Debates In Economic Geography Research Articles

Capital flows and geographically uneven economic dynamics: A monetary perspective

This paper provides a monetary perspective on capital flows and their effects on geographically uneven economic dynamics. Contributing to debates on global imbalances and the international dimension of financialisation, the paper applies heterodox theories of endogenous money creation, asset pricing, and balance sheet fragility to capital flows across regions. Three theoretical claims are made and illustrated through coherent balance-sheet accounting and empirical examples. First, trade imbalances usually are financed endogenously by net inflows that need not originate from surplus regions. Second, bank inflows are not a precondition for local credit creation, but certain types of gross financial flows can contribute to destabilising financial booms through exchange rate appreciation and asset price inflation. Third, sudden stops in capital flows can be entirely unrelated to current account deficits but may trigger financial instability, resulting in negative gross flows rather than increased outflows. For debates in economic geography and heterodox economics, the arguments imply that the focus on surplus countries as originators of destabilising flows can be misleading and that global financial centres are likely to be more important. More attention is needed to gross portfolio and FDI flows into asset markets rather than bank flows and net flows.

Circulation and containment in the knowledge-based economy: Transnational education zones in Dubai and Qatar

Our analysis focuses on evolving global capitalism's production of high-skilled temporary migrant labour through the technology of special economic zones. Drawing on debates in economic geography on zones as globalised spaces of production and interdisciplinary scholarship on economic transformation in the Arabian Peninsula, we interrogate a relatively new type of zone that agglomerates foreign higher education institutions: transnational education zones. We conceptualise these zones as a distinct form of exceptional space produced by aspirations for a knowledge-based economy. Transnational education zones provide financial benefits and legal exemptions to state territory for international higher education investors who operate offshore campuses. By conducting a situated empirical analysis of transnational education zones’ logics and mechanisms in Dubai and Qatar, we show how these zones function as sites of circulation and containment that allow governments to harness globally circulating people and institutions for building a knowledge-based economy, while aiming to contain their social and political impact locally. While the underlying contradictions of simultaneous circulation and containment of knowledge and knowledge workers are modulated by the exceptional character of the zones, they cannot be fully resolved. In many ways, transnational education zones constitute a continuation of established strategies for economic development by exception that have been pursued by governments in the Gulf, which aim for global connectivity and rely heavily on controlling a temporary and contingent migrant workforce.

The evolutionary and disruptive potential of Industrie 4.0

Despite all the hype, digitalization is not a new trend. The third industrial revolution started as early as the beginning of the 1970s and has continued to this day. It is shaped using electronics and information technologies (IT) in the economy and progressive standardization and automation of business processes. While exponential growth is typical for the IT sector, this is rarely the case for the classic industries. For a long time, the change was barely perceivable, which led many players to denounce these developments as uninteresting, losing interest at an early stage. But then, as the process picks up breakneck speeds, it often becomes impossible to jump on board or keep up. When automation driven by electronics and IT established itself in production, it led to dramatic changes in value chains and employment structures. Through standardization and automation, business processes became more efficient, quicker, and transparent. When the dot-com speculative bubble burst in 2000, vending machines that ordered supplies independently were already in operation. In the search for the business model of the Information Age, electronic marketplaces became popular pioneers for dynamic business networks and real-time business. Many of today’s well-known technology firms – such as Google, Netflix, or the predecessors of Facebook – were already active on the market in a similar form. In recent years a second wave of digital transformation is experienced and with it, a fourth industrial revolution. The necessary information and communication technologies have now become so cost-effective that they can be used in widespread areas. As a result, many of the dot-com promises have been realized today. The aim of this paper is to intensify the Industrie 4.0 debate in economic geography by showing the evolutionary and disruptive potential of Industrie 4.0.

Rethinking cluster evolution: Actors, institutional configurations, and new path development

Despite a flourishing evolutionary economic geography, the cluster evolution literature has been somewhat left behind, and remains somewhat simplistic and deterministic. This article seeks to form a synthesis from recent conceptual advancements in the evolutionary and institutional economic geographies, in pursuit of expanding the cluster evolution literature. In the process it produces a novel way of exploring cluster evolution, through the concept of cluster institutional configurations, which focuses on the ability of different actors to navigate potential lock-ins and to drive cluster evolution, and connects it to broader debates in economic geography.

Reframing labour market mobility in global finance: Chinese elites in London’s financial district

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I use the case of elite Chinese financial mobility to London’s financial district to argue that comparatively neglected forms of elite financial migration from beyond the Global North provide important insights into the changing geographical form, and labour market practices within, leading international financial centres. Empirically, the paper identifies a distinctive geographical footprint of Chinese financial mobility to London in terms of both financial services activity and residential choices. Theoretically, I argue that explaining this geography requires work on highly skilled migration that typically privileges the economic motivations underpinning mobility to engage more fully with wider debates in economic geography that examine the inter-dependencies and inter-relationships between states and markets. These findings raise important questions surrounding the durability of Chinese finance in London, its relationship to global finance in London more generally, and wider understandings of elite financial labour markets.

Moving beyond Anglo-American economic geography: the significance of non-Anglo-American model

ABSTRACTThis commentary extends the debate, proposed by Professor Robert Hassink and his colleagues, on how studies in the non-Anglo-American context can contribute to current debates in economic geography. By examining some ongoing debates based on China, we agree with Hassink’s view and hopes to point out how Anglo-American economic geography can benefit from critical engagements with China as well as other important and yet overlooked regions, such as Africa, East Europe, South Asia and South America. We stress that the rapidly changing economic geographies in these regions may serve as one of the key sites to reproduce our discipline of economic geography, or to ‘theorize back’ at mainstream, Anglo-American theories of economic-geographic dynamics in specific locales.

Balancing the spatial localisation ‘Tilt’: Knowledge spillovers in processes of knowledge-intensive services

This paper addresses two aspects of the knowledge spillover debate that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention: First, even though it is recognised that knowledge spillovers occur at different spatial levels (e.g. within and across companies, regions and cities, as well as at intra- and inter-industry level), spillovers are regarded as having limited spatial scope, with decaying effects at increasing spatial distance. Secondly, most knowledge spillover models measure the effects of knowledge input variables (e.g. R&D investments, mobility of labour, local labour market structure) in terms of innovation, productivity, growth or entrepreneurship and tend to pay too little attention on the exact spillover mechanism. For methodological reasons, studies on knowledge spillovers operationalise spillovers in quantitative terms and focus primarily on technological knowledge in explicit forms instead of seeking to explain market-related spillover effects from tacit knowledge and knowing in practice. Tackling these shortcomings, the paper discusses knowledge spillovers in light of recent debates in economic geography on knowledge-generating mechanisms through networks, communities of practice, and the integration of external knowledge into the innovation activities of companies. This approach allows the author to open the knowledge spillover debate that explains the spatial clustering of economic activities to a broader understanding of knowledge spillovers generated in economic processes. This perspective then identifies spillovers that unfold an impact on intra-enterprise processes, company relationships and strategic decisions.Empirically this paper builds on a quantitative survey as well as qualitative interviews with entrepreneurs from the biotechnology and architecture/engineering sector in Brandenburg (Germany).

R&D practices and communities in the TNC—proximities and distances

This doctoral thesis 1 investigates the research and development (R&D) practices in a transnational company (TNC), with the geography of the knowledge economy as an underlying theme. From this point of departure, the main research question that is discussed in the thesis is: How is research and development practice carried out in a transnational company under international expansion? In order to investigate this, the work builds on a qualitative case study of R&D practice in the Norwegian based TNC Hydro, a global supplier of aluminum. The empirical material is mainly derived from in depth interviews with researchers and research management within the company. Furthermore, the work in this thesis is a continuation of economic geography research related to an earlier interdisciplinary NTNU research project named Comparative Aluminum Research Program (CARP).In addition to a book chapter written in Norwegian and three articles written in English (part two), the thesis contains an introductory part (part one) that summarizes the work and puts it into an overall perspective. The analysis in this thesis builds on a number of theoretical debates and concepts, as the articles approaches the main research questions from different angles and is based on cases in the main case study. Most prominent is the theoretical discussions related to proximity, Communities of Practice, path dependence, networks and culture. Moreover, the thesis contributes to the recent debate on the evolutionary economic geography as a subdisciplinary perspective. The thesis illustrates how the transnational company facilitates a transnational R&D work environment by specific work practices and distinct organizational tools. This is the theme for the Norwegian book chapter Norwegian research and development serving foreign processing (Norsk forskning og utvikling i tjeneste for foredlingen i utlandet Stensheim og Karlsen 2008) 2 . The chapter is empirically based in a study of the internationally dispersed organization of Hydro’s extrusion division. Article number one, R&D practices and communities in the TNC – proximities and distances (Stensheim 2011)3, discusses the concept of proximity in relation to knowledge transfer. It illustrates how the transnational company compensates for the lack of geographical proximity by taking advantage of other forms of proximity based on relational aspects in the facilitation of R&D practices. However, the article supports earlier research in arguing for the importance of geographical proximity when it comes to knowledge transfer. By the analysis in this study, I also introduce a parallel notion to the proximity concept in relation to this, the notion of distances. This theoretical tool brings us closer to understand reasons behind challenges of transnational R&D practices. Related, the article states that the concept of Communities of Practice is an inappropriate tool of knowledge management in the transnational R&D work environment. The article states that the distances to a high degree are related to the TNCs geographical heterogeneity, however, it also inspired to investigate further how the endogenous organizational routines and practices influenced economic behaviour in the TNC. This theme, more specifically how R&D in the TNC is influenced by both a variety of 1 The geographical contexts and by different organizational contexts, is an underlying theme in the last two articles4. Article number two, Negotiating paths of TNC culture in the wake of a major cross-border acquisition, takes up to discussion the culture of the TNC. The institutional turn of economic geography has placed culture on the agenda as one of the aspects explaining geographical heterogeneity in economic activities. Despite this, culture is to a little degree unit of analysis in the published literature. The empirical point of departure of the article is a major cross-border acquisition made by Hydro in 2002. On this basis the article discusses how the TNC culture is influenced by a dynamic between influences from territorial institutions and organizations’ own routines and practices. Consequently, the article addresses a recent debate in economic geography discussing respectively the relational and the evolutionary as dominating current economic geography perspectives, implicitly considering the dichotomization between an evolutionary economic geography perspective and institutional approaches in economic geography in general. The mentioned acquisition also forms the basis for the empirical investigation in the third article, Geographies of TNC R&D networks. In this article, however, path dependence in networks is the main theme. This analysis shows that the acquisition is of little significance in the development of R&D networks, largely due to relational path dependence and the international nature of R&D in TNCs per se. Also this article demonstrates the connection between the relational economic geography and the evolutionary. Based on the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the articles, the thesis emphasizes drawing on an institutional approach that comprises both a relational and an evolutionary perspective on R&D practices in the TNC.

Placing the run on northern rock

The collapse of Northern Rock in 2007 was the first major run on a UK retail bank since 1866. The Northern Rock case is exemplary on two fronts. First, described at the time of its collapse as an example of an aggressive business model employed by naïve management, it is now clear that Northern Rock marked the beginning of and provides insights into the credit crunch and wider global banking crisis. Second, Northern Rock provides a distinct context—geographically and institutionally—to explore the banking crisis. The article utilizes management interviews, secondary literatures and an investigation of the wider impacts of the restructuring of Northern Rock to produce a reading from the perspective of a peripheral financial region. It contributes to attempts to understand financial geographies that range beyond the major international financial centres that often dominate debates in Economic Geography.

Teaching and Learning Guide: Rethinking Economic Geographies of Knowledge

Teaching and Learning Guide: Rethinking Economic Geographies of Knowledge

Principles and Practices of Knowledge Creation: On the Organization of “Buzz” and “Pipelines” in Life Science Communities

abstractThis article links up with the debate in economic geography on “local buzz” and “global pipelines” as two distinct forms of interactive knowledge creation among firms and related actors and argues for a rethinking of the way social scientists should approach interactive knowledge creation. It highlights the importance of combining the insights from studies of clusters and innovation systems with an activity-oriented approach in which more attention is paid to the specific characteristics of the innovation processes and the conditions underpinning their organization. To illustrate the applicability and added value of such an alternative approach, the notion of embeddedness is linked with some basic ideas adopted from the literature on knowledge communities. The framework is then applied to a study of innovation activities conducted by firms and academic research groups working with biotechnology-related applications in the Swedish part of the Medicon Valley life science region. The findings reveal that local buzz is largely absent in these types of activities. Most interactive knowledge creation, which appears to be spontaneous and unregulated, is, on closer examination, found safely embedded in globally configured professional knowledge communities and attainable only by those who qualify.

Global music city: knowledge and geographical proximity in London's recorded music industry

Drawing from debates in economic geography on relational and organisational proximity as a substitute for geographical proximity, the paper explores characteristics of knowledge transfer in London's recorded music industry through an examination of organisational connections on local and global scales. The paper demonstrates that knowledge transfer within the industry occurs simultaneously across multiple geographical scales, with certain organisational connections facilitating the transfer of tacit knowledge across organisational boundaries. However, the paper argues that these connections do not offer the same scope for trust as is afforded by frequent face‐to‐face contact and therefore offer only a partial substitute for geographical proximity.

Society, Technology, and Region: Contributions from the Social Study of Technology to Economic Geography

Recent debates in economic geography have emphasized the need for a more explicit analysis of innovation processes at a sectoral or technological level. A great deal of attention has furthermore been devoted to connect the internal disciplinary debate with the wider discourse of the social sciences that deal with economic development in general and with the role of innovation in particular. In the present paper I argue that the field of the social study of technology (SST) can inspire research in economic geography in important respects: SST research has an explicit focus on the genesis of sociotechnical configurations; it has developed sector-related and technology-related multilevel theories of sociotechnical change; it has a strong emphasis on innovation dynamics and sector transformations; and finally, it has a focus on strategic planning in multiactor settings and thus favors foresight and participatory planning approaches in science, technology, and innovation policy. SST-inspired research could thus be an interesting partner for those approaches within economic geography that share some ontological starting positions with regard to actors, the role of institutions, and a revolutionary and multilevel analysis of sociotechnical transformation processes.

Geography matters: agency, structures and dynamics at the intersection of economics and geography

Contemporary debates in economic geography are characterized by a lack of agreement with respect to both those aspects of the evolving economic landscape that call for explanation and what constitutes an adequate explanation of geographical reality. We articulate a distinctively geographical approach to modeling processes of regional growth and change. The evolving economic landscape is conceptualized as a ‘going concern’, characterized by complex dynamic interdependencies between the agents and structures that constitute spatial economic systems. At any moment in time, interdependencies between agents are constrained by social and spatial structure, but over time structure and agency are mutually constituted: a socio-spatial dialectic. We contend that the complex interdependence between agents, structures and dynamics increases the likelihood of persistent non-equilibrium space-time trajectories. We conclude that questions of conceptual and epistemological adequacy in economic geography cannot be resolved in favor of any single ‘best’ approach, and argue that debates should move away from competing monist accounts, towards critically engaged pluralism.

Conceptualizing economies and their geographies: spaces, flows and circuits

The last decade or so has been one of ongoing, at times heated, debate in economic geography as to how best to conceptualize and theorize economies and their geographies. Reflecting on these debates, I identify six axioms that are central to conceptualizing economic geographies. I then go on to consider issues of culture and the economy and the relationships between them. The paper explores the links between political-economic and cultural-economic approaches, suggesting that they are most productively seen as complementary both/and approaches rather than as competitive either/or ones.

Reflections on the Economic‐Noneconomic Debate: A Radical Geographical Perspective from the European South

This paper expands upon the economic/noneconomic (cultural turn) debate in economic geography and proposes an alternative radical perspective through the lens of the European South. Based on the experience of Greece, the paper argues that no matter how important the cultural issues might be, the great political economy problems of distorted growth and incomplete development, sociospatial inequalities, and weak, incoherent and contradictory territorial policies continue to have a primary importance. The paper reviews some basic points of the cultural turn debate and then examines the orientations of radical spatioeconomic thought in postdictatorial (post‐1974) Greece in arguing that this thought was mostly problem‐driven, policy‐oriented and focused upon the political economy of Greek socioeconomic and territorial restructuring. It is argued that a southern radical agenda has to be based more deliberately on holistic and inclusive interdisciplinary resyntheses in which cultural issues are given due attention, but not to the detriment of a radical understanding of the territorial workings of economy, society and power relations. The concluding suggestion of the paper is that it is a political turn, rather than a cultural turn, that is best suited to a radical interpretation of South European economic geographies.

Digital effects in the spatial economy of film: towards a research agenda

A new assemblage of digital technologies, organized around compressed software formats and broadband Internet infrastructures, is reconfiguring the motion picture industry. In this paper, I review the impacts of digitization upon the spatial economy of film in the United States via a commodity chain framework. The discussion raises some important themes for conceptual debate in economic geography.

Behind the Web Store: The Organisational and Spatial Evolution of Multichannel Retailing in Toronto

In this paper I address two issues of general relevance to contemporary debates in economic geography: first, the organisational and spatial implications of new information technologies for the economic landscape; and, second, the enduring role of place to digital capitalism. Specifically, I examine the organisational evolution of multichannel retailing in Toronto from a geographical perspective. Bricks-and-mortar retailers are increasingly pursuing a multichannel strategy by operating an Internet-based web store alongside the existing network of physical retail outlets. I therefore evaluate the organisational implications of the adoption of business-to-consumer e-commerce (e-tailing) technology for six Canadian bricks-and-mortar retailers based in Toronto and assess how the associated changes in business structure have been inscribed upon the urban landscape. The argument is developed in three sections. First, I discuss how the formula for competitive advantage in the new (r)etail markets of the developed world has shifted from a pure play to a multichannel organisational paradigm. Second, I provide a background to the development of Canadian e-commerce and an overview of the empirical methodologies employed during the research. Third, the focus of the paper moves ‘behind the web store’ to spatialise the physical places that constitute the fulfilment infrastructure of e-tailing as sequentially linked stages in Internet commodity chains. I evaluate the impact of the Internet commodity chain upon the geographical organisation of each retailer, and, in particular, consider whether the unique logistical requirements of e-tailing have stimulated spatial processes of disintermediation and reintermediation. It is argued that, when read through the lens of Toronto, e-tailing has incurred limited organisational disruption and is characterised by a distinctive geography of integration between online and offline retailing services within the urban space of the city. I conclude the paper by contextualising the findings within themes for conceptual debate in economic geography.

Market Rules and Spatial Outcomes: Insights from the Corporate Restructuring of U.S. Food Retailing

In this paper a study of the corporate restructuring of the U.S. food retail industry, during and following the period of regulatory relaxation and high‐leverage capital transformations of the 1980s, is used to interrogate the complex relationships between market regulation, investment regimes, corporate strategies, and spatial outcomes. It is shown that changes in the “rules” governing investment and competition in the United States in the 1980s triggered countervailing spatial processes in the food retail industry. Those processes took more than a decade to work themselves through, but by the late 1990s a radically altered corporate landscape was beginning to emerge. In particular, consolidation of the industry had finally gained momentum–creating an industry whose leading firms are likely by 2002 to have a market share double the level of the early 1990s. The paper concludes by considering the insights which a consideration of corporate restructuring and regulation in this U.S. industry offers for some important areas of conceptual debate in economic geography. In particular, it is argued that industries in which capital structure transformations of the firm must be confronted and treated as a central issue have an intrinsic, but until recently neglected, importance in theoretical debate in the discipline.

Discursive Aspects of Technological Innovation: The Case of the British Motor-Sport Industry

A discursive approach to technological innovation recognises that scientific and technical innovations are the products of groups of people. The subject of this paper is how this insight from the sociology of scientific knowledge can make a contribution to debates in economic geography. Principally drawing on the work of social constructionists, this approach is used to provide insights into the reasons for both the creation and the maintenance of the geographical agglomeration of small firms constituted by the British motor-sport industry.