Introduction to the Handbook on Regional Economic Resilience

Abstract

In 2008, Mervyn King the then Governor of the Bank of England, spoke about the end of the NICE decade, a decade characterised across much of the global economy by NonInflationary Continuous Expansion. In the decade since enhanced levels of economic shocks and uncertainty for the future across national, regional and local economies has witnessed a growing interest amongst academics, policymakers and practitioners in the concept of economic resilience. One of the defining questions emerging from this decade is why some places are more able to cope with economic shocks than others. This is not simply an academic or policy question. It has real and lasting implications for the livelihoods and life chances of households around the world. In seeking out answers to this question, a rich literature on both the nature and the characteristics of economic resilience has begun to emerge, particularly as it pertains to regional and local economies. Initially drawing on the traditions of ecological resilience and concepts from the fields of engineering, the concept of economic resilience is now beginning to mature and contribute insights to the wider resilience literatures. Yet as it matures, strong points of dissonance and debate can be found across the sub-discipline providing fertile ground for further methodological and conceptual development. The current Handbook is intended to synthesise and take forward this debate by drawing together critical insights from some of the leading writers in the field to examine what is known about regional economic resilience, what is contested and where the key avenues are for future exploration. We have intentionally included contributions from a range of different perspectives, from a range of different international contexts, and from scholars across a range of different career stages, in an effort to highlight the breadth of this emerging field of study and giving voice to its richness and diversity. No consideration of economic resilience can begin without first understanding what we mean by the term itself. Original conceptions of resilience were grounded in engineering and ecological traditions, emphasising the ability to withstand a shock or, failing this, to recover (or bounce back) from a shock. This highlights the ability of an economy, firm or a household to cope with the consequences of a shock. As exploration of economic resilience has developed, so our understanding of the concept has broadened to recognise the importance of both the ability of actors to adapt to changing circumstances and for the economic system itself to transform. These approaches draw strongly on evolutionary theories of economic change and models of complex adaptive systems. In this Handbook, our contributions reflect the developing theorising around the conception of resilience and we deliberately avoid presenting one common definition of economic resilience. Rather, we demonstrate the developing breadth of conceptions