Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Regional Competitiveness: Towards a Concept of Territorial Capital

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Seminal Studies in Regional and Urban Economics

Abstract

Please provide e-mail ID for the corresponding author and also check whether affiliation details are appropriate.

This chapter was previously published in Capello R., Camagni R., Fratesi U., Chizzolini B. (eds.) (2008), Modelling regional scenarios for the enlarged Europe, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 33–48.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    We shall find that, on an ex-post base, the national aggregate growth rate and the weighted sum of regional growth rates are equal.

  2. 2.

    Every country always has a ‘comparative advantage’ in some production sectors, even if it may be less efficient in absolute terms in all productions with respect to competitor countries: its advantage resides in those productions in which it is ‘comparatively’ less inefficient, and it is exactly in these productions that it will specialise within the international division of labour, to the mutual benefit of all countries. The Ricardian principle of comparative advantage was judged by Paul Samuelson as the only statement of economic theory that was at the same time true and not trivial. As argued here, it refers to countries, not to regions or territories (see also Camagni 2001).

  3. 3.

    GREMI—Groupe de Recherce Européen sur les Milieux Innovateurs, headquartered in Paris at Université de Paris 1—Panthéon Sorbonne and active since the mid-1980s.

  4. 4.

    Does all this mean that the local milieu is per se an ethical and environment-friendly subject or intermediate institution? The answer is ‘no’, of course: a lobbying and short-term strategy by local, situation-rent seeking actors is not excluded, if not probable, and a mix of regulations and incentives implemented by public bodies seems necessary. In the case of external challenges and threats to local business, the presence of a milieu guarantees a faster and more effective reaction capability (Camagni and Villa Veronelli 2004, describing the case of an apple-producing community in the Trento Valley, Italy, challenged by the anti-pesticide health regulations imposed in their major German market).

  5. 5.

    If we add further factors—reciprocal trust, a sense of belonging to a community that shares values and behaviours, and participation in public decisions—then a climate is created which encourages responsibility, cooperation and synergy. Such a climate enhances productivity, stimulates creativity and ensures more the effective provision of public goods.

  6. 6.

    This is the rationale of research programmes which attempt to measure social capital by using suitable proxies (Putnam 1993; Arrighetti et al. 2001) so as to include it in an ideal production function along with human capital and physical capital.

  7. 7.

    Also to be mentioned here is the function of promoting informal guarantees for the honouring of incomplete contracts, which the milieu can perform because of its networks of interpersonal relations. Models inspired by game theory have been used to show that, when there are interpersonal networks and effective mechanisms for punishment, social exclusion and reprisal, implying a reduction in the costs of monitoring and enforcement of contracts, it is possible not only to attain stable (cooperative) Nash equilibria which are not possible when costs are high, but also to achieve overall benefits for the partners which exceed the allocative costs of local contractual policies (or ‘parochialism’) (Bowles and Gintis 2000).

  8. 8.

    This feature is also present in the case of physical, costly capital assets, e.g. the effects of increasing agglomeration externalities on the value of real estate assets.

References

  • Arrighetti A, Lasagni A, Seravalli G (2001) Capitale Sociale, Associazionismo Economico e Istituzioni: Indicatori Statistici di Sintesi, Working Papers n. 4, Dipartimento di Economia, Università di Parma

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagnasco A (2002) Il Capitale Sociale nel Capitalismo che Cambia. Stato e Mercato 65(2):271–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Becattini G (1990) The Marshallian industrial district as a socio-economic notion. In: Pyke F, Becattini G, Sengenberger W (eds) Industrial districts and inter-firm cooperation in Italy. ILO, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles S, Gintis H (2000) Optimal parochialism: the dynamics of trust and exclusion in networks. Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, mimeo, February 2000

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (1991) Technological change, uncertainty and innovation networks: towards a dynamic theory of economic space. In: Camagni R (ed) Innovation networks: spatial perspectives. Belhaven-Pinter, London, pp 121–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (1993) Inter-firm industrial networks: the costs and benefits of cooperative behaviour. J Ind Stud 1(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (1999) The city as a Milieu: applying GREMI’s approach to urban evolution. Revue d’Economie Régionale et Urbaine 3:591–606

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (2001) Policies for spatial development. In: OECD (ed) OECD territorial outlook. OECD, Paris, pp 147–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (2002) On the concept of territorial competitiveness: sound or misleading? Urban Stud 39(13):2395–2412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (2004) Uncertainty, social capital and community governance: the city as a Milieu. In: Capello R, Nijkamp P (eds) Urban dynamics and growth: advances in urban economics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 121–152

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R, Capello R (2002) Milieux innovateurs and collective learning: from concepts to measurement. In: Acs Z, de Groot H, Nijkamp P (eds) The emergence of the knowledge economy: a regional perspective. Springer, Berlin, pp 15–45

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R, Maillat D (eds) (2006) Milieux Innovateurs: Théorie et Politiques. Economica, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R, Villa Veronelli D (2004) Natural resources, know-how and territorial innovation: the apple production system in val di Non, Trentino. In: Camagni R, Maillat D, Matteaccioli A (eds) Ressources Naturelles et Culturelles, Milieux et Développement Local. Editions EDES, Neuchâtel, pp 235–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R, Maillat D, Matteaccioli A (eds) (2004) Ressources Naturelles et Culturelles, Milieux et Développement Local. Editions EDES, Neuchâtel

    Google Scholar 

  • Capello R (2001) Urban innovation and collective learning: theory and evidence from five metropolitan cities in Europe. In: Fischer MM, Froehlich J (eds) Knowledge, complexity and innovation systems. Springer, Berlin, pp 181–208

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Capello R (2016) Regional economics, 2nd edn, Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS (1990) Foundations of social theory. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Dosi G (1982) Technological paradigms and technological trajectories. Res Policy 11(3):147–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EC – European Commission (2005) Territorial state and perspectives of the European union, scoping document and summary of political messages, May 2005

    Google Scholar 

  • Foray D (2000) L’Economie de la Connaissance. La Découverte, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilly JP, Torre A (eds) (2000) Dynamiques de Proximité. L’Harmattan, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Greffe X (2004) Le Patrimoine Dans la Ville. In: Camagni R, Maillat D, Matteaccioli A (eds) Ressources Naturelles et Culturelles, Milieux et Développement Local. Editions EDES, Neuchâtel, pp 19–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Grootaert C, van Bastelaer T (2001) Understanding and measuring social capital: a synthesis of findings and recommendations from the social capital initiative, World Bank, Social Capital Initiative Working Paper n. 24, April, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas R (1988) On the mechanics of economic development. J Monet Econ 22:3–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malmgren HB (1961) Information expectation and the theory of the firm. Q J Econ 75:399–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson R, Winter S (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • North D (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2001) OECD territorial outlook. OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam RD (1993) Making democracy work. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer P (1990) Endogenous technological change. J Polit Econ 98:S71–S102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon H (1972) Theories of bounded rationality. In: Mc Guire CB, Radner R (eds) Decision and organization. North Holland, Amsterdam, pp 161–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Storper M (1995) The resurgence of regional economies ten years later: the region of untraded interdependencies. Eur Urban Reg Stud 2:191–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storper M (2003) Le Economie Locali come Beni Relazionali. In: Garofoli G (ed) Impresa e Territorio. Il Mulino, Bologna, pp 169–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson O (2002) The lens of contract: private ordering. Am Econ Rev Pap Proc 92(2):438–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Roberto Camagni

Authors
  1. Roberto Camagni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Camagni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept ABC, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Roberta Capello

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Camagni, R. (2017). Regional Competitiveness: Towards a Concept of Territorial Capital. In: Capello, R. (eds) Seminal Studies in Regional and Urban Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57807-1_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation