Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Institution of Infrastructure and the Development of Port-Regions

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Social scientists long have focused their attention on the structure, function, and impact of institutions. Recent lines of inquiry have examined patterns of regional growth in terms of differences in institutional configurations across regions. Some researchers have argued that certain kinds of institutions are more likely to foster innovation, with attention being given to identifying and understanding these institutions. These lines of inquiry face two related problems; however, as institutionalist perspectives in regional development run the risk of ignoring economic forces extant outside the region, and they tend to be vague about the role of public policy. This doctoral dissertation research project aims to increase knowledge of how regional differences in institutions simultaneously influence decisions about investments in and the use of seaports as well as the organization of production and distribution activities. The project seeks to identify the characteristics of institutions (both the formal contractual, organizational, technical and regulatory systems as well as the informal norms, networks and relationships between actors) that are more likely to enhance or promote innovation, the accessing of new markets, and productivity gains. These issues will be examined through comparative analyses of the different ways that Toyota USA has used nine U.S. ports as integral components of its production and distribution system since 1980. The research is guided by working hypotheses that innovation-enhancing institutions are characterized by close and multi-layered relationships between private and public actors, that policy can change the character of these institutions, and that they make a difference to regional economic development outcomes. These hypotheses will be tested through the conduct of interview-based case studies of the ports at Oakland, Long Beach, and Baltimore as well as documentary and quantitative analyses of all nine ports used by Toyota USA. This project will contribute to the current theoretical debates about the importance of institutions and the relationship between local and global forces in regional development outcomes. The findings should be of substantial policy relevance, because they will highlight the ways in which public policy choices in institutional design can and do influence certain aspects of regional growth performance. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.