Bulgaria has made solid progress in its territorial governance and socio-economic development. Yet, it has not been able to counteract large and increasing territorial disparities. Doing so will require addressing remaining structural challenges that may be limiting further transformation, government performance and regional resilience.
"Balanced regional development has always been an essential component of the Indian development strategy in order to ensure the unity and integrity of the nation. Balanced regional development has been an integral part of economic planning in India since the launching of the First Five Year Plan in 1951. Part I of this work provides an introduction to policies, programmes, and current issues pertaining to balanced development of various parts of the Indian economy. Part II of the book reproduces edited extracts on the subject from IndiaÃs Five Year Plans. Part III contains latest data on regional imbalances in India. "
Balanced regional development aims at economic development of a region along with creation of gainful employment. As economic development takes place, a shift in structure of the economy and employment is experienced resulting into restructuring of employment generation capacities of the economic sectors. However, it is observed that although the sectoral approach of planning does assist in the development of the particular sectors, it does not necessarily lead to the balanced regional development. Therefore this book pertains to the assessment of the influence of various sectors of the economy for balanced development of a region in India. The authors have made efforts to develop appropriate policy interventions for balanced regional development through analysis of employment generation capacity of various sectors of economy vis a vis the demand for employment in the region. System concept and system dynamics modeling was followed for the development of simulated scenarios for policy analyses. The authors believed that the integrated sectoral planning approach of development presented here through application of systems concept could bring about balanced regional development.
This book explains the relationships between equality and efficiency, as well as between government and market, in urban-rural and regional development by providing theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence. Urban-rural development in China is understood from a regional perspective, while the core issue of urban-rural and regional development is cross-regional resource reallocation driven by the trends of globalization, marketization and urbanization and their influence on growth and inequality. The book puts forward the following arguments: An urban-rural and regional balance should not be achieved by limiting agglomeration effects in eastern regions. For some time now, China has lacked a suitable mechanism to enable residents in underdeveloped and rural areas to share in the achievements of economic agglomeration. As a result, China should not slow down economic agglomeration and development in eastern regions simply by depending on administrative means to balance urban-rural and regional development. In the final analysis, arriving at a regional balance depends on growth in the eastern regions, provided a reasonable mechanism is implemented to enable inland areas to share in the development achievements of eastern regions. In turn, finding an urban-regional balance rests on urban development, as long as more rural workers can move to and prosper in cities.
This book develops a theory that radically reconceptualizes the economic forces producing regional change and tests it empirically for a set of fifteen sectors in the U.S. It offers a pioneering approach which should enable planners and managers to better cope with baffling changes in the current economic viability of regions. The dramatic shifts in heartland regional economies in the U.S. and other advanced industrial countries have thrown into question the ability of capitalist development to produce permanent growth, economic well being, and balanced regional development. This book develops a theory that radically reconceptualizes the economic forces producing regional change and tests it empirically for a set of fifteen sectors in the U.S. It offers a pioneering approach which should enable planners and managers to better cope with baffling changes in the current economic viability of regions. Traditional theories of regional development have failed to account for innovation and longrun structural change. They have ignored the role of corporate strategy and the existence of market power. Markusen's profit-cycle theory provides a key to understanding how, why, and when a region's leading industries undergo major changes. The theory is synthetic, building upon Schumpeterian and Marxist work on innovation and capitalist dynamics, upon the product cycle theories of business economists, and upon theories of oligopolistic behavior. Markusen argues that changing sources of profitability along an industry's evolutionary path will first concentrate and later disperse production geographically, setting in motion a methodically destabilizing process for regional economies. The profit-cycle theory is tested in depth against the steel sector's experience over a century, and against the experiences of sectors in different stages of development, ranging from innovative ones like semiconductors and computers, to mature and troubled sectors like automobiles, textiles, and lumber. The temporal and crosssectional data drawn from the census of manufactures support the theory and its spatial hypotheses. In a final chapter Markusen explores the implications of the research for regional development.
This book emphasizes the need for experimenting with more deliberate and rigorous policy processes to attain balanced regional development, which can promote both equity and efficiency in India’s development discourse. The institutional mechanisms for dealing with regional imbalance in India have not been very successful so far. With rising discrepancies in development, demand for autonomy continues along with a new dimension of regionalism arising from submerged identity along with political and economic aspirations, which demanded new channels for solution. So far, attempts to create space for autonomy have possibly not optimally accommodated the conceptual mechanisms like equity and democratic process. Thus democratizing policy process using six pillars of voice: knowledge, objective, fundamental values, implementation framework and public awareness can ensure a better policy outcome for dealing with the persistent challenges of regional disparity in India. This book further focuses on the need for democratizing the policy process for regional development through discussion and inclusion. Such a transition needs innovation in policy regime, which can be attained through following six pillars (i) Democratic voice of stakeholders in policy development and implementation; (ii) Clear policy objectives that advance the common good, based on voice; (iii) Unbiased, sound and comprehensive knowledge and data bases. (iv) Consistency with constitutional values; (v) A sound implementation framework ensuring user-friendliness, transparency and rationality of decision-making processes, effective grievance redress, clear accountability and independent evaluation; (vi) Public awareness and support of policies with relevant and public participation in implementation.
