ABSTRACT
The link between culture and economy has been extensively debated since at least the 1980s. Culture has come to be seen both as a resource for development, and as giving shape to regionally specific modes of transaction. 'Provisory economy' has been defined as a mode of transaction either not involving money at all, or where monetary evaluation is not undertaken according to market principles. The provisory economy is particularly evident where either tradition or counterculture are a strong force of development, and naturally extensive where both factors strongly interact, as they seem to do in the Galway Bay region. In an essay introducing a collection of papers on Regional Identity and Economic Development, Jeffery describes 'identity' as shaping 'approaches to and priorities in politics and policy', 'rooted at least in part in economic factors' and 'reflected in administrative traditions'. Regional identity thus may support or hinder economic development.
