IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/presci/v80y2001i3p275-295.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

articles: Is R&D investment in lagging areas of Europe worthwhile? Theory and empirical evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK)

Abstract

Is R&D investment in lagging areas worthwhile? There is no simple answer, nor is there universal theoretical agreement on the question. The Schumpeterian strand of the endogenous growth approach highlights the advantages of spatially concentrating the research and development (R&D) effort in a few areas, in order to maximise external economies and technological spillovers. Innovation is then expected to spill over from these technologically advanced areas into neighbouring regions . The neoclassical view, in contrast, considers that decreasing returns render investment in core areas increasingly less efficient, and makes investment in peripheries more effective. The regional policy view holds that public investment in R&D in lagging regions triggers economic convergence, because it limits congestion in the centre, helps to keep talent, and generates spin-offs in lagging areas. This article surveys these strands and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of investing in R& ;D in lagging regions. I then turn to the evolution of R&D investment across regions in Western Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2001. "articles: Is R&D investment in lagging areas of Europe worthwhile? Theory and empirical evidence," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 80(3), pages 275-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:presci:v:80:y:2001:i:3:p:275-295
    Note: Received: 7 October 2000
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/10110/papers/1080003/10800275.pdf
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    2. Fratesi, Ugo, 2007. "The Spatial Diffusion of Innovations and the Evolution of Regional Disparities," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 11, pages 131-160.
    3. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Callum Wilkie, 2019. "Innovating in less developed regions: What drives patenting in the lagging regions of Europe and North America," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 4-37, March.
    4. Paolo Guerrieri & Simona Iammarino, 2007. "Dynamics of Export Specialization in the Regions of the Italian Mezzogiorno: Persistence and Change," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(7), pages 933-948.
    5. Hervás-Oliver, José-Luis & Parrilli, Mario Davide & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Sempere-Ripoll, Francisca, 2021. "The drivers of SME innovation in the regions of the EU," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    6. Xing Gao & Keyu Zhai, 2021. "Spatial Mechanisms of Regional Innovation Mobility in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 247-270, July.
    7. López-Rodríguez , Jesús & Faíña, Andrés, 2007. "Regional Wage Disparities in Europe: What role for Market Access?," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 11, pages 5-23.
    8. Ugo Fratesi, 2003. "Innovation Diffusion and the Evolution of Regional Disparities," ERSA conference papers ersa03p327, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Gündüz Atalik & Seda Kundak, 2004. "Effects of innovation diffusion on the development level for some European regions in the expansion period of the European Union," ERSA conference papers ersa04p30, European Regional Science Association.
    10. O. V. Kuznetsova, 2023. "Rating of Scientific and Technological Development in Regions: Approaches, Results, and Challenges," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 492-499, August.
    11. Lauma Muizniece & Aleksandrs Cepilovs, 2017. "Supporting University Technology Transfer - Struggles And Barriers In Latvia," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 26(1), pages 321-342, june.
    12. Rosina Moreno & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2004. "Innovation and production clusters in Europe," ERSA conference papers ersa04p587, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D; technology; spillovers; economic growth; regions; Western Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:presci:v:80:y:2001:i:3:p:275-295. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.