IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v29y2014i4-5p486-502.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The catalysts of small town economic development in a free market economy: A case study of New Zealand

Author

Listed:
  • Etienne Nel
  • Teresa Stevenson

Abstract

Along with most of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, New Zealand has experienced significant changes in local and regional development policy and practice since the wide-spread adoption of neoliberal reforms in the 1980s. Policy interventions have restricted the powers of local governments, rationalised state support for more marginal areas and ultimately led to a scenario in which local communities are obliged to become more pro-active in the determination of their local economic futures. This paper discusses how neoliberal changes have impacted on New Zealand government policy and spatial development. In the second part of this paper, based on field research, the implications of these changes on smaller, more marginal urban centres less well positioned to adapt to a context of neoliberalism and change are investigated. Evidence is drawn from statistical indicators of change and from a study of 68 small towns to identify common catalysts and barriers to economic development and diversification. The study reveals the key role which entrepreneurs, in particular those who desire to encourage others to come and locate in their town, can play in the economic wellbeing of their towns in an era of reduced state support.

Suggested Citation

  • Etienne Nel & Teresa Stevenson, 2014. "The catalysts of small town economic development in a free market economy: A case study of New Zealand," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(4-5), pages 486-502, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:4-5:p:486-502
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094214535022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094214535022
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094214535022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Scott & Eric Pawson, 1999. "Local Development Initiatives And Unemployment In New Zealand," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 90(2), pages 184-195, May.
    2. Geoff A. Wilson, 2014. "Community resilience: path dependency, lock-in effects and transitional ruptures," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 1-26, January.
    3. David Wilson, 2011. "Performative Neoliberal‐Parasitic Economies: The Chicago Case," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 691-711, July.
    4. D Conradson & E Pawson, 1997. "Reworking the Geography of the Long Boom; The Small Town Experience of Restructuring in Reefton, New Zealand," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(8), pages 1381-1397, August.
    5. Heike Mayer & Paul Knox, 2009. "Small-Town Sustainability: Prospects in the Second Modernity," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(10), pages 1545-1565, November.
    6. Bale, Malcolm & Dale, Tony, 1998. "Public Sector Reform in New Zealand and Its Relevance to Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 13(1), pages 103-121, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Etienne Nel, 2015. "Evolving regional and local economic development in New Zealand," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 30(1), pages 67-77, February.
    2. Lee Pugalis & Gill Bentley, 2014. "Place-based development strategies: Possibilities, dilemmas and ongoing debates," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(4-5), pages 561-572, June.
    3. Levy, Deborah & Hills, Raewyn & Perkins, Harvey C. & Mackay, Michael & Campbell, Malcolm & Johnston, Karen, 2021. "Local benevolent property development entrepreneurs in small town regeneration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Digby Race & Supriya Mathew & Matthew Campbell & Karl Hampton, 2016. "Understanding climate adaptation investments for communities living in desert Australia: experiences of indigenous communities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 461-475, December.
    5. Roemer, Kelli F. & Haggerty, Julia H., 2021. "Coal communities and the U.S. energy transition: A policy corridors assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Khaleghian, Peyvand & Gupta, Monica Das, 2005. "Public management and the essential public health functions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1083-1099, July.
    7. Susanne Moser & Sara Meerow & James Arnott & Emily Jack-Scott, 2019. "The turbulent world of resilience: interpretations and themes for transdisciplinary dialogue," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 21-40, March.
    8. Mccourt, Willy, 2012. "Can Top-Down and Bottom-Up be Reconciled? Electoral Competition and Service Delivery in Malaysia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2329-2341.
    9. Willy McCourt, 2018. "Towards “cognitively complex” problem‐solving: Six models of public service reform," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S2), pages 748-768, September.
    10. Męczyński Michał & Ciesiółka Przemysław, 2022. "Regional Green Transition: Cases of Polish and Russian Regions," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 41(4), pages 165-177, December.
    11. Barry Eichengreen & Ugo Panizza, 2016. "A surplus of ambition: can Europe rely on large primary surpluses to solve its debt problem?," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 31(85), pages 5-49.
    12. Mr. Ian Lienert & Mr. Feridoun Sarraf, 2001. "Systemic Weaknesses of Budget Management in Anglophone Africa," IMF Working Papers 2001/211, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Yanfeng Jiang & Tiantian Wang & Yuli Xu, 2024. "Deciphering Land Use Transitions in Rural China: A Functional Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, June.
    14. Rauch, James E. & Evans, Peter B., 2000. "Bureaucratic structure and bureaucratic performance in less developed countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 49-71, January.
    15. Annette Bernhardt & Michael W. Spiller & Nik Theodore, 2013. "Employers Gone Rogue: Explaining Industry Variation in Violations of Workplace Laws," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(4), pages 808-832, July.
    16. Zhanping Hu & Qian Forrest Zhang, 2022. "The Resilience of Diversified Clusters: Reconfiguring Commodity Networks in Rural China during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    17. Fischer, Alexandra Paige, 2018. "Pathways of adaptation to external stressors in coastal natural-resource-dependent communities: Implications for climate change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 235-248.
    18. Johnson, Robin W., 2000. "The Role of Institutions in Policy Formation and Delivery," 2000 Conference, August 13-18, 2000, Berlin, Germany 197206, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Fulvio Biddau & Sonia Brondi & Paolo Francesco Cottone, 2022. "Unpacking the Psychosocial Dimension of Decarbonization between Change and Stability: A Systematic Review in the Social Science Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-28, April.
    20. Giovanni Quaranta & Jane Brandt & Rosanna Salvia, 2016. "The Local Food Processing House: a social innovation for rural development in Campania," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 227-236.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:4-5:p:486-502. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.