EU regional inequalities at a critical juncture: 'place-based' development strategies, investment promotion and the role of domestic development polic

过去十年，欧盟机构解决地区不平等问题的方式发生了重大转变。首先，欧盟的旗舰凝聚力政策(以及相关基金)--可以说是旨在缓解地区不平等的最全面的政策--最近开创了一种明显更基于地区的方法，即各地区在确定自己的增长机会和战略方面发挥主导作用。其次，为了应对“新冠肺炎”对欧盟经济体的经济影响以及它们之间的差距，欧盟同意设立一只具有历史意义的7500亿欧元基金，帮助地区经济体实现复苏，使其更具活力、韧性和可持续性。我的博士学位寻求将这两个关键发展结合在一起：批判性地审视欧盟基于地区的发展战略的经验，以确定后COVID时代良好的区域经济政策是什么样子。具体地说，我计划重点讨论区域和国家投资促进在欧盟资助的以地方为基础的发展战略中的作用，以及这些战略可能如何与正在进行的国内资助的投资促进战略相互作用。我提出的方法基本上是定量的：我的目标是对专门构建的数据集应用计量经济学技术，并梳理出不同类型的政策对地区经济结果的因果影响。在英国、美国和许多欧盟国家的政治紧张局势将注意力集中在国内地区不平等的程度和影响之际，我的抱负是希望我的博士研究能够为各种背景下的政策制定者如何有效地采取行动缩小这种差距提供强有力的、切实的见解。地区之间经济差距的持续是近年来特别引起关注的一个话题。事实上，随着新冠肺炎被封锁的最初冲击开始平息，疫情在不同地区之间产生的影响非常不均衡，其中许多可能会加剧较长期的地区差距，加剧本已酝酿的政治紧张局势。在这种背景下，我的博士学位试图更好地理解政策制定者如何最好地解决地区不平等问题，以及哪些因素决定了成功。通过关注欧盟的案例，我打算解决三个具体问题：首先，这种“基于地区”的方法是否能更好地缩小空间经济差距--如果是的话，原因何在；其次，区域发展的一个关键要素--外国直接投资--如何与这些基于地区的新方法相适应，以及这对地区利用全球化潜在好处的能力有何启示；第三，我将努力理解较新的、由欧盟资助的以地方为基础的战略与由成员国管理和资助的战略之间的一致性。我提出的方法基本上是定量的：我的目标是对专门构建的数据集应用计量经济学技术，并梳理出不同类型的政策对地区经济结果的因果影响。虽然我的建议是专注于欧盟的经验，但我将渴望得出与欧盟以外的国家相关的结论。

The past decade has seen a significant shift in how EU institutions tackle regional inequalities. Firstly, the EU's flagship Cohesion policy (and associated funds), arguably the most comprehensive policy aimed at mitigating regional inequalities, has recently pioneered a markedly more 'place-based' approach, whereby regions play the lead role in defining their own opportunities and strategies for growth. Secondly, in response to the economic impacts of COVID-19 on EU economies and the disparities between them, the EU has agreed a historic 750 bn fund to help regional economies recover in a way that renders them more dynamic, resilient and sustainable. My PhD seeks to join up these two pivotal developments: to look critically at the EU experience with place-based development strategies in order to determine what good regional economic policies look like for the post-COVID era. Specifically, I plan to focus on the role of regional and national investment promotion within EU-funded place-based development strategies, plus how these might interact with ongoing, domestically-funded ones. My proposed methodology is fundamentally quantitative: I aim to apply econometric techniques on purpose-built datasets, and tease out the causal effect that different types of policies have on the economic outcomes of regions. At a time when political tensions in the UK, USA and many EU nations are focusing attention on the extent and effect of within-country regional inequality, my ambition is for my PhD research to contribute robust, tangible insights into how policy-makers in a variety of contexts can effectively act to close this gap.The persistence of economic disparities between regions is a topic that has in recent years garnered particular attention. In fact, as the initial shock of COVID-19 lockdowns begins to subside, it is becoming evident that the pandemic has had very unequal impacts from one region to another, many of which threaten to reinforce longer-term regional disparities and aggravate already-simmering political tensions. Against this backdrop, my PhD seeks to better understand how regional inequalities may be best tackled by policy-makers, and what factors condition success. By focusing on the case of the EU, which has in recent years pioneered a novel 'place-based' strategy that gives a markedly bigger role to individual regions in defining their development priorities, I intend to tackle three specific questions: firstly, whether such 'place-based' approaches work better at reducing spatial economic disparities - and if so, why; secondly, how a critical element of regional development - Foreign Direct Investment - fits within these new place-based approaches, and what this suggests about regions' abilities to leverage the potential benefits of globalisation; thirdly, I will seek to understand the coherence between the newer, EU-funded place-based strategies and those that are managed and funded domestically by member states. My proposed methodology is fundamentally quantitative: I aim to apply econometric techniques on purpose-built datasets, and tease out the causal effect that different types of policies have on the economic outcomes of regions. While my proposal is to focus on the EU experience, I will aspire to draw conclusions of relevance beyond the EU's borders.