Karl-Johan Lundquist
Professor
Can foundational economy save regions in crisis?
Author
Summary, in English
We perform an explorative analysis of employment patterns in the foundational
economy producing mundane everyday necessities and providing welfare services across Swedish regional labour markets between 2007 and 2016. We focus specifically on hierarchical patterns in spatial distribution of foundational activities and their association – direct and through integration with other economic activities – with regional employment dynamics in times of crisis, recovery, and growth. Our findings suggest the foundational economy plays an
important role as employment provider to a substantial number of Swedish workers, particularly in non-metropolitan regions. Besides, it appears to be associated with improved ability of regions to retain employment in the most acute phases of economic crisis, but only if it is well integrated into regional industrial profiles. However, its overall contribution to regional resilience in the long term appears to be rather limited.
economy producing mundane everyday necessities and providing welfare services across Swedish regional labour markets between 2007 and 2016. We focus specifically on hierarchical patterns in spatial distribution of foundational activities and their association – direct and through integration with other economic activities – with regional employment dynamics in times of crisis, recovery, and growth. Our findings suggest the foundational economy plays an
important role as employment provider to a substantial number of Swedish workers, particularly in non-metropolitan regions. Besides, it appears to be associated with improved ability of regions to retain employment in the most acute phases of economic crisis, but only if it is well integrated into regional industrial profiles. However, its overall contribution to regional resilience in the long term appears to be rather limited.
Department/s
- Department of Human Geography
- CIRCLE
Publishing year
2020-12
Language
English
Document type
Working paper
Publisher
Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Urban & Regional Research Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University
Topic
- Social and Economic Geography
Keywords
- foundational economy
- everyday economy
- employment
- regional resilience
- crisis
- recovery
- Sweden
Status
Published