Understanding Dynamics of Local and Regional Economic Development in Emerging Economies

Planning and developing relevant policies for regions, localities and places have been one of the fundamental issues for politicians, policy makers, academics, researchers and practitioners in the field of local and regional economic development. This task is getting increasingly problematic in the face of rapid global economic change that has now been complicated by the impact of recession and volatility in fuel, energy and mineral costs. In this process, some countries that have been considered less developed are growing very fast in a way that has never been anticipated before. These counties show great potential to develop and there is a need to understand the regional dimension of growth more than ever. This paper explains the challenges that analysts and researchers experience when they want to translate the processes that shape regional economies into regional policies and programs both at the national and regional levels.