Globalisation in flux: examining the role of inter-regional linkages in building regional resilience

A growing debate in the literature addresses the challenges posed by globalisation to regional economies and the strategic shift toward regionalisation. However, tension exists between reducing global integration and the quest for balancing global and local views on regional development. Moreover, the rising uncertainty and lack of stability in today’s global economy intensify the tension and further fuel the debate. In this paper, we contribute to the current discussion on globalisation by investigating the role of inter-regional linkages in building regional resilience during the Great Recession of 2008. We focus on geographical proximity, market access, migration and regional trade as proxies for regional integration. Drawing on data from 262 nomenclature of territorial units for statistics, level 2 (NUTS2) regions, we find that denser inter-regional linkages are associated with better regional resilience. Our findings call for a more balanced approach toward regional development that acknowledges the duality of exogenous and endogenous causation of regional evolution.