Contenu du sommaire : Les acteurs économiques et la régionalisation

If the formalization of space and time in regional economic models has gone through decisive improvements, what has always been, and still is, a difficult step forward in the conceptualization of a modern regional science is the convergence between the formalized, analytical approaches with the qualitative, conceptual ones that have enriched regional economics since the 1970s, moving the main focus of analysis from “space” to “territory”. Within the general goal of moving towards a convergence between formalized and qualitative approaches, the paper presents the view and the research style in regional science that characterized the long lasting years of cooperation of two authors, always in search for conceptual tools able to interpret the complex reality at best. In particular, authors are convinced that evolutionary approaches are necessary for the interpretation of complex regional as well as urban economic systems. The authors developed new theoretical views characterized by an evolutionary approach and by sound empirical evidence. Moreover, the two authors are convinced that long run competitiveness is a supply side phenomenon, based on tangible and intangible assets indicated along sixty years of regional science theorisation. All these elements have been synthetized in the concept of territorial capital, and have called for a complementary and synergic use of its different assets and their balanced development. All these convictions led the two authors to the idea that a modern approach to regional growth calls for the implementation of regional growth theories based on a relational-stylised space, through an integration between national, macroeconomic processes and territorial assets and specificities, something that has hardly been taken into consideration in regional science up to now. The paper presents a first formalized model of this kind.

Some criticisms of the original formulation of the Economic Base Theory have stressed on one of their shortcomings: the identification of local economic growth without considering the integration of the spatial interactions and their feedback effects between neighbouring regions' economic bases. The omission of these effects has prevented the original Economic Base Theory authors from estimating correctly the economic base multiplier. Their focus of the dependence between exporting base and domestic economy resulted in a negligence of the necessity to promote spatial cooperation for achieving local economic development. After reviewing the controversies around the definition of an suitable scale of analysis and presenting the different approaches of the Economic Base Theory, we show that a public policy aiming to foster cooperation between neighbouring regions' economic bases, would be more efficient than a policy which only seeks to promote a better interaction between the economic base and the domestic economy within a given region. This performance is especially due to the link from the exports of the region “A” and the income of the region “B”. Then, taking into account this result as assumption and using estimations for all the parameters needed, we use an elementary Keynesian model with feedback effects between regions' economic bases. We compare it with another model being unaware of these feedback effects in order to measure the benefits of public policy aiming for a spatial cooperation development. Finally, we suggest an example showing what kind of spatial cooperation that public authorities could design by using our Economic Base Theory model.

Changes undergone in international trade have forced ports to transform and move away from the city. This spatial distance contributes to a re-composition of territories and local governance. The study of medium-sized port cities is particularly illustrative in this respect. The port-city relationship is particularly strong. The mutual impacts of territorial and port dynamics seem more intense compared to larger port cities. Therefore, the cases of Le Havre and Klaipeda in Lithuania were selected regarding their similarities and an archetypal value. Le Havre and Klaipeda were analyzed using a qualitative study. More than twenty interviews were undertaken with the main stakeholders (elected officials, representatives of the port authorities, cargo handling company directors, Chamber of Commerce and Industry directors, trades unions and lobbyists, etc.), which helped to clarify the way in which the interplay between stakeholder's structures port cities and impacts on the development of territories (port, urban or inland). This paper is part of a research-action program called "PORTERR - Ports and Territories" which aims to optimize and combine port and territorial development. Beyond a simple coexistence, the challenge lies in the creation of synergies benefiting both entities. The territory must form a resource in port economic development. Conversely, the port must participate in urban/regional development. The question is no longer to deal with two distinct processes, which would interact episodically and indirectly, but to identify the mechanisms of a mutual enhancement. Consequently, the ability of actors to adopt cooperative behaviors within specific territorial configurations seems to be a determining factor.

The links between migration and health are complex and dynamic. Health status can be a determinant of migration and, inversely, migration can affect the health of those who migrate. Based on the « Migrations, Famille et Vieillissement » (MFV) survey, this article investigates the effect of the place of birth on the self-reported health status of individuals in French Guiana. The novelty of this approach is to consider different types of migration beyond the international migration. We capture the internal migration through the French-metropole born individuals and return migration through the French Guiana born individuals who came back after a journey outside. Based on probit estimations, the likelihood of being in a good health is explained by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and the place of birth. Our results show that non-natives declare a better health status than natives who never moved from French Guiana. Differences appear among the country of the birth with the Europeans who declare the highest health status, follows by Africans, then French-metropole born individuals, and finally people from the neighbouring countries (Haitians, Brazilians and Surinamese). Concerning the duration of stay, our results confirm the evidence found in the literature about the deterioration of non-natives health status across time. This effect is more visible for chronic diseases and limitation of activities. On return migration, French Guiana born individuals who movedfrom a journey outside their country, do not report any significant difference in health status compared to natives who never moved outside. These results show the importance of deeper analysis of the social inequality into the motivations of people who enter into French Guiana.

Territorial governance is a factor of economic development, as are investments in education, infrastructure and innovation. Public actors see in the territory the political-administrative space that they govern in a geographical dimension rather than social dimension. However, economic and social practices are now interterritorial. They are made up of mobilities, networks and links. The case of the employment area of Saintes and Saint-Jean-d'Angély illustrates this point. Home-to-work mobility and head office-establishment links are explained by the proximity of skills, the economic and political history of the region and the strategic choices made by companies. Thinking about the interterritorial dimension of economic activities requires taking into account the economic history of businesses and the capacity of local businesses to develop. The identification of interterritorial economic and social realities raises the question of the recognition of these characteristics by local actors and, therefore, their abilities to promote a development at an interterritorial level. In the case of Saintes and Saint-Jean-d'Angély, it appears that neighbouring territories tend to perceive themselves as competitors. Cooperation is almost non-existent despite numerous opportunities that would be a source of development for the territory (especially in the tourism and the wine-growing activities). Thus, governance no longer only appears to be a matter of the territory on which the actors are located but is also part of an interterritorial context. Interterritorial governance constitutes a challenge for local actors and is related to a long-term cooperative process beyond political and administrative limits. It requires moving from a competitive vision to a cooperative vision.

This paper examines to what extent the ecosystem services (ES) provided by coastal (near to Montpellier) or aquaculture ponds (in the Dombes region) contribute to the life satisfaction of local populations and of direct beneficiaries of these ES. This research is based on three face-to-face surveys and an online survey on a national scale, so as to be able to compare the perceptions of residents according to whether or not they are located near the two types of ponds studied. The contribution is assessed by ranking their impact compared to other more usual well-being factors. Depending on the weight of ecosystem services taken into account, a well-being profile variable sensitive to nature was created. An analysis of the determinants of choice reveals correlations with the type of use, people's proximity and familiarity with these ecosystems as well as their connection and attachment to nature, the urban or rural residential context and psychological characteristics, in favour of rural territories. This approach is consistent with the subjective analyses centred on satisfaction or well-being and enables the integration and evaluation of the role of environmental factors in the notion of territorial well-being and, thereby, in residential and touristic attractiveness of territories. This type of analysis also facilitates the study of environmental inequalities depending on the territory. More generally, it widens the field of knowledge for decision-making support in planning, development and territorial governance. It also results in an original evaluation of perceptions of ES by focusing on the social demand for these services. Thus the nature of ecosystem services favoured by respondents reflects the existence of a demand for environmental amenities, which are part of cultural ES but also of regulation ES related to environmental quality and its impacts on health.

This paper aims to study the location of the immigrant population in France and the determinants of its residential mobility. This work uses a series of different methodological and econometric tools as well as a reconstructed database provided by the National Office of Statistics that measures the share of immigrants in the 304 commuting zones of metropolitan France between 1968 and 2014. This work firstly shows that there is a spatial diffusion of the immigrant population in France between 1968 and 2014. Although the results do not clearly confirm the hypothesis of a demographical convergence of the 304 commuting zones, they show that disparities tend to lessen thanks to the strong residential mobility of immigrants, especially towards the Northern and Western regions. The Paris region remains the area with the highest concentration of immigrants. Secondly, this paper also shows that the residential mobility of immigrants is motivated by the same determinants as the mobility of natives, which are essentially the tensions on the local labor markets and the conditions of the local housing markets. Finally, this work clearly shows that there is neither a general behavior of discrimination of immigrants by natives nor path dependency and community preferences in the location choice of immigrants settled in France, when they undertake residential mobility. This work finally studies the spatial dimension of the residential mobility of immigrants in France over the last forty years.