This book highlights the role of entrepreneurship, social capital and governance for regional economic development. In recent decades, many researchers have claimed that entrepreneurship is the most critical factor in sustaining regional economic growth. However, most entrepreneurship research is undertaken without considering the fundamental importance of the regional context. Other research has emphasized the role of social capital but there are substantial problems in empirically relating measures of social capital to regional economic development.The expert contributors to this work highlight the role of governance in regional growth, an area that has so far been relatively under-researched, underpinning their findings with new theoretical and empirical evidence. They conclude that the relationship between entrepreneurship, social capital and governance in factors affecting regional economic development are complex and interdependent, and that to influence these factors and the relationship between them, policymakers must have a long-term perspective and be both patient and persistent in their efforts.

This enlightening book will be of great interest to academics, students and researchers across a range of fields including regional science, regional economics, economic geography, regional planning, public policy, entrepreneurship, political science and economic sociology. Policymakers involved in regional policymaking from national down to regional and local levels will also find the book to be an illuminating read.

Contributors include: T. Arvemo, P. Assmo, I. Bernhard, N. Carbonara, M. Cesário, G.A.S. Cook, J.L. Crespo-Espert, L.P. Dana, M.T. de Noronha, S. Doh, A. Garcia-Tabuenca, U. Gråsjö, K.E. Haynes, D.G. Ierapetirits, C. Karlsson, D. Lagos, H. Lawton Smith, M. Morehart, K. Nyström, F.- Pablo-Marti, H. Qian, J.Å. Riseth, S. Romeo, P. Stenberg, S.C. Turner, H. Westlund, E. Wihlborg, E.J. Zolnik