TERRITORIAL COMPETITION - SOME LESSONS FOR POLICY

This paper analyses the policy implications of territorial competition ; that is the promotion of local economic development in competition w ith other territories. It does so both in analytical and empirical ter ms moving from a wider supranational and analytical standpoint to a mo re practical and local one, The impact of territorial competition in w elfare terms depends critically on the perspective adopted. Some polic ies are pure waste even from the point of view of the initiating terri tory. Other policies may have a positive impact in economic welfare te rms, viewed from the perspective of the territory, but be zero sum fro m a wider perspective. There may also be policies, however, which incr ease economic welfare, both locally and from a wider perspective. This suggests that there is a case for providing a supranational regulator y framework. The empirical section first examines the evidence as to w hether local policies for economic growth do, in fact, have any impact . The paper concludes with an examination of the actual policies pursu ed in a sample of European regions and draws out some conclusions for local policy makers.