Economies, Territories, Institutions: Analytical Fragments of a Complicated Relationship

From early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the economies world- wide. However, even before it, economic processes had long been challenged by the difficult transition towards post-industrial economies, the unexpected effects of the growing globalization, and instability concerning finance. Formal institutions are struggling to face challenges stemming from uncer- tainties in several spheres (e.g., pollution, climate change, reconciling eco- nomic growth with social inclusion, recessionary disturbances, etc.). At the same time, these challenges have an impact on routines, interaction patterns and cognitive orientations, thus affecting informal institutions. Territories, for their part, have experienced increasing pressures on their “identities”. After a naive early phase of analyses of globalization – in which the death of distance (Cairncross, 1997) or a flat world (Friedman, 2005) were postulated and the relevance of territories diminished – an actual spatial turn has begun (Warf and Arias, 2009). Given these relevant processes, the three broad spheres of economy, insti- tutions, and territories, have been intensely scrutinized within the academic community. However, the cogs and wheels through which they are intercon- nected need to be further investigated. Against this background, this book aims to disentangle the behaviours of different kinds of social actors who take (economic) decisions in territorial settings and within institutional envi- ronments. In other words, the present co-edited book will deal with the puz- zling nexuses between economies, institutions, and territories. Accounting for these nexuses will allow us to gain further insights and knowledge about the mutual interconnections between macro-spheres of the society and the singu- lar features of each of the three dimensions. Assuming a similar perspective to that we will follow in this book, several scholars have pointed out how institutions are an important ingredient for economic growth both at the local and national/supra-national level. Still, within territories, socio-economic differences are growing, so that we need to shed a better light on the pattern of governance shaping economic processes and outcomes. A relevant stream of literature has been analysing how social networks affect economic phenomena (i.e., emergence of new entrepreneurship, processes of job-matching, etc.), but shocking events such as severe and sud- den economic crises or global health issues can break old social networks and bring new ones into existence (Granovetter, 2017; Urso et al., 2021). These phenomena are raising new empirical questions. In addition, the attempt to expand and clarify how routines and conventions, which become established and spread locally, can help some economic processes or, conversely, hinder others, remains highly relevant, particularly for its broad practical implica- tions (Trabalzi, 2007). In sum, we can claim that economic processes take shape at the territorial level, and they have a significant role in affecting places and institutions. At the same time, places and institutions are deeply linked, and they impact eco- nomic dynamics as well. These mutual relationships recall the quantum entan- glement, a physical phenomenon occurring when particles share spatial proximity and interact so that each feature of a particle cannot be analysed independently from the features of the others (Brody, 2020). In line with this approach, the chapters of the book include analyses and research underscor- ing how economies, institutions, and territories are interconnected at multi- ple levels and numerous ways. This heterogeneity has been increasing during recent years due to a combination of multiple factors such as globalization, financialization, de-industrialization, and the emergence of the above- mentioned types of crises. To understand the multifaceted connections between economies, territories, and institutions, attention should be given to transnational phenomena, local processes, new links between formal and informal spheres, and micro-macro dynamics through a comprehensive approach. From this perspective, all the chapters – covering a variety of empirical topics – explore this “new world”, how it works, and its impacts. This is the main reason why such an edited book is timely. Consistent with these premises, the book will make from the start three broad definitional assumptions for the dimensions in question. Economy will be conceived as an instituted process of interactions and exchanges between actors to allocate resources. Institutions will be conceived in both their for- mal (i.e., rules, laws, and organizations) and informal or tacit dimensions (i.e., individual habits, group routines and social norms and values). Lastly, territories will be interpreted as arenas which are socially built and constantly negotiated, where context-specific processes and tensions unfold. The remaining of this chapter is organized as follows. First, we better clar- ify the three macro spheres upon which the book relies and try to lay out a framework to analyse their mutual interconnections. Then, we illustrate the four dimensions in which we aim to explore the interlinkages between econ- omy, institutions, and territories, which correspond to the sections of the book. Lastly, we will briefly synthesize the contents of the chapters.