Using a strategy of export-led growth and an activist industrial policy, Japan, the Asian Tigers and more recently China have attained high rates of economic growth. Export-led growth has taken over the status as model for developing countries' economic development from the formerly prevailing...

The development of Abu Dhabi and Dubai during past years seems breathtaking. Both emirates pursue a strategy of diversifying their economic structure and thus of becoming less dependent on oil and gas. The obvious goal is to secure their prosperity for an era beyond oil. Diversification is a...

Cluster policy has gained remarkable prominence in regional and sectoral structural policy in industrialized countries. Instead of compensating for weaknesses it focuses on strengths in the local and regional economic structure. In Germany, handing out regional development funds in competitions...

During the past two decades, the “Washington Consensus” has been the dominant recipe for unleashing economic growth in developing countries. In view of the strong criticism mounted against it, it seems to have lost prominence recently. The success of the East Asian newly industrialized...

Cluster policy has arrived at the mainstream of economic policy since the early 1990. In many developing countries including those on the African continent, clusters on the regional and local levels have been promoted. The North African countries offer an interesting case because of their...

Cluster policy has become a method of choice for economic policymakers in many nations and regions in both industrialized and developing countries. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the policy is being perceived by politicians and practitioners as a way to anchor economic activity in locations...

The idea of smart specialisation has gained high prominence in the discourse about EU regional policy. In the coming program period from 2014 to 2020 it is expected to be a major pillar of EU structural funds. The notion of smart specialisation incorporates some basic principles of evolutionary...

After it has been discovered as a vehicle of economic policy in industrialized countries at the beginning of the 1990s, cluster policy has attracted the attention of development policy. Indeed, the case for using cluster policies to promote economic development is in principle not confined to...

Geographical clusters are in the focus of a large breadth of literature and have been discovered as a preferred policy tool by policymakers around the world. The vast literature suggests differing explanations for the advantages clusters offer to constituent firms. Yet not all of these...