ABSTRACT
Fundamentally, all the variants of the embeddedness model, and the 'learning regions' model in particular, treat as benign both inter- and intrafirm relationships, and also the relationships between capital and labour. The model paints a picture of growth occurring where collaborative equality serves to mobilise tacit and codified knowledge to generate processes of learning and innovation and, by simple linear extrapolation, growth. In Turkey the institutions of government and civil society have created the appearance of embedded networks among local firms, together with the apparent processes of learning and information exchange that have been said to create self-sustaining local economic growth. In Argentina, not only were local institutions ineffective in generating self-sustaining local growth, but also the actions of international institutions tended to erode any benefits that might have been created by local institutional support. Growth is endogenous and requires local mobilisation. Social collaboration, as the generator of social capital, holds the potential to generate human capital and money capital.
