Based on cases and interviews in Britain, Europe and the United States, this book explains the recurrence of regional planning and of initiatives in regional governance, in a wide range of advanced industrial countries. Providing an analysis of the nature of regional planning and governance, the book traces the development of regional planning and the institutions associated with it. It also looks at the way that regions have been changing their form under pressure from economic and political developments and examines how regional planning and governance has responded, comparing experience in the UK, the rest of Europe and the US. In concluding that regionalism is an imperative feature of politics in most countries, associated with almost any of the variety of forms of governance, the author offers a major appraisal of the significance of regional planning in an intemational context
Argues that the economy can only be improved through major changes that will make it more decentralized and cooperative, including such novel ideas as energy self-sufficiency, interest-free financing, affordable housing, local food systems and more. Original.
After a half century of transformative economic progress that moved hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, countries in developing East Asia are facing an array of challenges to their future development. Slowed productivity growth, increased fragility of the global trading system, and rapid changes in technology are all threatening export-oriented, labor-intensive manufacturing—the region’s engine of growth. Significant global challenges—such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic—are exacerbating economic vulnerability. These developments raise questions about whether the region’s past model of development can continue to deliver rapid growth and poverty reduction. Against this background, The Innovation Imperative in Developing East Asia aims to deepen understanding of the role of innovation in future development. The report examines the state of innovation in the region and analyzes the main constraints that firms and countries face to innovating. It assesses current policies and institutions, and lays out an agenda for action to spur more innovation-led growth. A key finding of the report is that countries’ current innovation policies are not aligned with their capabilities and needs. Policies need to strengthen the capacity of firms to innovate and support technological diffusion rather than just invention. Policy makers also need to eliminate policy biases against innovation in services, a sector that is growing in economic importance. Moreover, countries need to strengthen key complementary factors for innovation, including firms’ managerial quality, workers’ skills, and finance for innovation. Countries in developing East Asia would also do well to deepen their tradition of international openness, which could foster openness in other parts of the world. Doing so would help sustain the flows of ideas, trade, investment, and people that facilitate the creation and diffusion of knowledge for innovation.
This book is a comparative-historical study of the politics of equitable development in Southeast Asia and the role of political institutions in addressing structural inequalities.
