Regional differentiation and economic growth
Researchers
- Christiaan Broekman
- Michael Verba
- Martijn Groenleer
- Erik Stam
- Pieter Tordoir
In cooperation with
- Telos, Tilburg University
- Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht Center for Entrepreneurship
Funded by
- Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken (BZK)
Period
- 2017
Summary
The Netherlands has for a long time been characterized by a uniform style of governance. However, motivated by the realization that there is an increasing level of heterogeneity among provinces and municipalities, and the recognition that the Netherlands is in the process of ‘regionalizing’, the need for pluriformity in subnational government is on the policy agenda again. Recent research by Tordoir et al. (2015) shows that ‘the region’ plays a more and more important role in daily life in the Netherlands. For employment and education, but also for social services, and cultural and leisure activities people move around in urban areas that transcend the administrative boundaries of the municipalities or provinces in which they live. Moreover, differences between regions are growing: between urban and rural areas, central and peripheral. This heterogeneity is an important starting point in this research: the idea that different regions, even in such a modest-sized country as the Netherlands, face different challenges.
On the basis of these background considerations, the main question we work on is: What is the relationship between a differentiated response to regional tasks and regional development? A literature review has been carried out around the topics of regional governance, differentiation and economic development in order to see what has been established so far and where gaps in our knowledge still exist. In addition, and building upon our literature review, we will conduct case studies in order to get a more thorough understanding of the mechanisms through which differentiation may affect economic development.