Regional banks and industrial employment – findings from a comparison of European countries
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21601282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Franz Flögel (0000-0002-7874-3029, Westfälische Hochschule, corresponding author), Stefan Gärtner (0000-0003-1147-0457, Westfälische Hochschule), Stella Ioannou (0000-0003-2042-302X, Oxford Brookes Business School, Oxford Brookes University), Stefanos Ioannou (Oxford Brookes Business School, Oxford Brookes University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-15 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Planning Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0965-4313 • E-ISSN: 1469-5944 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09654313.2026.2684546 |
| OpenAlex | W7164833692 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
In light of geopolitical conflicts, the production of physical goods is seen as necessary to ensure resilient economies. However, understanding the factors supporting manufacturing remains limited. The three-sector model falls short in explaining large industrial sectors in high-income countries. Germany is a high-income country with significant secondary sector employment and features a geographically decentralized banking system. A coincidence? This study conceptualizes the relationship between the geographical structure of banking systems and industrial production and empirically tests this relationship. Analysing 26 European countries for the period 2008–2021, we detect a U-shape relationship between the geographical centralization of bank headquarters and the share of industrial employment, negative for Western Europe and positive for Central and Eastern Europe. This finding suggests that at higher levels of economic development, geographical centralization in banking becomes a drag for industrial activity, thus threatening economic resilience. Alarming result, given the decline of regional banks in most European economies
Unemployment · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency · Efficiency Analysis Using DEA · Italy: Economic History and Contemporary Issues · Industrial Relations
Premature deindustrialization
With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U-Shaped Relationship
Characterising deindustrialisation
The entrepreneurial state
The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships
On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data
Varieties of Capitalism
Geopolitical decoupling and global production networks
SMEs, banks and the spatial differentiation of access to finance
Decentralized versus centralized financial systems
Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance
Weathering the Storm? Financialisation and German Savings Banks
Changing East–West Division of Labour in the European Automotive Industry
Geography, ownership and uneven trends in the economic performance of small banking centres in Europe during the financial crisis
Finance, Globalization, and Urban Primacy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|