Doc E4/REG/2009/10

/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROSTAT
Directorate E: Sectoral and Regional Statistics
Unit E-4: Regional indicators and geographical information /

Working Group on Regional and Urban Statistics
Meeting of 8-9 October 2009 in Luxembourg,
BECH building, AMPERE room

Document E4/REG/2009/14

OECD Activities on Territorial Indicators

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Doc E4/REG/2009/10

Territorial Indicators (OECD)

1.OECD Meeting at the ministerial level: “Investing for Growth, Building Innovative Regions”

The 31st of March the OECD hosted the meeting on regional policy at the ministerial level. In preparation for the meeting, the OECD work on regional policy was summarised in a report that was presented to ministries with the purpose of informing the discussion.

Understanding of how regional development policy can best support regional growth stem from the analysis of regional economic performance. The main messages that have come from the analytical work carried out in recent years are as follows:

  • Across all OECD countries, regions display very wide variations in both per capita income levels and growth rates, with few signs of sustained convergence.
  • Urban areas tend to have higher income levels than rural regions, but not necessarily higher growth rates; there is no consistent relation between continuing concentration and increasing economic performance.
  • Growth is linked to utilisation of productive factors. Faster growth in all types of regions depends on a combination of higher utilisation of labour and increased productivity.
  • Higher productivity, in turn, depends on a range of factors, notably infrastructure, human capital and innovation performance.
  • But no single factor explains improved performance. The positive impact of infrastructure investment on growth, for example, depends on levels of educational attainment and innovation performance.
  • Simple concentration of investment and assets is not enough. The key appears to be how assets are used, how different stakeholders interact and how synergies are exploited in different types of regions. The market does not always appear to maximise this potential alone.

2.Regional Policy Forum 'Global Crisis, Regional Responses'

Preceding the Ministerial, the Regional Policy Forum 'Global Crisis, Regional Responses' opened the floor to a diversity of key actors in the field of regional policy, including sub-national governments, business and financial sectors, education and research community, and NGOs. The Forum was organised into four roundtables, looking at different dimensions of regional policy.

One of the roundtables “Building Knowledge for Better Regional Policy” addressed the following questions: How can regional policy make the best use of statistical information to target investment and create reliable benchmarks? With regard to recovery plans and investment opportunities, how can data availability at regional level contribute to make regions more attractive and how sound analysis to guide public choices can be reconciled with the need for rapid action in the context of the current crisis? What is the role of statistical information in increasing awareness and support for public policies? What are the main challenges in transferring results into operational tools for policy makers? How can we best incorporate citizen preferences and local knowledge in policy making?

The discussion held at the regional policy forum helped in defining the directions of future work for the OECD Working Party on Territorial Indicators, in particular on the analysis of regional innovation and human capital as key factors that underpin development and lasting economic strength; on exploring the use of other relevant information for analysis beyond regional indicators and on promoting innovative tools to disseminate the knowledge about the potential roles of regions to contribute to national and global growth and well-being;

3.Publication of OECD Regions at a glance 2009

The third issue of “OECD Regions at a Glance” was published in March 2009. It is organized around four major themes, with a special focus on regional innovation. Part I looks at the role of innovation in regional competitivity and national economic growth, through the use of regional indicators on R&D expenditure, patents and co-patenting among countries, level of education of the labour force and employment in technology sectors. Part II highlights the geographic concentration of resources and part III the economic disparities among regions. Part IV examines the factors of regional economic growth. Finally, part V underlines the interplay between individual well-being and the collective good.

4.Prioritising public investment and services for regional development (2010)

This project investigates on the investment strategies undertaken by governments to address the economic crisis, their coordination with sub-national actions and comparative analysis of regional policy strategies aimed at improving efficiency and quality of public spending. As an intermediate product, the OECD Secretariat is surveying the availability of regional data on public capital expenditure. This work is initially focused on a limited number of countries (Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, United Kingdom and United States) to define an analytical framework for comparison across countries.

The preliminary results are due by the end of 2009, while the final report will be completed by the second half of 2010.

5.Migration

This project aims at analysing how internal migration flows of nationals and foreigners impact local endowments of human capital and consequently the regional growth process and productivity differentials across regions. The first section of the study will provide analysis of internal migration flows in OECD regions. It is based on two types of data: Census data to describe the magnitude of net inflows and characteristics (age, education) of leavers and incomers; register data, also through the use of the Eurostat Regio database, are used to derive time varying indicators of regional inflows and outflows. Determinants and economic effects of migration-induced changes in regional human capital endowments will be identify with the use of the OECD Regional dataset and other sources at the regional level. The study will be completed with the discussion of some policy interventions aimed to attract or retain a productive labor force and few country cases.

The report will be completed in the second half of 2010.

6.Growing lagging regions

The aim of this project is to investigate which factors have been successful in helping lagging regions catch up to national standards and in particular the role regional polices have played in this process. The project combines analytical methods and a series of case studies. The analysis will compare the performance of all OECD regions over the course of one or more economic cycles and the case studies will aim to deepen the analysis in a selected number of lagging regions.

The OECD secretariat has carried out a series of projects analysing the main sources of growth in OECD regions. Taking stock from this knowledge, and from OECD Territorial Reviews, the focus will be on lagging regions and the role regional policies play in the catching up process. The project aims at identifying best practices and recommendations for improving policies in this field. These recommendations will be disseminated via the OECD’s Working Party of Territorial Indicators (WPTI) and the Territorial Development Policy Committee (TDPC).

The first part of the project is due by the end of 2009, while the second one, which will include case studies, will be achieved in the second half of 2010.

7.Definition and Measurement of Metropolitan Regions

A workshop was held in London the 29-30 of September to further discuss the possibility of defining and measuring metro areas with criteria that would allow international comparisons. The aim of the meeting was the identification of a definition based on criteria of functionality, which uses building blocks small enough to ensure a fairly precise approximation of the metropolitan boundaries. The trade off between data availability for small building blocks has orientated the experts toward the use of census data.

A first list of metro regions was selected on which few selected definition will be tested. The work should then move toward two equally important objectives:

The inclusion of a larger number of metropolitan regions and the definition of a framework for the delimitation of smaller urban areas.

The evaluation of the availability of indicators and the feasibility of collecting census data or data from registers for the selected metro regions. Also, possible ways of estimating productive activities should be considered.

8.Refinement of the OECD Regional Typology

The OECD Regional Typology which classifies regions into Predominantly Urban, Intermediate and Predominantly Rural according to criteria of population size and density overlooks the fact that some rural or intermediate regions can be located close to an urban centre/agglomeration. The typology has been refined to include a criterion of distance following the methodology suggested by DG Regio. The result of the exercise carried out for Mexico and the USA will be presented.

9.OECD Regional database

Availability and accessibility of data, presentation of OECD.Stat

10.OECD eXplorer

Main features of the tool, presentation of the new version available on the OECD website The use that OECD member countries are doing of eXplorer.

The Working Group is requested to comment the latest activities of the OECD on territorial indicators.

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