Economic behavior is explored from a psychological perspective by both, prominent economic psychologists with a long tradition in studying economic problems as well as economists who are open and interested in the psychological aspects of economic behavior. The contributions discuss the prospects and difficulties of this dialogue between psychology and economics and survey some important areas of research where such an interdisciplinary approach has proved to be successful. The text can also be used to introduce psychology to economists in order to give them an idea how to analyze economic problems from a psychological perspective. It also indicates many urgent and exciting research topics awaiting eager scholars to carry on the dialogue.

Economic agents interact in structural relationships through time and space. This work starts from the empirical observation that all three dimensions, namely time, space, and structural functional forms, are important for an integrative framework of modern empirical analysis in regional science. The work thus aims at combining up-to-date econometric tools from the fields of spatial econometrics, panel time-series analysis and structural simultaneous equation modelling to analysis the different research questions at hand. Most of the topics dealt within this work start from a concrete empirical problem, while problem solving also aims at generating some new knowledge in a methodological way, e.g. by the complementary use of Monte Carlo simulation studies to compare the empirical performance of different estimators for specific data samples. Following a first introductory chapter, the work is structured in three parts addressing major issues in building up a stylized regional economic model such as interregional migration, factor and final demand estimation. All empirical applications use German regional data.

There are fewer grounds today than in the past to deplore a North‑South divide in research and innovation. This is one of the key findings of the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030. A large number of countries are now incorporating science, technology and innovation in their national development agenda, in order to make their economies less reliant on raw materials and more rooted in knowledge. Most research and development (R&D) is taking place in high-income countries, but innovation of some kind is now occurring across the full spectrum of income levels according to the first survey of manufacturing companies in 65 countries conducted by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and summarized in this report. For many lower-income countries, sustainable development has become an integral part of their national development plans for the next 10–20 years. Among higher-income countries, a firm commitment to sustainable development is often coupled with the desire to maintain competitiveness in global markets that are increasingly leaning towards ‘green’ technologies. The quest for clean energy and greater energy efficiency now figures among the research priorities of numerous countries. Written by more than 50 experts who are each covering the country or region from which they hail, the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 provides more country-level information than ever before. The trends and developments in science, technology and innovation policy and governance between 2009 and mid-2015 described here provide essential baseline information on the concerns and priorities of countries that could orient the implementation and drive the assessment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the years to come.