Lezione di Economia Marche 2024: Prof. Ron Boschma

Recently, the development trap concept has been introduced to identify regions that get caught in persistent patterns of low economic growth and stagnation. Evolutionary scholars have indicated that self-reinforcing dynamics can limit the capacity of regions to innovate and develop new growth paths. However, an evolutionary approach to regional development traps is still underdeveloped. We build on but also go beyond recent works that argue that regions might become trapped in low-complexity activities, because their opportunities to develop high-complex activities are very limited, since relevant capabilities are missing. We discuss the policy implications, like what to do about regional traps, how to successfully escape them, and how to avoid them in the future. This is crucial for Smart Specialization policy in places that find themselves trapped or run the risk of falling into a trap.