Growth-based Theories for Declining Regions? A Note on Conceptualisations of Demographic Change for Regional Economic Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12765/CPoS-2017-04Keywords:
Demographic change, Economic growth theories, Regional economic development, Globalisation peripheries, Regional policiesAbstract
This article aims to critically assess the economic growth paradigm, which typically underlies most approaches to regional policymaking for demographic change. While population losses, ageing and outmigration – i.e. phenomena that are addressed as demographic change – have become a matter of urgency for many European regions, most regional economic development theories remain silent about the population decline affecting the economic growth and development prospects of regions. Consequently, regional policies usually rely on the concept of economic growth, yet neglect the complexity and importance of demographic change and how it relates to the economic sphere. Due to this lack in nuance, we argue that regional policymaking fails to design adequate policy support for regions facing persistent demographic change and economic stagnation or decline as a result. Based on these observations, the paper examines a selection of regional economic development theories in search for alternative concepts of growth and development in the context of demographic change. To this aim, globalisation peripheries are introduced as a fruitful conceptual point of reference and, in combination with endogenous regional development theories, discussed as an alternative approach for regional policymaking.Downloads
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Copyright (c) 2017 CC BY-SA

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Comparative Population Studies erscheint open access (ab Jahrgang 2016 Creative Commons BY-SA), für Autoren, Leser und Bibliotheken kostenlos. Alle Rechte für die Jahrgänge 2015 und früher liegen beim Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung. Autoren erhalten für Beiträge dieser Jahrgänge die Rechte für eine erneute Publikation oder einen Nachdruck des Artikels oder Teilen davon, sofern die ursprüngliche Publikation in CPoS korrekt nachgewiesen wird. In solchen Fällen muss ein Sonderdruck oder eine Quellenangabe an CPoS abgeliefert werden.