A French region in crisis : the response of local authorities to the recession in the Region Midi-Pyrénées in France
Résumé
This chapter, focusing on the Region Midi-Pyrénées, aims to establish several characteristics of the crisis in Southwest of France. The region is a good example of the diversity of local economies and levels of development, from rural and sometimes rather stable areas to declining industrial towns, whose problems were exacerbated by the recent recession. The central urban region, Toulouse, is also a good example of flexible, metropolitan economy. Its specific high-tech profile makes it less vulnerable to crises. Several mid-sized cities (Albi, Castres-Mazamet, Auch, Montauban, Tarbes) have been affected by the crisis in very different way. Sometimes the recent crisis accelerated the fall of their low-tech industrial economies. The present social and economic situation of many peripherical areas is a combination of long-term trends and recent evolutions. Local authorities seem to be more concerned with mid- or long term investments in Local Economic Development policies than with designing specific anti-crisis instruments...
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