The World Development Report 2009:

* Documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow.

* Proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations.

* Revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.

For more information on economic geography and the World Development Report press here.

European Spring Institute 2009

The Prague's Centre for Public Policy (Centrum pro verejnou politiku - CPVP) is pleased to announce the forthcoming European Spring Institute 2009 (ESI 2009) on the Future of Europe: Lobbying in Brussels. In Prague, Czech Republic. March 28 - April 4, 2009

More information here: http://esi.cpvp.cz/esi/to

Conferences

Regional Studies Association Conference 2008
Monday 1st December 2008

GO-EAST - Cambridge: Migration and Migrant Workers in the UK and an Enlarged European Union

Please register online at: www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk

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WINTER CONFERENCE 2008
Working Regions

Friday 28 November 2008
London Voluntary Sector Resource Centre
356 Holloway Road London N7 6PA

OECD report on inequality

Income inequality and poverty rising in most OECD countries, according to the new OECD report. OECD’s "Growing Unequal?" finds that the economic growth of recent decades has benefitted the rich more than the poor. In some countries, such as Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United States, the gap also increased between the rich and the middle-class. Countries with a wide distribution of income tend to have more widespread income poverty. Also, social mobility is lower in countries with high inequality, such as Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, and higher in the Nordic countries where income is distributed more evenly. Launching the report in Paris, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría warned of the dangers posed by inequality and the need for governments to tackle it. “Growing inequality is divisive. It polarises societies, it divides regions within countries, and it carves up the world between rich and poor. Greater income inequality stifles upward mobility between generations, making it harder for talented and hard-working people to get the rewards they deserve. Ignoring increasing inequality is not an option.” Read more.

Book

Decentralized Authoritarianism in China

http://www.cambridge.org/uk/9780521882354

Pierre F. Landry examines how the Chinese Communist Party's management of local officials perpetuates a decentralized authoritarian regime.

Encouraging a positive local / regional entrepreneurial climate

Spark, a Dutch NGO, has undertaken some effective initiatives to help launch promising small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Western Balkans. By establishing local Business Start-Up Centers (BSCs) in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia as well as creating a pan-region Southeast European Network of Start-Up Centers and Incubators (SENSI) Spark is aiming to build an enabling environment for entrepreneurs under 35 years old.

To enhance regional coordination, these Incubators and BSCs are linked together by SENSI (www.sensi.biz). For more information, please contact: Aleksandra Milenkovic BukumirovicHead of SPARK Belgrade office and Project Manager SPARK (formerly known as ATA) Dobracina 22/13, 11000 BelgradePhone/Fax: +381 (0)11 2189-585Phone: +381 (0)11 3286-053 www.spark-online.org

Good jobs, nae jobs, bad jobs: Skills, workfare and struggles over work

Alternative Economy Strategy seminar, Friday, 13 February 2009, STUC, Woodlands, Glasgow

Please send an abstract to one of the organisers by 20 December 2008: Andy Cumbers (Andrew.Cumbers@ges.gla.ac.uk); Gesa Helms (g.helms@lbss.gla.ac.uk); or Geoff Whittam (Geoffrey.Whittam@uws.ac.uk)

The Political Economy of Labour Market

We are now inviting potential paper-givers to submit abstracts for our workshop 'The Political Economy of Labour Market Reforms in Advanced CapitalistDemocracies' (for more information:http://www.ecpr.org.uk/lisbon/documents/ws22_000.pdf)

It will take place in the context of ECPR Joint Sessions 2009 inLisbon on April 14-19 (for more information,http://www.ecpr.org.uk/lisbon/academic_programme.html).

The deadline for abstract submission is 1 December 2008

Regional Studies Association Research Networks

Green Regional Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Governance (GRIEG) Climate Change & Eco-Innovation: Regional Perspectives12th November 2008 - Aalborg, Denmark

Leading Citizen-Driven Governance: Collective Regional and Sub Regional Leadership in the UK and Beyond 24th November 2008 - Liverpool, UK. Second Workshop
Date: Monday 24 November 2008Venue: The Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool

Tourism, Regional Development and Public Policy
26th - 28th November, 2008 Aalborg, Denmark.
Second Workshop

The role of Old Industrial Knowledges in Economic Development of Post-Industrial Regions
15-17 February, 2009 Monchengladbach, Germany

Creative industries, scenes, cities, places: idiosyncratic dimensions of the cultural economy.
22nd and 23rd of April 2009 at the University of Cardiff.

More information about these networks can be found here: http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/

Briefing

How Will a New Administration and Congress Support Innovation In An Economic Crisis?

A briefing sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Breakthrough Institute, University of California Washington Center, and Ford Foundation

Monday, December 1, 2008 - Washington D.C.

More information here: http://www.burnesscommunications.com/new/new_rsvp.htm?doc_id=716291

4th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium

Please find below the call for papers for the 4th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium that will take place on 25-26 June 2009 at the London School of Economics. More information about the 4th PhD Symposium and the Hellenic Observatory can be found at: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/hellenicObservatory/