Is the future 'regional' for global standards?

The paper concerns the formation of standard setting in respect to international economic activity. A number of different forms of standard setting are discussed, but the analysis is concentrated upon the macro context for this process. In this paper I review the issue of the convergence in institutional design and systemic patterns of economic activity as global standards are pressed onto the governance framework for international economic management. However, the analysis suggests that the international economy is developing along a distinct path towards supranational regional bloc formations rather than towards an ever more global pattern. The consequences of this shaping of the international economy for the processes of standard setting in a number of different contexts are discussed

Regional currency arrangements in North America

Floating rates, Monetary union, OCA, Production networks, F41, F15, F33,

Why some regions will decline: A Canadian case study with thoughts on local development strategies-super-

The authors present the case of five Canadian peripheral regions, which they argue are destined to decline. The explanation of the reasons why future decline (in absolute population and employment numbers) is inevitable constitutes the article's central focus. The authors suggest that regional decline will become an increasingly common occurrence in nations at the end of the demographic transition whose economic geographies display centre-periphery relationships. Such broad structural trends cannot be easily altered by public policy. The authors reflect on the implications of regional decline for the formulation of local economic development strategies. Local economic development strategies should not, they argue, be advanced as a means of arresting population and employment decline. To suggest that the regions studied in this article will decline because of a lack of social capital or insufficient number of local entrepreneurs, is not only misleading but may also be counterproductive. Copyright (c) 2006 the author(s). Journal compilation (c) 2006 RSAI.

The geographical effects of the NAFTA on Canadian provinces

F130, F140, F150,