Demographic change : Firms, institutions and the regional economy

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Leick, Birgit:
Demographic change : Firms, institutions and the regional economy.
Bayreuth , 2018 . - 76 S.
( Habilitation, 2018 , Universität Bayreuth, Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften)

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Abstract

Over the past decades, population ageing and decline (demographic change) have led to major shifts in the age cohorts in countries such as Germany, with the relative share of the working-age population decreasing, and the share of elderly age-cohorts growing in size. This habilitation thesis, which is located in the area of economic geography, addresses demographic change in regional economies from a micro-level perspective by focusing on three different levels: actors aligned to or operating in regional markets (for example, firms and business organisations, or other private or public organisations); networks and co-operative alliances among firms and other actors within the regional economy; and institutions, understood as the institutionalised practices of firms in the regional economy, which might be subject to change. From a micro-spatial perspective, demographic change represents a locally-distinctive process of profound market transformations, in terms of its scale and temporal impact, which also implies a locally-distinctive potential for adaptation for individual actors or groups of actors such as firms. Against this background, the thesis explores the inter-relationship of firms and institutions in regional economies marked by demographic change. It is organised around three distinct gaps identified in the contemporary research streams on the topic of demographic change, both in the area of regional studies, economic and human geography, and in the broader discipline of the social sciences, including business administration and economics: the conceptualisation of demographic change; the understanding of transmission mechanisms from the regional economy at microspatial level; and the understanding of institutionalised practices in the context of localised demographic change. These research gaps are addressed through a series of ten journal articles, both empirical cases and conceptual-policy papers, that have been published and/or accepted between 2012 and 2018.