Towards an Evolutionary Perspective on Institutions in Economic Geography

Ron Boschma ()
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

No 2527, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: There is a long-standing body of literature on the role of institutions for regional development in which it is common to treat institutions as static and as if they operate in isolation. We present an evolutionary perspective on institutions instead. We propose a dynamic and systemic framework on institutions that focuses on complementarities and institutional change. This allows to take up questions in economic geography that have not yet been fully addressed: (1) how complementarities across institutions affect the ability of regions to diversify into new activities; (2) how an complementarity framework on institutions sheds light on the question what is possible, and what is not, when implementing institutional change in territorial contexts; and (3) how such a framework may contribute to a better understanding of how changes in regional innovation or mission- oriented policies may, or may not, become effective. Doing so, the paper aims to contribute to the further integration of institutions in Evolutionary Economic Geography.

Keywords: institutions; institutional complementarities; institutional relatedness; institutional change; policy mix; regional diversification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B15 B52 O18 O30 O33 P51 R11 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-08, Revised 2025-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eur, nep-geo and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:2527

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