Governments that pass down responsibilities but keep the purse strings do not really devolve power. @pedroecongeog.bsky.social & @davidwglasgow.bsky.social explore the limits of #decentralisation in #England & #Portugal in @tesg-journal.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1111/tesg...

Putting #bureaucracy online can simply give the queue a password. Coluccia, Cattivelli & Barbieri show in the Annals of Regional Science that institutional capacity has no download button. Digitalisation alone does not ensure better #EU fund management. doi.org/10.1007/s001...

#Brazilelections, final count: #Flávio #Bolsonaro 47.0%, #Lula 45.2%. Among states that lost ground, the rich (#SãoPaulo, #Rio) backed Flávio Bolsonaro; the poor backed Lula. Stalled prosperity, not poverty, drives #discontent. doi.org/10.31389/lse... doi.org/10.1080/0013...

The EU’s #SRIP2026 is out and is a monster of a report—in the best sense: rigorous, well built and alive to challenges far beyond #innovation itself. Innovation is not the whole story, but Europe will solve very little without it. research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/knowledge-pu...

Administrative boundaries do not define #ecosystems. Fratesi & Vicari, writing in @spatialeconomic.bsky.social, trace ecosystems from actual firm ties. The policy sting: backing the #networks that work in #Italy may lift productivity but deepen regional divides. doi.org/10.1080/1742...

A well-deserved 2026 Jim Lewis Prize🏆for MacKinnon, Kinossian, Pike, Béal, Lang, Rousseau & Tomaney. Their EURS paper asks the awkward question: how new is “new” spatial policy? They find that new labels carry older intellectual luggage. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

GDP is a scoreline, not a match report. A region can win on output but lose on #housing, #health, trust or mobility. The key point for Ottaviani, L'Huillier & Argoud in @cjres.bsky.social is that what we measure shapes what policymakers see and in turn what they do. doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

European inventors made 21,245 never-before-seen technology combinations between 1987 and 2017. Fewer than four in ten were reused. Ocampo-Corrales & Moreno show in @econgeog-journal.bsky.social that survival depends, above all, on the region where the #invention is born. doi.org/10.1080/0013...

#Berlin's mainstream collapsed amid dynamism; #MecklenburgVorpommern's amid decline. There, the #CDU polled a pitiful 4.9%. Same verdict, opposite causes. Mainstream parties call this a communications problem. It isn't. It is #geography & political #neglect. www.intereconomics.eu/contents/yea...

In the global competitiveness game, #Europe holds cards its competitors envy. But it constantly talks itself into folding. @DijkstraLewis & I argue in @RSPP_RSAI that #competitiveness always begins with playing our own hand well. doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

#Ukraine’s post-war recovery needs more than a well-written plan. Federico Bartalucci’s @wiiw.ac.at paper with @U-LEAD with #Europe explains why local authority, skills & funding must turn strategy into delivery, particularly in the weaker communities of the country u-lead.org.ua/en/media?tab...

Sweden’s far right lost votes. Its geography barely moved. The correlation with the 2022 #Sweden Democrats vote is 0.98. So, the problem remains and the task now is to rebuild opportunity in places where confidence in the future has eroded. doi.org/10.1080/0013...

When skills exceed opportunities, the life prospects of individuals do not improve. Dentinho, Valiev, Valieva, Iskakova & Shaikin show in APJRS that, among 1,250 North #Kazakhstan graduates, #English proficiency did not lead to improvements in jobs. doi.org/10.1007/s416...

#Ukraine must rebuild more than roads and power grids. It must rebuild local capacity and trust. My new paper for the U-LEAD with Europe #decentralisation #reform project puts local capacity at the heart of reconstruction and #EU accession. u-lead.org.ua/en/media?tab...

In the #competitiveness game, #Europe holds good cards. The danger is that it is playing someone else’s hand. With Dijkstra in Regional Science Policy & Practice, we argue that, rather than chase #US & #China shadows, Europe must build on its strengths & strategic chokeholds. doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

A place should not have to become somewhere else to deserve a future. @gretegans.bsky.social & @stefaniafiorentino.bsky.social, writing in @regionalstudies.bsky.social, argue that prescribing metropolitan #growth to every region mistakes one model for a universal cure. doi.org/10.1080/0034...

Europe’s #competitiveness depends on the potential of all its regions. Cuadrado-Roura's new review in the Journal of Regional Research shows why #CohesionPolicy matters and why #Europe needs #investment that improves the prospects of all its citizens, wherever they live. doi.org/10.38191/iir...

Sunday’s #AfD victory makes the politics of struggling places harder to ignore. @gjwestenberger.bsky.social in @actapolitica.bsky.social finds, however, that frustration has more than one electoral outlet, with stronger #SPD support in places failing to secure better #jobs. doi.org/10.1057/s412...

Saxony-Anhalt lost a quarter of its people. Yet turnout rose from 60.3% to 77.8%, and the #AfD more than doubled its vote share to 43.8%, three seats short of a majority. Political neglect carries a hefty price. And, increasingly, the bill arrives at the ballot box. #SachsenAnhalt

Economic convergence may be #health policy by another name. Bayerlein shows in @spatialeconomic.bsky.social that #EU regions which actually converged saw far smaller #mortality increases during #COVID-19. Funding alone did little; development did the work. doi.org/10.1080/1742...

Investing in places means, above all, investing in their institutions. Scotti, Caporali & @d-luca.bsky.social show in the Journal of Regional Science how good #institutions make public money go further. doi.org/10.1111/jors...

A place can lack research labs and still possess ingenuity. Kagel, Sternberg and Friedrich explore everyday #SME learning and how #innovation happens in lagging behind regions in their new paper in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. doi.org/10.1007/s001...

Politicians can cut the ribbon on a #research centre. However, without impartial #government, it may never fulfil its promise. This is the main conclusion reached by Román Aso, Coca-Villalba & Bosch-Frigola in R&FS: Southern Europe’s #R&D gap is also an institutional gap. doi.org/10.1080/1359...

#Innovation in micro firms is not science or practice, but science with practice. Martins Gonçalves & Laranja find in European Planning Studies that 56% of those micro #firms surveyed innovated, often by combining #STI and #DUI. doi.org/10.1080/0965...

Nearly half of #Europe’s new #jobs since 2000 came from #welfare services. But, as Pavolini, @luigiburr.bsky.social, @darioraspanti.bsky.social & @envamc.bsky.social show in @socioeconreview.bsky.social, welfare is a growth engine in some regions but a fallback in others. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Regions, welfare state services, and the political economy of growth regimes

Abstract. This essay advances an understanding of the extent to which political economies have changed in the ‘era of knowledge-based growth’. It emphasize

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#Iceland’s No has a stark #geography: #Reykjavík voted Yes; every other constituency voted No. Recent #growth cannot explain the divide. The longer story —demographic decline, centralisation and lost local control— fits far better. doi.org/10.1093/cjre... doi.org/10.1080/0013...

Delighted that my great friend —and scholar of the highest rank— André Torre has won the 2026 ERSA Prize. His work on #proximity, knowledge diffusion and #innovation has transformed #RegionalScience. His wonderful #ERSA2026 keynote in #Sofia kept us thinking. Thoroughly earned and celebrated.

A few immensely rewarding days at #ERSA2026 have come to an end: thought-provoking papers and keynotes, inspiring young scholars, flawless organisation, and, above all, enormous fun. #Sofia won me over. Warmest thanks to ERSA & Kosyo Stoychev. Roll on #ERSA2027 in #Milan!

America’s middle has not merely been squeezed; it has been physically separated from the highly skilled. Frigon & Storper show in JoEG how #America is sorting itself apart, with high- and low-skilled sharing major #cities & the middle moving elsewhere. doi.org/10.1093/jeg/...

Going separate ways: spatial sorting by education, work, and real income in the USA since 1970

Abstract. Advanced economies have undergone enormous structural change in work, income distribution, and the skills of the working population over the past

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Social #innovation follows the geography of relationships, not patents. Berti Mecocci, Dellisanti & Maghssudipour show in @regionalstudies.bsky.social that density matters. And that public funding matters most where #density is low. doi.org/10.1080/0034...