Regional determinants of economic resilience

The economic resilience approach recently spread among regional scientists and economic geographers has provided new challenges to empirical researchers interested in studying the overall temporary and persistent consequences of the recent crisis and, more broadly, economic shocks. One of the open issues in this literature is the identification of the determinants of resilience, that is, the factors that influence the evolutionary dynamic process of robustness and adaptability registered in particular places. The selected sample of papers in this special issue provides original contributions for answering the question about what determines regional economic resilience. The common findings of the contributions can be seen as quite robust by relying upon different measures of resilience, cases, methodologies and time periods. Three main conclusions arise from the special issue: most of the determinants of economic resilience show regularities across time and space. The factors that contribute to explain the economic performance of places in normal times are also useful for understanding the patterns observed during and after recessionary events. Policymakers can play an active role in sustaining resilient economies by addressing resources and efforts in the right policy areas without waiting for crises.