J.G. Lambooy

Knowledge and Urban Economic Development: An Evolutionary Perspective

Knowledge is considered as a main source of economic growth for nations and regions. It is the basis for technological development and for increasing the productivity of capital and labour. This paper explores the question whether urban regions offer effective contexts for the development of knowledge. Actors and selection environments have an interactive relation in which actors learn in a cumulative way. In this paper, the primary focus is on entrepreneurs as actors in an evolutionary process where three kinds of competency enable them to compete successfully: cognitive, innovative and organisational competencies. These are influenced by three kinds of selection environment: institutions, markets and the spatial structure. Not only entrepreneurs, but also governments and scientific organisations can influence the regional innovation system. Although there is a certain path-dependency, in economic development, regional economic growth cannot be completely determined by policy, because it rests on a continuous learning process and on the strategic behaviour of actors. Regional policy, however, can nurture this process, using the opportunities of specialisation.

Innovation and knowledge: Theory and regional policy

Abstract Innovation, as a concept, was introduced by Schumpeter to denote the introduction of five kinds of possible new approaches by entrepreneurs. The concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation have long been disregarded in static mainstream economics. Due to the acceptance of complexity and uncertainty, Schumpeters theory is more difficult to model for policy purposes. Today, apart from mainstream economics, in particular Institutional Economics and Evolutionary Economics emphasize the relevance of structures and contexts, although not denying the decisive role of individual decision-making. During the last few decades, economic development and technology have shaped new international contexts for human economic activities and have altered our views on economic, political and cultural issues. Innovation theory teaches us that policies enhancing the development of “creative and innovative regions” are difficult to realize. Nevertheless, it is worth trying.

Polynucleation and Economic Development: The Randstad

Abstract In a generalized form two kinds of systems of cities exist in Europe: those with a strongly dominating city, and those with a polynucleated structure. The Netherlands show the latter type. It is common in economic geography to connect economic performance with agglomeration advantages and a concomitant spatial concentration of the strongest functions. For the Netherlands a continuing spatial dispersal of population and economic activities from the largest towards smaller cities and the Green Heart has been observed; this gives reason to support the hypothesis that agglomeration economies cannot be seen as a main condition for national economic growth. However, a further investigation might show that the highest levels of economic and cultural functions need larger agglomerations, which could lead to a loss of certain functions to global cities like London.

A Theoretical Framework for the Functioning of the Dutch Property Market

In this article a theoretical framework will be presented to aid understanding of the functioning of property markets, more particularly the Dutch property market. It will be argued that traditional urban economic theories are not able to explain the structure and processes of the built environment. In the Dutch case, we are confronted with two problems; first, to find a way in which urban economic theories, designed for a context of cities in Great Britain and the US, can be used to explain urban development that takes place in the different context of Dutch cities; and, secondly, to formulate a set of hypotheses appropriate for the Dutch property market. The hypotheses concern the strategies of individual actors on the property market and the underlying factors. It is concluded that, in general, the relation between institutional structure and property development has been neglected both because of insufficient attention from economic scientists, and because empirical research is very complicated.

Knowledge Transfers, Spillovers and Actors: The Role of Context and Social Capital

Regional economic analysis relies heavily on the concept of knowledge spillovers to explain economic development. But this concept is too limited since it does not explain the actual transfer of knowledge. That requires looking into social networks and social capital in order to explain the flow of non-codified knowledge. This paper contributes to the literature by conceptualizing knowledge transfer and connecting it to the social network literature and the spatial dimension of social networks. The paper argues that knowledge flows, the spatial context of social networks and social capital are strongly linked.

The Randstad — A Welfare Region?

The Dutch welfare state at present seems to be in dire straits. The costs of maintaining a very extensive system of social benefits rose very fast in the 1980s and have become an almost unbearable (or should we say intolerable?) burden. An increasing number of persons called upon the state for financial help in that decade. Especially the number of unemployed or disabled persons rose to unprecedented heights. The number of recipients of unemployment benefits rose from 230,000 in 1980 to 575,000 in 1989. In the same period the number of recipients of benefits for disability and illness increased from 886,000 to 1,093,000 (CBS 1991). Meanwhile, economic growth in the Netherlands had fallen to a postwar low; the average yearly growth per capita of gross domestic product for 1979–1988 was just 0.7 percent (OECD 1990). These two simultaneous developments made it increasingly difficult to sustain the existing welfare arrangements, let alone expand them in terms of benifits or eligibility. The Dutch welfare state had gone through a phase of ‘hyperbolic expansion’ (De Swaan 1988) between 1945 and 1974. Yet it was neither prepared nor designed for the new situation that arose after the first, and even more pronounced after the second oil crisis in 1979. Since then, all kinds of pressure groups have been able to mount stubborn, and in most cases effective, resistance against cuts in the welfare arrangements. The strain on the national budget due to the oilcrisis and the welfare lobby has led to recurrent national budget problems. Accordingly, the current national political debate is largely centered on the future of the welfare state.

Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Space, and Place: Evolutionary Economic Geography meets Austrian Economics

In this paper we investigate the spatial aspects of the conditions of entrepreneurship on the one hand, and the consequences of entrepreneurship on the other hand. The consequences are the effects of individual interactions that may lead to the emergence of complex systems that are largely the “result of human action, but not of human design†(Hayek, 1967). These emergent systems have spatial coordinates and localized effects on the growth of knowledge and economic activity. The emergent systems—new organizations, institutions, industrial clusters, cities, and regions—in turn form the context for subsequent entrepreneurial actions. We show the strengths and opportunities of Austrian economics for the indeterminate dynamic analysis of entrepreneurship and evolving selection environments, and the spatial aspects of these processes and structures. We explicitly investigate the bridge between evolutionary economic geography and Austrian economics. The paper is structured as follows: in the second section, we introduce Austrian as well as evolutionary geographic treatments of entrepreneurship. In the third section we investigate entrepreneurship and its conditions of space and place. In the fourth section, we elaborate on the urban aspects of the conditions of entrepreneurship as it is approached in evolutionary theories. The fifth section centers on the spatial aspects of the consequences of entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on its impact on urban and regional development.

The Evolution of Spatial Patterns over Long Time-Horizons: The Relation with Technology and Economic Development

This wide-ranging Handbook is the first major compilation of the theoretical and empirical research that is forging the new and exciting paradigm of evolutionary economic geography.

Segmentation Theories and Manpower Policy in Dutch Cities

In this paper we will deal with the application of labour market policies in an urban environment. If the hypothesis of segmentation of labour markets is true, it would affect the outcome of manpower policies. The structure of the unemployed with regard to age, sex and skills is, of course, not the exact replica of the entire labour market, but it is not unlikely that segmentation should have some relation to the results of policies.