doi:10.1111/pirs.

12020,12021,12027,12032

Book reviews

Interregional migration and public policy in Canada. Kathleen M. Day and Stanley L. Winer.
Montreal & Kingston, London and Ithaca: McGill-Queens University Press, 2012. (Carleton
Library Series 223.) 408 pp., 81 tables, 94 figures, 7 appendices, index. Paperback $34.95, cloth
$95.00. ISBN 978-0-7735-3745-3.
This book empirically examines the relationship between interregional migration and public
policy in Canada. While the book concerns migration and its determinants, its focus is on
policy-induced migration. Day and Winer pay special attention to the impact of the provincial
differences on public policy, including unemployment insurance, taxation and public expenditures. They also analyse the influence of several large and dramatic policy shocks. If there is
substantial regional variation in fiscal policies, as is the case in many countries, this variation
may have an important effect on internal migratory flows. The question is to what extent internal
migration is policy-induced and to what extent economic and other reasons dominate the
migratory behaviour. Surprisingly, this question has not been analysed extensively. Clearly,
there is a place for a thorough analysis, which this book painstakingly presents.
The book has a long history one could say too long. The writers first undertook a review
of the literature on interregional migration and public policy, which was published in 1994.
Their proposals for research were accepted, and the basic work for the study was undertaken at
Statistics Canada over an approximately four-year period ending in 2001. Deriving the migration and other data was a time-consuming enterprise. The writers published a long working
paper, which they deemed a technical report, on their work in 2001, and they published a journal
article in 2006. They sought support for publication of the full study and revised the technical
report into this book. As the study took many years to become this book, the last year in the data
set is 1996, which, of course, is unfortunate for a study published in 2012.
The book is divided into nine chapters. The introductory chapter presents several stylized
facts concerning regionalized public policies and the role of migration in the allocation of labour
in Canada. It also introduces the theoretical arguments, which are mainly based on a neoclassical
analysis of the role of labour mobility in an efficient economy. A non-Canadian would have
hoped for a more thorough presentation of Canadian geography (a map, perhaps) and the
Canadian federal system. The next chapter aims to show that there is substantial regional
diversity in a variety of fiscal policies in Canada. Chapter 3 provides a thorough survey of
Canadian research on policy-induced migration to help to place this work in perspective.
Disappointingly, Day and Winer do not include non-Canadian research in their survey.
2013 The Author(s). Papers in Regional Science 2013 RSAI
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The next three chapters present the chain theory measurement estimation. The empirical model is introduced very thoroughly; the presentation of the approach used in the empirical
study of policy-induced interregional migration provides much fodder for other researchers in
the area. In particular, the model shows how different types of incomes and the probability of
receipt of each type of income interact in influencing migration flows. In addition to earnings
and other components of income, the model includes three key policy influences on migration:
unemployment insurance, taxation and social assistance. When presenting their data in chapter
5, Day and Winer write, Anyone who wants to study interregional migration must invest
substantial amounts of time and money. I am unsure whether this statement is true worldwide
at least not in Finland but Day and Winer obviously had a difficult task in processing the tax
tapes to derive their migration data. This work was necessary because they wanted to work with
a long time-series on migration flows that are related to labour force participation and that are
disaggregated by the ten origin and destination provinces as well as by income class, age and
sex. Regrettably, a missing factor is education. The estimates of various versions of the basic
migration model are presented in chapter 6.
The following two chapters present the quantitative implications of the results, first by
reporting the marginal effects of changes in policy parameters and then by using simulations to
investigate more comprehensive policy reforms and the consequences of extraordinary policies,
such as the closing of the cod fishery or the election of a separatist government in Quebec. One
of the most important results from these analyses is that, compared to the effects of market
wages, policy changes appear to have minor effects. In addition, the simulation results strikingly
show how moving costs as measured by the foregone wage costs of moving, the monetary costs
of moving, the fixed costs of moving, and other non-monetary costs of moving are very
important in determining migration behaviour. Policy variables play a far less important role
than moving costs and labour market uncertainty.
These implications perhaps are not quite appropriate in a book that aims to present the role
that public policies play in migratory behaviour. The markets trump policy, but certainly policy
is also important. A shortcoming that may at least partly explain these results is that the
simulations are not dynamic, as the writers also acknowledge. A more complete dynamic model
might predict longer-run effects more reliably.
In sum, what we can learn from this book? The book is written in a reader-friendly style.
Everything is explained most thoroughly, which results in the length of the book. The books
driving question concerns a single study, which would normally be published as a journal article.
However, the books length gives it richness. The reader is given a profound understanding of
how to address the effects of regionalized public policy on internal migration and what these
effects are as compared to other, more market-based effects.
Hannu Tervo
University of Jyvskyl
Jyvskyl, Finland

Business Networks in Clusters and Industrial Districts: The Governance of the Global
Value Chain. Fiorenza Belussi and Alessia Sammara (eds). London/New York: Routledge,
2009. 418pp. $43.56. ISBN: 978-0-415-53985-2.
The emergence of international production networks calls for a re-evaluation of the role of
geography in the evolution of industrial districts. By increasing the flow of goods, services and
knowledge across countries, international production networks has implications for the growth
and development at the regional level. This collection of essays edited by Belussi and Sammarra
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advances the idea that learning in industrial districts and clusters takes place at the boundary.
The book focuses on the territorially-bound Italian approach to industrial districts as opposed to
more loosely defined clusters and evaluates the role of external linkages in the development of
these districts. To answer this question, conceptual and empirical studies on industrial districts
in diverse countries are presented. The book is divided into four parts, each comprising a
collection of chapters on a specific theme.
Part 1 consists of three conceptual chapters introducing the main ideas discussed in the book.
In chapter 1 Belussi et al. combine the global value chain approach with Marshalls industrial
district to analyse how local production systems respond to globalization. The incorporation of
regional production systems into the global commodity chain and the entry of multinational
firms into local industrial districts introduce new sources of knowledge. Belussi et al. argue that
the capacity of these production systems to absorb knowledge flows will determine their
position within the global commodity chain. Chapter 2 surveys the literature on knowledge
transfer between firms and introduces the concept of learning at the boundary a composite of
local learning through face-to-face interaction and distance learning through external knowledge
linkages. Boundary learning may create both radical and incremental innovation whereas local
and distance learning tend to stimulate either type of innovation.
Part 2 discusses specific cases of Marshallian and evolutionary industrial districts presenting
extensive studies on four Italian districts and the footwear industry in Timisoara, Romania. By
studying different types of industrial districts the authors try to determine which model is most
suitable for replication in developing countries. Industrial districts that are able to upgrade in the
global value chain and those that promote local development are candidates for replication.
Chapter 9 explores how external linkages with foreign firms mainly Italian have transformed
the Romanian footwear cluster. The entry of foreign firms has led to the development of the
footwear industry that now bears some resemblance to a cluster. Belussi finds that knowledge
spillovers between foreign and local firms are still relatively weak to non-existent and the cluster
still relies on low labour costs as its main source of competitive advantage. She cautions,
however, that it is still too early to judge the success of the Timisoara region.
Part 3 focuses specifically on the interaction between local forces and international linkages
in the development of industrial districts. Chapters 11 to 14 discuss the governance of knowledge at the local level and how this influences the development of industrial districts in the face
of globalization. Chapter 11 compares the Dutch and Italian horticultural districts which differ
in their level of advancement and importance in the global value chain to demonstrate how a
policy of local institutional support can aid knowledge flows in a district thereby stimulating its
growth. Belussi et al. point out that despite having the less favourable climate, the Dutch have
managed to dominate the world market by making research and development central to their
production techniques and by locating low-value activities in low-cost countries. The subsequent chapters examine how managing knowledge flows when MNEs enter an industrial district
(Chapter 12) or when international competition intensifies (Chapter 13) can influence the growth
trajectory of the district. The section concludes with a discussion of industrial districts or
specialized towns in Guangdong, China. Here, both government policy and FDI are important
in the development of these districts.
Part 4 looks at high technology clusters in the global value chains focusing on biotechnology clusters in Europe and the software cluster in Bangalore, India. Institutions provide
infrastructural and financial support and promote knowledge transfer and networking among
local actors in the Parisian high-technology clusters. Institutions matter for these clusters at
varying degrees knowledge transfer institutions are more important for the less-developed
biotechnology cluster. Chapter 16 highlights the importance of knowledge transfer for Germanys emerging biotechnology clusters which came about through government policy. Chapter 17
looks at regional innovation systems in the Danish-Swedish Medicon Valley cluster while the
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Book Reviews

final chapter then looks at the reverse in which there is no regional innovation system driving
the development of the software cluster in India. Instead, the emergence of clusters tends to
precede local innovation systems. What is missing in these chapters is a discussion on how these
clusters evolve differently from the industrial districts presented earlier on in the book.
In general, the book provides a near exhaustive discussion of Italian industrial districts. The
book is inter-disciplinary in that it occupies the intersection between international business,
economic geography and economic sociology. Only five of the 18 chapters look at industrial
districts in developing countries with one chapter each on India and China which I think, given
their relative strength in the international market, deserve more attention. In addition, since the
United States, Germany, Japan and China are the key players in the global value chain, the book
could have included case studies highlighting the importance of these regions. Finally, it remains
unclear whether the Italian model of industrial districts with their close networks and long
histories is suitable for other regions. In an era of integrated international markets and free trade,
it is difficult to foresee a situation in which new, territorially-bound industrial districts will be
able to become competitive in a short space of time.
Trudy-Ann Stone
Blekinge Institute of Technology
Karlskrona, Sweden

Complex Adaptive Innovation Systems. Relatedness and Transversality in the Evolving

Region. Philip Cooke. London and New York: Routledge. 2012. 256 pp. 75. ISBN 978-0-41560375-1.
This book presents the latest ideas of the author concerning issues of regional innovation policy.
The book is not for the beginners in this field as the author has put all his knowledge in the game
making the reading experience challenging and rewarding. It is a masterpiece of an experienced scientist bringing long-awaited ingredients to the scientific discussion of regional innovation and development policy of the post-cluster era.
A question of what went wrong with the vertical process and policy-perspective is presented
in the beginning of the book. The author argues that the academic and policy discourse on
regional evolution has been couched in a narrative of verticality and top-down managerialism.
Lateral rather than vertical thinking is needed. Understanding of innovation as a recombination
of related knowledges and their subsystems is a key to new policy thinking. The author makes
astute observations about the interconnectedness between new technologies, process innovations and everyday practices and narratives. Understanding path dependence is a hindrance to
innovation but path interdependence a key to it is an exercise of complexity.
The book aligns a way from path dependence to path creation. Important concepts related to
this, proximity and distance are assessed in the emergence of new paths. Geographical and
related proximity are argued to be important to the achievement of transversality among
economic activities that show the potential and realization of the needed relatedness. Transversality is seen as a process whereby knowledge emanating from one industrial or institutional
source is successfully introduced, analysed and adopted, with modifications, to facilitate the
creation of innovation in a different industry or innovation. The author introduces theories of
resilience and panarchy as frameworks of understanding processes of tranversality in the
regional context. The author points out the importance of narratives in fostering innovations and
suggests that dramaturgy in the sense of learning by rehearsing is underused. It would have
been interesting to read more about these types of concrete practices and techniques that
stimulate path creation.
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The author stresses the importance of geographical and relational proximity in advancing
transversality and presents various examples of regional co-evolutionary processes to illustrate
his ideas: Westphalia, Styria, Gyr, Brandenburg, Burgundy, Basel and Wales. In the analysis
four different frames are used, namely, landscape frame, political frame, labour frame and
business frame. The outcome of the analysis is that localization economies may be inferior to
urbanization economies because needed difference demands a greater social agency, interaction
and absorptive capacity to realize its innovation potential than is implied in the low value-adding
interactions among economically specialized incumbents operating in the same field.
A special focus in the book is dedicated to regional processes evolving in eco-innovations.
In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of the book are accounts, such as the case of North
Jutlands green regional innovation system, that highlight the importance of co-evolution among
practice and discourse embedded in industries and institutions for the development of renewable
energy products and services. In addition, the book describes transition regions, forerunner
territories in the development and deployment of eco-innovations. According to the author
eco-innovation, as innovations generally, has to be understood occurring as a result of what are
often geographically proximate concentrations and interactions among small, fast-moving
systems of innovators and their networks. However, the evidence gathered in three regions,
namely Calfornia (USA), City regions (China) and Daegu (South Korea) shows that national
regimes are crucial in providing general frameworks that enable eco-innovators to access
subsidies and incentives. These are needed to elaborate exploration and exploitation of the
adjacent possible that according to complexity theory is where the unpredictable future of most
innovative concepts lies.
The author includes the role of narratives in regional transition. The case of Enron is
introduced as an illustrative example. The Lahti (Finland) case, where art-based methods are
pioneered in policy-making is presented as a curiosity of new methods in regional development.
Instead of the mainstream change management alternative, word-views distributed throughout
the network facilitate creation and communication of rich, shared and multi-voiced understanding. A key challenge is how to create theatrical and narrative techniques which enrich collaboration and joint understanding. The chosen method is called research-based theatre (RBT). In
RBT the understanding of an individual is developed in a co-operative social context, and
meanings are made of the experiences of the participants. A shared understanding is constructed
using theatre as a narrative approach.
The author challenges the latest hegemonic innovation policy framework (after clusters)
used in Europe smart specialization. According to the author the smart specialization framework still relies too much on cluster theories and path dependent technology trajectories leaving
essential phenomena like related variety, transversality, power of narratives, resilience etc.
practically untouched. This is at least partly true and the concept of smart specialization could
get some more flavour if these ingredients were included in the soup. Smart specialization
and the ideas presented in the reviewed book are not contradictory; smart specialization is,
namely, presented to be specialization in diversification. Therefore, a constructive discussion is
recommendable between the authors ideas and those of smart specialization theorists and
policy-makers.
A framework of relatedness, resilience and trans-versality in regional development is conceptualized in the last pages of the book: a tool for developing complex adaptive innovation
systems. The framework consists of two subsystems interacting with each other: the process
sub-system including elements of related variety, white spaces, recombination platforms; and
practice-sub-system including transversality, matrix methods, dramaturgy and orchestration.
This summarizes the essence of the book.
Throughout the book, the reader is wandering in a dense, yet intriguing, conceptual jungle
of innovation systems. In some parts, the text is rather difficult to follow and the reader is
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Book Reviews

overwhelmed with complex sentence structures and meandering argumentation. One could
argue that the book would have benefited from a more selective approach to concepts and
viewpoints. However, a multi-level analytical approach adopted in the book is particularly
suitable for analysing complex innovation systems and related issues such as eco-innovations.
This raises the need to carefully consider the trade-offs between rich and parsimonious explanations when studying complex innovation systems.
Vesa Harmaakorpi
Anne Jalkala
School of Industrial Engineering and Management
Lappeenranta University of Technology

Creative industries and innovation in Europe: Concepts, measures and comparative case
studies. Luciana Lazzeretti (ed). London: Routledge, 2012. 328 pp. 85.00. ISBN: 978-0-41567740-0.
Over the last two decades, interest in and analysis of culture and creativity have changed
considerably. Alongside a focus on culture and creativity as ends in themselves, an interest in
creativity and economic development has emerged. This increasing interest in the economics of
creativity described by Lazzeretti as a major paradigm is often described as a symptom of
the emerging knowledge economy, the development of information and communication technologies, and of the shift from an interest in cultural and artistic heritage to a focus on human
capital. Within this new cognitive cultural capitalism, cultural and creative industries (CCIs)
have become the lens through which the economic value of creativity is measured and
understood.
Culture, creativity and economic practice are today viewed as linked, and these linkages are
viewed to be highly important and interesting from both academic as well as policy perspectives.
Culture and creativity are no longer viewed as new activities but are becoming more established and mature objects of inquiry in relation to economic development and enhancement.
Among policy-makers, culture and creativity are increasingly seen as central ingredients in their
strategies aimed at helping economies handle the shift away from manufacturing-based forms
of production, managing financial crisis, as well as part of supposedly successful recipes for
competitive regional economies. There is a growing belief in CCIs, from larger cities, to smaller
towns and rural areas around Europe. European cities and regions are increasingly noticing, but
also using, the prominence of their media, entertainment and artistic sectors.
Despite the fact that culture and creativity are increasingly established as objects of study
and policy, there are (still) critical, theoretical and empirical questions that need to be addressed.
As emphasized by Lazzeretti in the introductory chapter, there are some remaining question
marks around cultural industries, creativity and innovation and these are often of definitional
matters. There are also pending questions about how these industries relate to the wider
economy. Questions such as what characterizes the delimitation of cultural products from other
products and services, how does this sector impact the rest of the economy and what are the
political implications, are still partly unanswered. Consequently, important questions remain:
what economic significance do CCIs actually have theoretically and politically? Do (and how do
we know) CCIs amount to a successful paradigm?
This volume aims to address these questions through critically assessing the significance of
these industries as well as creating an order in the definitional mess surrounding them. The
volume particularly approaches the following questions: How can we identify, map and define
CCIs in Europe? and, How do they contribute to innovation and sustainable growth?. The
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volume also aims to collect and present cases from European as well as non-European countries
in order to inform creativity policy in Europe and its regions.
The book cleverly presents a multidisciplinary approach in its investigation of a varied
European creativity; the fuzzy concepts of creativity and creative and cultural industries clearly
demands a variety of perspectives and investigative tools. Contributors to the book are associated with culture, experience and creative economy fields as well as with regional science,
organization and innovation studies.
Following the introduction chapter, the volume is divided into two larger parts and 15
chapters in total. The volume starts with chapters focused on matters of definition, measurement
and mapping of the geography of European CCIs. From a local economic perspective the
chapters present studies of Italy, Spain, the UK, Austria, Denmark and France. De Propriss
account of how the UK governments relatively early focus on creative industries has pushed the
policy debate further than in other countries and regions, provides a particularly critical and
informative contribution. It teaches us the potential challenges and ambiguities related to the
relationship between policy, creativity and economy. Furthermore the chapters in part one
interestingly reveal the differences between European regions. The differences between North
and South Europe Lazzeretti argues is mainly due to supposedly deeply rooted focuses on
technology-driven or heritage-driven creativity: an idea that is of course open to debate.
The second part presents studies of innovation generated in specific creative spaces, here
exemplified as cities of art, creative clusters and networks. The chapters present a broad platform
built up on cases of innovation among creative and non-creative sectors in European and
non-European countries. The chapters present examples including the first Italian design community in Turin Italy, Spaghetti Western movies in the US, and visual artists in New Zealand.
Cookes chapter on how recent developments in complexity theory can help us understand the
combinative evolution that characterizes innovation, is itself a particularly attractive and innovative framework. The studies in the second part of the volume present well-balanced
and well-chosen examples that demonstrate cultural industries rejuvenating or recombining
capabilities.
Overall there are several positive aspects to and important contributions made by this
volume. The most positive aspect is its general contribution to a more clear understanding of the
definition and impact of cultural industries and their creativity in the contemporary economy.
Because the boundaries of these sectors are subject to continuous change, as the editor also
stresses, the issue concerning definition and the measurement of CCIs will remain an open
matter, even after this volume. However, the discussions in the book bring some important
reflection on the variation of creativity and the socio-spatial entanglements of the creative and
cultural industries throughout Europe and beyond. Through the varied case studies, a structural
and comprehensive understanding emerges that offers the reader an important step towards a
further understanding of these matters. Beyond the individual reader the collected knowledge
that this volume presents can help future policies in supporting creativity as well as the
implementation of suitable measurement and evaluation tools. If we are to understand the
creative economy and the CCIs potential as a source of economic development, but also
importantly their limitations, close and comparative studies and reflection are welcome and
needed. Culture is a source of economic development but it is also, as Lazzeretti writes, a
shared value that ought to sustain social development.
Some of the limitations of the book are found in the initial setup and framing of the book.
As a reader you are left with the feeling, that although Lazzeretti stresses a lack of commitment
towards this industry sector the book nonetheless lacks attention to CCIs direct economic
contribution. As shown in this book, CCIs are important drivers of economic and social
innovation in many different sectors and the answer to one of the two main questions: How do
CCIs contribute to innovation and sustainable growth?, is through cross-fertilization and CCIs
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recombining capabilities. However, in order to move even further in this discourse, we also
have to choose to see these industries for what they are: we need to not only see them as
supporters to other sectors and actors creating economic value, success and power, but as
capable of creating value, success and power of their very own. This is an important foundation
and point of departure in trying to understand the current and future cultural and creative
economy and is something that the volume would have benefited from exploring and emphasizing further.
Furthermore, like other edited volumes this work suffers somewhat due to shifts in language
and theoretical approach among the different chapters. I was also expecting to learn something
more about how we can methodologically approach these matters since one of the main
questions how we can identify, map and define CCIs in Europe is methodological in nature.
The brief methodological discussions mainly involve reflections on how CCIs still are in need
of codification and quantification. Benchmarking models, inter-country and cross-sector analyses are mentioned as methods that will enlighten us in our understandings of the geography of
creativity. However, the creative economy is multifaceted and consists of activities that are
organized through multiple levels and actors. An in-depth understanding of this complexity can
probably only be reached together with qualitative case studies. A discussion of how such
complementary methods could be used and integrated would have been welcome.
Despite these shortcomings, this volume makes an important contribution to understanding
the economics of creativity and culture. Accessible and very readable, this work will prove
indispensable to many scholars or policy-makers interested in the geography, organization and
economics of the cultural and creative industries and their creative and innovative potential.
Jenny Sjholm
Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Uppsala, Sweden

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