COVID Keynesianism evaluates the USA and UK’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and compares it to the previous iterations of the Anglo-American policy response template. The analysis details the morbid character of neoliberal state intervention by tracing the distributional routes of monetary and fiscal measures into global corporations and across the domestic economy. The comparative findings

Denmark is a Nordic welfare state with local government autonomy in public service provision related to workfare policies. We use a policy experiment that re-opened on-site public employment services after the first COVID-19 lockdown in a spatially staggered manner to provide evidence on the effect of public employment services on job placement during a crisis. Early re-opening of on-site public employment

This paper explores a neglected aspect of platform work: how the spatial mobility that app-based couriers must perform requires them to violate taken-for-granted assumptions that define who belongs where. By assigning tasks during atypical hours and requiring gig workers to use their personal clothing, tools and vehicles, platforms strip delivery workers of signifiers that legitimate their presence

While a large literature studies the various tools of autocratic survival, targeting opposition actors with austerity measures in electoral autocracies is hitherto understudied. This paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a rare opportunity for Hungary’s Fidesz party to disarm opposition parties via cutting off resources of municipalities led by opposition mayors and eliminating any remnants

In recent months, more studies are emerging regarding how various nations and regions fared during the initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada is cited as an example of a country that had performed reasonably well versus other countries with comparable infrastructures and health care systems (Razek et al., 2022). The reason is largely attributed to a combination of several public health

Amenity clusters consisting of coffee shops, restaurants and other small businesses improve urban life and are a source of employment for city dwellers. Although most small business clusters were hit hard by restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, some were able to adapt. What determines the economic resilience of amenity clusters? Using store-location data for Seoul from 2016 to 2021, we

Part of an ongoing longitudinal study, this article provides evidence on the emerging impacts of Covid-19 on the demand for, configuration and role of offices in cities, drawing on primary data from semi-structured interviews with UK-based corporate real estate managers. The research is grounded on a ‘theory of change’ framework combining real estate, institutional economics and economic geography

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed human mobility patterns in cities. Lockdowns, social distancing and flexible working hours have restructured pre-existing dynamics between two opposing forces in major cities: centripetal and centrifugal. To scrutinise the new dynamics, human mobility in the Seoul Metropolitan Area in early 2020 was investigated using big data collected from cell phone

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a short-term shift in US social policy. Under the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the federal government prioritised households by raising the floor for child support and unemployment benefits, and restoring fiscal federalism by providing increased funds to state and local governments. Our 2021 nationwide survey finds local governments with more

Economic policymaking shifted away from neoliberal ideals towards ‘crisis’ Keynesianism during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a comparative process tracing approach to examine how political and economic actors in Britain, Germany and the USA attempt to legitimise a potential return to neoliberalism to voters. We show that pro-neoliberal actors discursively construct a ‘crisis’ of COVID-Keynesianism

This article assesses regulatory reform of the state in the context of the move to furloughing in the UK. It establishes that furloughing was a successful response to the COVID-19 crisis, partly because it challenged the traditional UK crisis response of non-state intervention in the labour market. Furloughing prevented higher unemployment and enabled a swifter recovery. The article also identifies

A potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the nature, rates and spatial configuration of innovation may change within and across cities. To examine these potential changes, this article draws on findings from data gathered through interviews, surveys and secondary data over two time periods: prior to the pandemic and during the fallout from the pandemic. The article utilises the concept of

Covid-19 has obliged public authorities to enact several restrictions to citizens’ everyday life. Some of them were or will be transitory, while others may result in long-term changes in production organisation. The analysis offered in this paper links the restrictions to the level of economic freedom of the EU members. The aim is to understand whether these two aspects were related, and the potential

This paper explores the local impact of various forms of fiscal and monetary support for UK-based companies in the context of disruption caused by COVID-19 and associated public health restrictions, including support for household incomes (and therefore private consumption) via the ‘furlough’ scheme, the Covid Corporate Financing Facility and various national and local business support schemes. It

This study establishes a novel empirical framework using machine learning techniques to measure the urban-regional disparity of the public’s mental health signals in Australia during the pandemic, and to examine the interrelationships amongst mental health, demographic and socioeconomic profiles of neighbourhoods, health risks and healthcare access. Our results show that the public’s mental health

Since the onset of COVID-19, scholars have questioned whether the pandemic will alter the fundamentals propelling the growth of global cities. Using a case study of Toronto, the paper examines and analyses changes impacting the city because of the pandemic, with a focus on work, mobility and housing. In assessing pandemic-related disruption, it outlines the experiences of the early phases of recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about enormous disruption in mobility in cities. We review and analyse the evidence generated since the advent of the crisis, paying special attention to travel behaviour changes and how they are hampering the achievement of sustainability goals. Modal shifts to more individual modes of transport, with regained interest in car usage, combined with the financial distress

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of a retreat from global economic integration on the European regional production network for the period 2000–2010. We find that production has become increasingly fragmented, although the degree of heterogeneity across regions is substantial. This heterogeneity is also present in the direct and indirect effects of three different deglobalisation scenarios

Abstract This research explores how central-city shopping districts could be transformed to support a post-Covid lifestyle, where people re-embrace community, local streets and walking while relying more on online shopping. By reviewing metropolitan/city development plans since the 1980s and mapping changes of retail provisions, urban environment and pedestrian movements in Melbourne’s Hoddle Grid

Abstract The current wave of technological transformation is altering dynamics between the global and local scales. This transformation affects the dynamic linkages between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the host economies in which they invest. This article examines how MNEs in leading technology sectors are re-evaluating their relationship to Toronto’s innovation economy. It employs elements

Abstract Contemporary globalisation faces several challenges, for instance related to climate change, technological disruption and shifting geopolitics, that have repercussions for the organisation of value chains and the global division of labour. Analysing the long-term geographies of globalisation we observe how successive reconfigurations of ‘new’ and ‘newer’ global divisions of labour share an

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global production networks and challenged the resilience of regional economies to external shocks. The tourism sector was severely affected by the travel bans imposed, as were regions characterised by tourism development, such as Zambezi in northern Namibia. Nonetheless, with the support of the national government, conservancies, as local governance institutions

After more than thirty years of post-war relative regional convergence, since the 1980s geographical inequalities in economic prosperity and social conditions have widened again in most capitalist countries. In this paper we argue that this resumption of spatial inequality is in part explained by the significant changes observed in the role of the state and in public intervention in the shift from

This paper argues that ‘spatial monetary policy’ may be needed to achieve more territorially balanced economic development. Central banks have been key in fostering financialised economies while also preventing their collapse in times of crisis—a role further strengthened by the coronavirus pandemic. Central banks have thus become the most powerful economic policy-making institutions, just when spatial

The 2008 Global Financial Crisis influenced geo-economic dynamics in the EU, triggering a repositioning of less developed regions. This analysis examines whether their competitiveness changed after 2008, and why some regions improved in performance. Using ERCI data, we compare EU lagging regions at NUTS2 level, finding that the Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions reacted to the crisis better

The recent wave of populism has focused attention on ‘left behind’ places as hotspots of discontent. Seeking to remedy their neglect in urban and regional studies, the aim of this paper is to engage with the problems of ‘left behind’ places and to stimulate fresh thinking about alternative approaches. Reflecting the complex and inter-connected issues facing such places, it argues that a new conception

The authors would like to apologise for the misspelling of the name “Muro” in 2 instances in the original version of this Editorial as “Munro”. These have been corrected online.

The Journal would like to thank all of the reviewers, including the following, as well as the members of the Editorial Board, who have very kindly contributed to our peer review process during the past year. The Editors would also like to acknowledge all those reviewers who are currently engaged in the current peer review process for CJRES.

place-based policiesregional growthdiscontentlagging regions

Geographydiscontentdisruptionregionpopulism

Concern about interregional divergence has surged among Americans in the last five years.

The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society publishes multidisciplinary international research on the spatial dimensions of contemporary socio-economic–political change. The Journal adopts a focussed thematic format. Each issue is devoted to a particular theme selected by the international editorial team. The aim of the Journal is to understand the formative changes and developments associated

populismdiscontenteconomic inequalitieseconomic geographies

Social housing has the potential to contribute to economic inclusion and urban integration if it is well-located. However, this is complicated by economic forces that shape land and property markets and constrain the ability of social housing organisations to afford suitable sites for development on the open market. The paper shows how South Africa’s transformative vision for social housing has been

Spatial policy targeting can differ greatly across programs due to myriad thematic goals, geographical unit systems, and conceptualisations. The current paper seeks to better understand how these differences may impact policy effectiveness by examining the theory of spatial targeting accuracy and the methodological tools for assessing it ex ante. It is the first comprehensive examination, to the extent

The paper positions itself in contrast to some themes in work on local and regional development. These have included an emphasis on policy rather than politics, tendencies to over-generalize across countries, and to abstract from the more global context. The empirical context for the discussion is the shifting character of geographically uneven development since the Second World War: first a convergence

The literature on the new regionalism has highlighted the leading role played by regions in the contemporary process of state rescaling and the governance of policy-making. We argue that a (re)politicisation of North-east Brazil and the emergence of a new left regionalism are underway. We examine the political and socioeconomic circumstances of this process through the creation of the Interstate Consortium

Since the return to democracy, the negotiations on decentralisation of policies and decision-making developed with the framework of Comunidades Autónomas had been intended as a way of dealing with the existent tensions between Spanish and regional nationalisms. However, the escalation of the tension between regions reached a new level with the unofficial referendum in Catalonia over potential independence

In 2000, Robert Putnam forecast that United States (US) democracy was at risk from the twin challenges of declining civic engagement and rising interpersonal inequality. Sixteen years later, his predictions were vindicated by the election of Donald Trump as president of the US. This paper analyses the extent to which the 2016 election of Donald Trump—and his failed re-election bid in 2020—have been

Satisfaction with democracy registered its lowest global score in 2019, with Latin America being the worst-performing region and the most seized by social protest. This paper briefly surveys and assesses the main narratives that attempt to explain the causes of this discontent in the region. The results show that discontent has different roots, which are mostly explained from an individual point of

Two principal strands of scholarship analyse the material roots of European Union (EU) discontent. Some focus on the effects of regional decline, while others examine the role of individual socioeconomic factors. This paper brings these two perspectives together. We argue that EU discontent is a multifaceted phenomenon structured by the spatially-rooted interplay between individual and regional material

This article explores the link between populism and governance arrangements. Adopting a comparative approach between the West Midlands and Scotland, it utilises novel primary qualitative data alongside official results and demographic statistics. Paying particular attention to the perspectives of remain-voters in “left behind” areas and how they perceive their Leave-voting counterparts, the article

This paper explains the background to the notion of the ‘geography of discontent’ in the context of UK interregional inequalities and political shocks. The paper then examines how the geography of discontent has bound conflicting political and economic narratives together in ways, which makes the correcting for these regional imbalances all the more difficult, and results in ambiguity and a lack of

The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society publishes multidisciplinary international research on the spatial dimensions of contemporary socio-economic-political change. The Journal adopts a focused thematic format. Each issue is devoted to a particular theme selected by the international editorial team. The aim of the Journal is to understand the formative changes and developments associated

We argue that so-called geographies of discontent work within regional hierarchies in a spatial continuum, whereas the previous literature has mainly invoked dichotomous divides, such as core-periphery or the North-South. A place’s relation to surrounding communities and regions remains an understudied topic. We analyse the municipal distribution of electoral support for Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna

Do spatial socioeconomic features influence a digital behaviour like cyberhate? Our contribution provides an answer to this question, showing how high levels of income inequality determine high volumes of hate tweets in Italy. Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity problems of income inequality, as well as to the inclusion of confounding factors and to competing estimation strategies. Additionally

In this paper we use survey and register data combined to examine how the view of the capital city among those living in other regions relates to geographic factors and the development of the home region. Our findings indicate that individuals who perceive the development of their own region as “less advantageous” are prone to say that Stockholm has a negative effect on their own area as well as on

Relatively little research has explored whether there is a systemic urban-rural divide in the political and socioeconomic attitudes of citizens across Europe. Drawing on individual-level data from the European Social Survey, we argue that there are strong and significant differences between the populations in these different settings, especially across western European countries. We suggest that this

Due to a spatial turn in the socio-technical transition literature, the geography of energy transitions has recently been taken increasingly seriously, leading to burgeoning research output on regional energy transitions since early 2010. Amidst this wealth of publications, however, it can be difficult to keep track of its diverse and constantly evolving landscape. This editorial therefore aims at

Cities are important partners in developing solutions towards a low-carbon pathway. However, given the variation in geography, a need exists to study urban energy transitions through a nuanced approach that addresses space- and place-based factors. Based on document analysis and interviews with municipal employees and local energy experts in Edmonton, Canada, we explore how location and availability

To power cloud data centres (DCs) with renewable energy (RE) Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft negotiated innovative long-term contracts that opened up regional vertically integrated electricity utilities to allow new roles for large-scale suppliers and buyers of electricity. This transformation is explained using Williamson’s framework of institutional change linking the four interdependent

This case study unravels the ambiguous position of public energy distributor Fluvius in dealing with strategic regional transition challenges. It enriches current understandings of spatial transition dimensions and of public regime actors’ role in transitions, by unravelling the territorial and institutional embeddedness of regional energy distribution systems. We disentangle three controversies in

This article refines our understanding of frugal innovation in geographical energy transitions research. Frugal innovation represents a strategic approach to solving local problems with limited resources through complexity reduction. The article analyses three frugal innovation cases from São Paulo, Brazil. For each case, the analysis focuses on specific resource-constrained local context conditions

In this article, I develop a political ecology analysis of Vanuatu’s grid electricity policies, with a specific focus on Espiritu Santo Island. I show how the global political economy looms large in shaping the island’s energy geographies. Colonial legacies, ideologically conflictive donor aid programmes, multinational corporate legal discords, parliamentary political caprices and the vicissitudes

Uneven development and the territoriality of renewable energy resources complicate prevailing theories of regional energy transitions. This article proposes a framework for the study of regional energy transitions informed by theories of variegated capitalism and geographical scholarship on the materiality and territoriality of energy. We make the case for this framework by demonstrating that the development

AbstractThe global financial crisis of just over a decade ago exposed longer-term systemic problems in global capitalism of which two of the most prominent are the slowdown in the underlying trend rate of productivity growth, alongside a rise in economic and spatial inequalities in many advanced economies. The Covid-19 pandemic looks set to further amplify these problems. This Editorial begins by discussing

AbstractWhat factors explain the divergence between returns to labour and overall productivity across US counties? We model the role of power at the subnational state level: Republican partisan control, corporate lobbying (measured by ALEC-sponsored bills) and labour power (unionisation). We find where state policy is captured by corporate interests, this undermines inclusive growth. Our hierarchical

This article contributes to understandings of geographies of discontent by focusing on the way that political frameworks condition the demand for fringe or protest voting. It discusses how Australia’s federal political framework, preferential voting system and timely crisis intervention policies combine to reduce the demand for fringe voting. The local effects of this system are illustrated via an

AbstractIn this article, we discuss how integrated industrial policy can simultaneously pursue value-added generation and productivity enhancement in regional economies, along with inclusiveness and social cohesion. Our arguments are rooted in the integration of the literature on human development and capability approach, on economic geography and on industrial policy. In particular, we introduce a

AbstractThe overall rise in inequality in the USA since 1980 has been matched by a rise in inequality between places; local and regional development policies aimed at reversing this polarisation have seen limited success. We propose an explanation for the spatial polarisation of prosperity and the failure of the policies to remedy it. Our explanation is based on the interaction of monopoly power, agglomeration