Regional Institutional Convergence? Reflections from the Baltimore Waterfront
通过巴尔的摩港集装箱化的案例，研究区域制度在结构性变革压力下是趋同还是保持多样性，发现尽管存在趋同压力，但地方政治经济与官员决策仍维持了制度差异。
Abstract: This article discusses the process of institutional change across regions in response to structural economic, social, political, and technological change. It accepts as a starting point the assertion that institutional differences between regions account, at least in part, for differences in regional development outcomes. This assertion raises the question of whether institutions in different locales will converge or diverge over time. The article explores this question through a case study of institutional changes associated with the process of containerization at the Port of Baltimore. Despite considerable pressure for convergent change in various formal institutions, specifically with respect to port pricing and terminal leasing policies, important elements of a common‐user approach to the operation of the port were maintained. This particular trajectory of institutional change is reflective of both the local political economy and the role of public officials in deliberating over formal institutional choices in the face of considerable uncertainty. The evidence supports a notion of institutional transformation in which regional institutional diversity, albeit in new forms, is maintained.