higher the premium captured by residential properties within the city areas. HOPSCA benefits the improvement of the quality of urban life, which promotes urban development. For policy makers and real estate developers, our findings suggest that matching the development types and the spatial layouts of HOPSCA with the regional socioeconomic contexts is critical for enhancing the value performance of such projects.

La armonía celestial vista “desde abajo”: economía, sociedad y barroco en Minas Gerais colonial

In colonial Minas Gerais the Crown claimed control of precious minerals and had great distrust of the autonomy of some branches of the Church in the competition for revenues. However, in spite of the absence of the regular Orders, wonderful Baroque churches were built (even with ceiling paintings in illusionist perspective), erected and decorated at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, in a context of declining mining industry, tax rise and political, fiscal and administrative crisis. To build these churches, many investments made by lay people must have been necessary (a topic that we can not address): tertiaries and brotherhoods of different ethnic groups. These churches served as a stage for the manifestations of Baroque religiosity and support for a series of iconographic programs that, we believe, would be related to that period of time. Inside the churches we see a shift from the Baroque to the Rococo with a complete display of techniques, resources, models, capital invested in the machinery of representation and reproduction of belief. How do we explain the golden age of religious Baroque in Minas Gerais at the same time of the decay of gold production? And fundamentally: What does the presence of these churches and certain images painted on their roofs mean at a sociocultural level? We refer to two historiographical frameworks: the studies of the regional socioeconomic context and the historiography of the Baroque in Minas Gerais, seeking to articulate the main contributions separated by two theoretically different views. After restoring both contexts in an intersection, we will try to understand the functions of the images of the perspective painting of the roofs of the churches in Minas Gerais, analyzing the case of Sao Francisco dos Penitentes, in Ouro Preto, from the point of view of the cultural history of images, thinking about that source and its possible functions in the coordinates of the sociocultural context in the post-rebellion transition in Minas Gerais. Keywords: ceilings, heaven, churches, Minas Gerais, cultural history.

Attainment and enactment of leadership among women in the United Arab Emirates: proposing relevant theoretical foundations

Scholarly research on women and leadership within the Arab Middle East (AME) region is still in its infancy, despite significant developments in the regional socio-economic context. This conceptual paper presents a review of the Western and Arab Middle East literature, focusing on key aspects such as gender role expectations, gender stereotypes, and leadership evaluation prejudice as they relate to women and leadership. We also highlight the influence of contextual variables identified in the AME literature, such as traditional and contemporary socio-cultural norms. While this literature provides rich information on the issues of women's leadership in the region, it falls behind the Western literature in terms of established theoretical foundations. We suggest that the context-based application of relevant theoretical perspectives to research on women's leadership in the AME region, can generate potential adaptations of existing theory, or highlight the influences of new variables.

Attainment and enactment of leadership among women in the United Arab Emirates: proposing relevant theoretical foundations

Scholarly research on women and leadership within the Arab Middle East (AME) region is still in its infancy, despite significant developments in the regional socio-economic context. This conceptual paper presents a review of the Western and Arab Middle East literature, focusing on key aspects such as gender role expectations, gender stereotypes, and leadership evaluation prejudice as they relate to women and leadership. We also highlight the influence of contextual variables identified in the AME literature, such as traditional and contemporary socio-cultural norms. While this literature provides rich information on the issues of women's leadership in the region, it falls behind the Western literature in terms of established theoretical foundations. We suggest that the context-based application of relevant theoretical perspectives to research on women's leadership in the AME region, can generate potential adaptations of existing theory, or highlight the influences of new variables.

Institutional (Dis)integration and Regional Development Implications of Whisky Tourism in Speyside, Scotland

Actively positioning tourism in regional socio-economic contexts and development plans is regularly seen by researchers as a prerequisite to practically unfold tourism-related regional development potential. However, conceptual elaboration and additional empirical evidence are still needed to gain a more critical understanding of this notion. Therefore, the objective of this research is to explore tourism-related delivery mechanisms for regional development by focusing on the role of tourism in larger region-building processes. Using an in-depth interview-based case study on the supply and policy of whisky tourism in Speyside (Scotland), we found that the mode of commodification and institutionalisation of whisky tourism in Speyside provides an unstable basis for reaching destination-wide regional development aims. Despite high-profile regional branding, the regional institutionalisation provides barriers for local stakeholders to integrate in destination management processes. Networking vehicles with multi-scalar actions are necessary to foster empowerment of local stakeholders and to facilitate regional integration of stakeholder interests. We conclude that an integrative position of tourism in the region-building process of destinations, facilitated by the mode of multi-scalar commodification and institutionalisation of territorial resources in the destination, is central for reaching tourism-induced regional development aims.

Efficiency and heterogeneity of public spending in education among Italian regions

The Italian educational system is strictly regulated by the Ministry of Education. However, there are strong differences in educational inputs and outputs among regions, as can be noticed by analysing the allocation of public budgets to the regions and their students' (average) performance in national and international test scores. A general institutional change is ongoing in Italy, that is, the decentralisation of competencies from the State to the regions (federalism). Some insights are necessary about the efficiency of public spending on education in a comparative perspective across regions. To estimate efficiency scores, a nonparametric technique called data envelopment analysis was used. The unit of analysis comprises the 18 Italian regions, with the focus on the lower secondary education. Then, a second‐stage Tobit regression was used to detect the factors affecting efficiency. The results corroborate the difference between the North and South of Italy (the regions in the North outperform their counterparts in the South). When looking at the regional socioeconomic context, gross domestic product per capita appears as the key determinant of efficiency. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Changing patterns in the association between regional socio-economic context and dental caries experience according to gender and age: A multilevel study in Korean adults

BackgroundLittle is known about the effects of socio-environmental factors on dental caries in different demographic situations in Asian populations. We investigated whether the nature of the association between regional socio-economic context and dental caries experience differed according to gender and age groups in Korean adults.MethodsWe obtained a linked data set containing individual information from the 2000 Korean National Oral Health Survey and regional information from the “Major statistical indices of Si-Gun-Gu” (city-county-ward), published by the Korean Statistical Office. We stratified participants into women and men and into four 10-year-interval age groups (19–34, 35–44, 45–54, and 55–64 years) and analysed the linked data using a multilevel analysis. In total, 5,259 individuals were included in the final study population.ResultsRegional socio-economic context was significantly associated with dental caries experience in men, but not in women. The patterns of the association between regional contextual variables and dental caries experience differed among age groups. People 35–44 years of age living in areas less dependent on the manufacturing industry and those 45–54 years of age living in areas where local government was relatively poor were more prone to have caries experience.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicated that socio-economic factors affecting residents’ dental health status may operate through different mechanisms or degrees according to geographic location, suggesting that some gender- and age-defined subgroups may be likely to benefit from different types of intervention, including the development of specific health policies.

Efficiency and Heterogeneity of Public Spending in Education Among Italian Regions

The Italian educational system is strictly regulated by the Ministry of Education. However, there are strong differences in educational inputs and outputs among Regions, as can be noticed by analyzing the allocation of public budgets to the Regions and their students' (average) performance in national and international test scores. A general institutional change is ongoing in Italy, that is, the decentralization of competencies from the State to the Regions (federalism). Some insights are necessary about the efficiency of public spending on education in a comparative perspective across Regions. To estimate efficiency scores, a non-parametric technique called DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) was used. The unit of analysis are the 18 Italian Regions, with the focus on the lower- secondary education. Then a second-stage Tobit regression was used to detect the factors affecting efficiency. The results corroborate the difference between the North and South of Italy (the Regions in the North outperform their counterparts in the South). When looking at the Regional socio-economic context, GDP per capita appears as the key determinant of efficiency.

Does regional socioeconomic context affect the dental caries experience? A multilevel study of Korean adults

Recent thinking about the role of regional socioeconomic context in generating health inequalities has argued for the collection of true 'area' data that accurately reflect the characteristics of a region. We investigated whether a range of attributes of regional environments, constructed from factor analysis of various regional socioeconomic indices, is associated with the dental caries experience of adults, and whether the nature of this association changes according to age. A linked data set comprising information on 6,402 individuals from the Korean National Oral Health Survey of 2000 and regional information from 118 districts where our study population lived, were examined using multilevel analysis. The regional contextual variables, 'density of service and medical facilities' and 'dependence on manufacturing industry', were negatively associated with dental caries experience after controlling for individual characteristics, and these associations differed by age groups, especially in the older age group. Our findings suggest that hypotheses about specific chains of causation which might link service affluence or industrialization with dental caries need to be investigated further using more detailed indices.

From Airfield to Airport: An Institutionalist-Historical Approach to the Early Development of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, 1916-1940

In this article, the development of Dutch airports during the antebellum period from military airfields to mixed-airfields and finally to a municipal airports is examined from an institutionalist-historical approach. Specific attention is given to the evolution of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol within a regional socioeconomic context and within a national context of local competition, particularly between the big cities in Randstad Holland. This article argues that the rise and development of Schiphol and its impact on the surrounding urban area (city and the region) can be characterized as a coevolutionary process involving different actors within various domains— economic, political, and institutional—and at different spatial levels. Airport development, therefore, has to be conceived as the result of a collective arrangement that has determined the spatial and economic development of the airport itself and the surrounding area.

Keoladeo National Park: highlighting surface water tensions

Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, India is a world-class bird sanctuary and world heritage site experiencing serious ecological stress due to drought and upstream dam construction. In response to this reoccurring scarcity of water, Indian authorities have announced a new 17 km pipeline to divert water to the wetland. Both the dam-induced water shortage and proposed pipeline solution raise the question of how surface waters are allocated. Based on interviews conducted during May 2010, I compare the socially efficient outcome to the one agreed upon by lawmakers, highlighting the unique regional tensions and socioeconomic context of allocating water in a water-scarce developing nation.

‘Vrijers die van verre komen, zijn te schromen’ - Geografische homogamie van huwelijkspartners, 1812-1922

Geographical homogamy of spouses married in the Netherlands in the period 1812-1922 .People tend to choose a partner originating from their own region. However, in the course of time the geographical horizon widened. The mean geographical distance between the regions of origin of spouses in the Netherlands strongly increased during the nineteenth and twentieth century, particularly from the 1880s onwards. Also regional differences can be observed. This study aims at explaining the characteristics of the spatio-temporal changes in the geographical distance between the places of birth of spouses in the Netherlands in the period 1812-1922. By using spatio-temporal regression models both the effects of individual characteristics (like age and social class) and the regional socio-economic context can be explored.