Territorial Economic Growth Research Articles

Towards building a successful CCS hub in Darwin

The Northern Territory Government is working with industry, the Australian Government and CSIRO to accelerate development of the Middle Arm of Darwin Harbour into a globally competitive, sustainable industrial development precinct for low-emission hydrocarbons, hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and minerals processing. This project will significantly reduce Northern Territory emissions and catalyse growth of new industries driving low-emissions energy transition and providing a sustainable future Northern Territory economic growth. The Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct masterplan provides for a range of development scenarios that incorporate integrated large-scale renewable energy and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) infrastructure. Master planning of this greenfields site provides significant benefits including optimising the use of existing and shared infrastructure, resulting in reduced impacts and maximised economic benefits. This provides Industry with greater certainty, reduces the burden of pre-approvals and creates an investment-ready industrial precinct with ready access to key marine, road and rail transport facilities, utilities and other shared services. This provides an advantage over existing precincts around the globe, which may need to be retrofitted at greater cost and impact. When combined with decarbonisation of the existing gas industry at Middle Arm, there is unique opportunity to develop new low-emissions industries within the Northern Territory and supply low-emission energy and products to the Southeast Asian markets. This paper provides an overview of the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct, its integration with the existing Northern Territory gas industry, the minerals industry and renewable energy, and CCS projects.

Spatial Economic Impacts of the TEN-T Network Extension in the Adriatic and Ionian Region

Investments in transportation infrastructure have been identified as one of the main factors to promote territorial economic growth. However, appraisal methods currently used in the planning practice do not consider spatial economic distributional effects, ignoring who within a given region would receive greater economic benefits from an investment than others (and eventually who might receive worse). In this paper, a modelling framework is proposed to assess the spatial economic impacts of transportation infrastructure investments; the method combines spatial regressions with transportation accessibility analysis, assuming Gross Domestic Product per Capita variation as a proxy of the economic growth. The application to the case study is related to the Adriatic and Ionian region, which includes both some EU (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Greece) and non-EU countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo) and is characterized by huge disparities in terms of infrastructural assets. The models allow us to both statistically prove the importance of spatial modelling specifications and to forecast economic impacts that would be generated by ongoing infrastructure investment plans for the reconstruction of the road and railway networks in the region; this highlighted where current economic disparities tend to be bridged up, i.e., mainly along the foreseen extensions of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) corridors, and where not.

Evaluation of self-sufficiency of territorial communities as the basis for ensuring their sustainable development

Purpose. The article aims to evaluate the level of financial self-sufficiency of territorial communities in terms of ensuring their sustainable development.
 Methodology / approach. An approach that involves the consequent implementation of compositional, empirical, and taxonomic stages based on the calculation of empirical parameters (based on the structural-spatial approach using the linear weighting) of structural levels (revenue and expenditure components) of financial self-sufficiency for the city, town, and village communities was developed to achieve the set objective. The general level of financial self-sufficiency is calculated based on the integral approach. The communities are ranged by the criterion of the efficiency maximization in the management of financial resources to achieve economic development. 
 Results. The results of the evaluation for 73 communities showed that city territorial communities in Lvivska oblast had high (Lvivska) and moderate (Stryiska, Pustomytivska, Horodotska, Sudovovyshnyanska, Chervonohradska, Sambirska, and Kamyanko-Buzka) levels of financial self-sufficiency in 2021, so they were able to secure sustainable economic growth. The article reveals that 75 % of town communities had low levels of financial self-sufficiency (from 0.218 to 0.372), which is the consequence of weak fiscal capacity and, thus, low financial independence and high budget subsidiarity. Sokilnytska (0.788) and Solonkivska (0.637) village communities showed positively high results and 33 % had a moderate level of revenue component of financial self-sufficiency (from 0.414 to 0.553). The situation is triggered by their close location to the oblast center and sufficient fiscal independence. The ranking of communities by the criterion of the efficiency maximization in the management of financial resources revealed four groups. The group with a moderate level (45 communities) is the largest. 
 Originality / scientific novelty. The article develops a scientific and practical approach to the evaluation of self-sufficiency of territorial communities. Unlike others, it provides the combined (integral) evaluation of the significance of the components of territorial communities’ financial self-sufficiency and allows the detection of the complementary impact of financial self-sufficiency on ensuring sustainable economic development of the territory.
 Practical value / implications. The article offers a set of tools to evaluate financial self-sufficiency of territorial communities. Their application by local governments will serve as the informational-analytical basis for the elaboration of measures to strengthen the capacity and self-sufficiency of territorial communities with modernizing the existing strategies or developing the territorial economic growth (or recovery) programs. The application of the methodological approach makes it possible to identify budget planning deficiencies timely and improve the efficiency of the use of financial resources of local self-government bodies.

PRODUCTIVE FORCES: STRATEGIC FACTOR OF INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIES

The article is devoted to the consideration of the actual problem of the modern Russian economy: ensuring the effective competitive development of the country's territories. It is well known that the economic growth of the national economy and its territories expresses the changes that take place in the system of productive forces. The specificity of modern economic growth is determined by the processes of development and implementation of innovations. One of the main problems of backward countries and territories is determined by the impossibility of using modern technologies due to backward productive forces. It is noted that the problem of the relationship between changes in the productive forces and territorial development has long been of interest to scientists. The first attempts to explain the factors of territorial development date back to the first half of the 19th century. Currently, the theory of "new economic geography" is very popular. Its author is Nobel Prize winner in Economics P. Krugman, who combines traditional theories of production location, spatial factors of national and territorial economic growth with issues of international trade and agglomeration processes. Unfortunately, for many reasons, the economy of modern Russia is not able to be competitive in relation to the leading countries in the use of innovations. The situation is aggravated by economic sanctions from many countries. Under these conditions, there is a great temptation to increase the influence of the state on the development of territories. However, we believe that the solution to the problems associated with ensuring the economic growth of territories based on the effective distribution of productive forces is determined by the need to mitigate and eliminate a huge number of regulatory functions of the state.

Exploring Regional Industrial Growth: Does Specialization Explain It?

Being a form of territorial division of labor, economic specialization should be considered as a strategic management priority, contributing to a competitive territorial production structure and, consequently, regional economic growth. The article is devoted, firstly, to the development of a method for assessing the level of territorial division of labor based on a new coefficient of regional economic specialization; and secondly, to the investigation of regional specialization effects on economic growth. The purpose of the to substantiate the influence of the territory specialization factor on industrial economic growth, along with other conventional factors of regional development, using econometric methods based on an extended exogenous growth model. Premised on the data from Russian manufacturing industries and using a new coefficient of regional specialization, the authors have developed and verified an original approach to substantiate the effectiveness of regional clustering for ensuring the growth of industrial output based on an extended exogenous growth model. Approbation of the proposed assessment method and verification of research hypothesis formulated by the authors have been carried out using regional statistical data of the Russian Federation for the period from 2005 to 2019. The empirical analysis results have contributed to a place-based theoretical approach, involving both the cluster concept and the concept of “smart specialization”. The practical significance of the research is to validate clustering feasibility as a form of territorial division of labor and provide a number of principles for the regional industrial policy based thereon to accelerate territorial economic growth.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): The Engine of Economic Growth through Investments and Innovation

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are crucial for local economic development, playing a noteworthy role in job creation, poverty alleviation and economic growth, but they encounter many funding barriers. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the impact of investments and innovation on territorial economic growth, as measured by turnover, for Romanian active enterprises, especially SMEs, over the period 2009–2017. By estimating several log–log linear regressions, the quantitative outcomes provide support for a positive influence of investments on turnover. The association was confirmed both for all active enterprises at the national level, as well as for micro, small, middle-sized and big companies. As regards expenditures on innovation, a positive impact on turnover was acknowledged for all enterprises and particularly for big companies, but there was an absence of any statistically significant relation in the case of SMEs. The impact of firm size on turnover was positive for all active enterprises at the national level, along with active micro-units. Also, the estimation results show a positive impact of the number of active micro-units on territorial economic growth. The empirical findings are relevant to managers and policymakers in order to stimulate, encourage and offer support to SMEs’ development through their strategies.

THE EVALUATION OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE UTC IN CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION

Introduction. Modern challenges of European integration processes require deep reforms towards solving problems of national and territorial economic growth. Decentralization is one aspect of raising the level of financial security and stability of territorial communities, taking into account their particular factors. Purpose. The main objective of the study is to analyze the effectiveness of the process of decentralization with the use of factual data to confirm the relevance of the reform at the state level and assess its impact on the financial flows of the budgets of the united territorial communities in Ukraine and Ternopil region, in particular. Results. The main tendencies of the process of decentralization of power are considered. The main indicators on the basis of the actual data, which determine the real state of formation of the united territorial communities, in particular, Ternopil region for 2015-2018 years, are investigated. The analysis of indicators of budget execution in the context of the united territorial communities of the Chortkiv district is carried out. The prospects of creating territorial communities with the consideration of positive and negative factors for disclosing strengths and weaknesses in order to identify opportunities and threats to their development and regional level with the help of PESTLE and SWOT analysis are determined. The ways of improving regional policy are proposed to ensure the completion of the decentralization process. Conclusions. In general, the analysis allows us to state that the overall picture of the united territorial community activity in Ukraine is positive. However, in the process of creating a united territorial community, clear criteria (population size, maximum allowable expenditure volumes) need to be taken into account for their effective functioning in the long run. Based on the results of the study, a number of major problems were encountered before the newly formed united territorial communities, and ways to resolve them were suggested. Their further elaboration will form the main directions and prospects for future research. It is appropriate to conduct PESTLE and SWOT analysis prior to the creation of united territorial communities, which will make it possible to identify the negative sides and the opportunity to outline the positive prospects of community activity.

Research on the Impact of Industrial Agglomeration and Structural Upgrade on County Economic Growth under the New Normal Condition—Based on the Empirical Study of 101 Counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces

In this paper, the method of generalized moments of data and systems for 101 counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces is used to analyze the impact of industrial agglomeration and industrial structure upgrading on county economic growth. The real diagnosis result indicated that, the industry gathers with the industrial structure promotes has the forward function to the county territory economic growth rate, in the sample time that had not discovered the industry gathers to the economic growth existence non-linearity influence. On the other hand, the industrial structure promotes to the county territory economy long-term growth power is stronger, later period should break through the present stage in the manufacturing industry mature county territory through the industrial structure promotion strategy the industry to glide down.

Significati di una infrastruttura territoriale: gli aeroporti

The paper want to explore the major meanings of an airport. It is a territorial infrastructure that increases the spatial accessibility and the economic potential of a territory; in this sense, it is also a port to boost tourism and cultural exchanges. It is also an infrastructure bringing with it investment in other areas of mobility. Since the sixties, finally, it has also become an architectural icon and a symbol of urban level. Objective limitations remain; in particular for the position, outside the city, and for the service, that can be ordered and tidy. The airports have an important role for the move of people. As the international transport statistics the number of passengers in the main airports is growing, also if has suffered the blows of the international economic crisis. The expansion of air passenger traffic is related with the tendency to the specialization of travels, according to the range of movement of persons. The actual changing economic world coincides with a process of continuous growth of passenger flows, partly independent from that of economic growth; the combination of these two processes has multiplied the number of connections and has produced new phenomena. The transport system isn’t a neutral system, also if it is sectorial; it, rather, is linked very strongly with the territorial system in which it operates and with the location choices of firms and individuals. This reflection has value for all the transport’s infrastructures, although with different degrees. In this ranking the airports are located in a great importance position, as they can be a strategic asset in the territorial economic growth processes, contributing directly or indirectly to the development of local enterprises. An airport operates whether as a supplier of infrastructure or as a business reality in itself, operating in a highly competitive market with an high speed of change. Airports are an architectural and urban typology typically lacking of physical and spatial integration with their urban context; for this the airports have evolved into semi-autonomous spaces. For their dimensional characteristics and for the incidence of pollutants factors, must be placed outside the city, often at significant distances from the same: their fundamental role in the urban structure is expressed, therefore, in external spaces from the city. As defined above, the airport is an urban infrastructure. But it is other things also: it is an ordered place, because its management requires defined actions and sequences of activities that are the true opposite of the urban disorder. Both the structures are complexes but the airport is a side where the hierarchical roles are well defined, more than in other sides, and it is the side where the authority is recognized and well accepted. The building of new airports, or the modernization of existing structures are a sign of the sectors’ vitality and of the necessity to offer better services to an expanding custom. But the airports have created a lot of imagines around their presence and use. mplessi, ma il primo e uno spazio in cui i ruoli gerarchici sono ben definiti e dove e l'autorita e riconosciuta e ben accettata. La costruzione di nuovi aeroporti, o l'ammodernamento delle strutture esistenti, e un segno della vitalita del settore e della necessita di offrire migliori servizi ad una utenza in espansione.

THE ANALYSIS ON THE POLICY OF ACCESS TO ECONOMICALLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN CHINA: AN AREA CALCULATION MODEL BASED ON THE INCENTIVE MECHANISM DESIGN / GALIMYBIŲ GAUTI ĮPERKAMĄ BŪSTĄ KINIJOJE POLITIKOS ANALIZĖ: PLOTO SKAIČIAVIMO MODELIS, PAGRĮSTAS SKATINAMO

Currently, the subject of housing in China is of great interest to many researchers, since improvements in living conditions for the largest population in the world have not kept pace with the territory's economic growth. This paper describes basic social housing situations in China, and assesses the inequality in housing reform since 1990s as a result of overall economic improvement. In order to reduce the degree of inequality in China's social housing, this paper is focusing on the policy management of access to economically affordable housing because housing affordability in China is a pressing social and economic issue, particularly for low-income families due to an unreasonable mechanism. The related policies are analyzed in is paper by using incentive mechanism design, which reveals that supervision and announcement system, the restriction in current mechanism, and the area of economically affordable house are critical for the effectiveness of present polices. Furthermore, a housing area calculation model based on the incentive mechanism design is presented and an illustrated case of Beijing City is also conducted, which can maximize the utility of government considering incentive compatibility. Finally, some policy suggestions are explored including enhancing external environment and establishing internal mechanism. Santrauka Būsto tema Kinijoje šiuo metu itin domina daug mokslininkų, nes šalyje, kuri turi daugiausia gyventojų pasaulyje, gyvenimo sąlygų gerėjimas atsiliko nuo šalies ekonominio augimo. Šiame darbe nusakoma bazinio socialinio būsto padėtis Kinijoje ir vertinamas XX a. 10-ajame dešimtmetyje dėl bendros ūkio padėties gerėjimo prasidėjusios būsto reformos netolygumas. Siekiant mažinti Kinijos socialinio būsto skirtumų lygį, šiame darbe daugiausia dėmesio skiriama politinėms priemonėms, kurias pasitelkus valdoma prieiga prie įperkamo būsto, nes dėl neracionalaus mechanizmo būsto įperkamumas Kinijoje yra neatidėliotina socialinė ir ekonominė problema, o ypač mažas pajamas gaunančioms šeimoms. Atitinkamos politikos kryptys šiame darbe nagrinėjamos pasitelkus skatinamojo mechanizmo projektavimą, kuris rodo, kad priežiūros ir praneši-mų sistema, dabartinio mechanizmo suvaržymas ir įperkamo būsto plotas turi lemiamą reikšmę dabartinių politikos krypčių veiksmingumui. Be to, pateikiamas skatinamojo mechanizmo projektavimu pagristas būsto ploto skaičiavimo modelis ir atliekamas Pekino atvejo tyrimas, kuris, atsižvelgiant į skatinamųjų priemonių suderinamumą, gali maksimaliai padidinti vyriausybės naudingumą. Pabaigoje nagrinėjami keli politiniai siūlymai, įskaitant išorinės aplinkos gerinimą ir vidinio mechanizmo sukūrimą.

Functional and productive dependence: new characteristics for the analysis of enterprises from a macroeconomic view

This article introduce two new characteristics of firms, which are important, from a macroeconomic view, to evaluate the roll of entrepreneurial tissue in the territorial economic growth: functional dependence and productive dependence. An empirical analysis has been formulated in order to contrast the importance of these entrepreneurial characteristics, and try to show its relation with territorial economic growth.

Entrepreneurial Structure Qualitative Analysis: The Case of Seville (Spain)

In the field of territorial economic growth, it is possible to identify important characteristics in the entrepreneurial structure, such as the structure of the size of firms, main activity sectors, or the degree of innovation. However, other lesser known characteristics are important also, such as functional dependency, which considers the relationship between small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and suppliers and clients belonging to any territorial field or productive dependency, which considers the level of concentration in terms of buying and selling in connection with the main suppliers and clients, respectively. In order to empirically contrast the importance of these entrepreneurial characteristics and try to relate them with territorial economic growth, a sample of 400 enterprises in the province of Seville (Spain) is used.

Privatization, housing conditions and affordability in the People's Republic of China

Currently, the subject of housing in China is of interest to many researchers, since improvements in living conditions have not kept pace with the territory's economic growth. This paper describes basic housing situations in urban China, and assesses these conditions against the likely benefits its people may enjoy as a result of overall economic improvement over time. Housing affordability in China is a pressing social and economic issue, particularly for populations that are marginal to the housing market. This is due to affordability constraints as a result of the limited participation in key economic activities that restrict the marginalized groups from accessing the housing market. The persistent affordability crisis is discussed in this paper, which focuses especially on the accessibility restriction of potential homeowners to the private housing market. Furthermore, the paper explores the reasons behind homeownership constraints, and reviews government policies to seek alternative solutions to China's housing problems.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND AFFORDABILITY IN HONG KONG

Housing in Hong Kong is of interest as an example of how improvements in living conditions have not kept pace with the territory's economic growth. This paper describes basic housing conditions in Hong Kong, and assesses them against the background of progress over time and within the context of housing conditions in other countries. Housing affordability is a growing problem, particularly for population groups that are marginal to the housing market. We discuss the emerging affordability crisis, especially for homeowners in the private sector, analyze the reasons behind it and review government policies to overcome the housing problems.