Local governance, regional investment, and local economic development
Review of achievements and research prospects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23882/emss26279Keywords:
Local governance, Regional investment, Local economic development, Bibliometric analysis, Spatial econometricsAbstract
This article aims to provide a rigorous synthesis of the scientific literature on the relationships between local governance, regional investment, and local economic development. The main objective is to map the major academic contributions, identify the dominant thematic areas, and shed light on future research prospects in an increasingly interdisciplinary field. The study is based on a bibliometric review of publications indexed in the Scopus database up to 2025. Using VOSviewer software (v.1.6.20), a mapping of keyword co-occurrences, author networks, sources, and institutions was carried out. Thematic analysis was then used to identify the field's evolutionary trajectories and dominant methodological trends. The analysis highlights a structuring of the field around eight cognitive clusters, illustrating the diversity of theoretical and empirical approaches used. Research is evolving gradually in four phases, from the founding institutional approach to the integration of resilience, innovation, and green transition issues. A structured research agenda is proposed to fill empirical gaps, refine governance measures, and explore the distributional and spatial effects of investments. This study provides a unique and up-to-date overview of scientific output in a strategic field at the crossroads of economics, politics, and territorial sciences. Combining methodological rigor with a critical reading of emerging trends, it offers an operational roadmap for researchers and public decision-makers seeking to better understand, measure, and govern the effects of regional investments on local development. The approach adopted also highlights the need to integrate social, environmental, and digital dimensions for truly transformative local governance.
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