Looking for causes of effects in cases: Evaluating intermunicipal collaboration in The Netherlands applying QCA

Abstract Economic geography and regional planning suffer from a lack of clear answers with respect to the question what methods to use to systematically explain complex territorial phenomena such as regional development. Rather than the universal effect of causes, analysis should focus on patterns revealed through case-specific effects of enabling and disabling conditions. Using qualitative configurational analysis (QCA), this paper illustrates the relevance of such an approach examining the variable effectiveness of intermunicipal collaboration in the Netherlands. Drawing on a survey of a lar... Mehr ...