The Associational Economy

`Why do some regions grow faster than others? Why are some more innovative? How do geographic factors - like proximity - affect the process of technological change? The Associational Economy provides a useful primer on these questions for all those interested in the regional dimensions of innovation and economic development. The authors are extremely well read and provide a useful and excellent work of theoretical synthesis, integrating a wide body of theory from Joseph Schumpeter and Alfred Marshall to evolutionary economics, increasing returns, path dependence, organizational learning, social capital, and agglomeration. This book is clearly worthwhile for regional specialists, but may have even more to offer economists and other students of technological innovation who want to learn more about the role of regions in the porcesses of innovation and economic growth.' Richard Florida. Research Policy. `Europe's leading English-language writers on contemporary industrial districts... an impressive and informative volume that should be read widely as the definitive work on the contemporary state of European industrial regions... the strength of the cases is that they grapple with hard problems... THe authors provide insightful analyses... this is an exceedingly reasonable and moderate book.' Enterprise and Society `...important book. ... The presentation of four regional case studies ... is inserted within a robust theoretical framework./ What appears here is the state-of-the-art on the multilevel approach to industrial and developmental policies.' Marco Bellandi. Regional Studies. 1998.