Networked shocks and regional resilience: implications from Brexit and the Corona pandemic

This paper argues that for regional policies to be effective for resilience and economic diversification, a larger understanding of both the complexity of inter-regional networks and the absorptive capacities of firms in regions is needed. Using Brexit and the corona pandemic as examples of shocks, the heterogeneity of regional and sectoral impacts on firms is shown. Although exposures to and potentials of shocks can be identified for regions (speculatively, as both shocks have not materialized fully yet), translation of these into policy measures that address firms’ selective competitive needs is challenging. Many impacts are generated and distributed along market and competition relations, which are not always sensitive to (the same) place-based policies. A discussion on policies that link to a broader interpretation of resilience (of both repair and renewal) is presented, and a research agenda is adhered that more extensively explores how local policies can be implemented in the multilevel network-region-firm structure of impacts.