Purpose The existing literature has not discussed spatial interconnectedness in the case of agglomeration and productivity for the Indian manufacturing sector. The study aims to bridge the gap in understanding the impact of regional interdependence mediated by skill, infrastructure and labor diffusion on total factor productivity (TFP). Design/methodology/approach This study uses factory-level panel data for the Indian manufacturing sector and uses spatial autoregressive (SAR) and spatial Durbin model (SDM) based on distance and contiguity spatial weight matrix. Findings The findings suggest that there exists positive spatial correlation for TFP, indicating that states share close interdependent productivity patterns. There exists a non-linear relationship between productivity and agglomeration. Further, manufacturing performance is enhanced when skill intensity is integrated with investment in information and communication technology, resulting in synergistic effects. It is evident from spatially lagged explanatory variables, carbon emission and energy intensities that highlight the role of productivity spillover across the regions, highlighting the role of heterogeneous industrial and resource concentration. Research limitations/implications Policymakers in India should focus on spatial interconnectedness between the regions. There should be a push for balancing the industrial concentration, strengthening digital infrastructure and enhancing skills for the synergistic productivity gains. Practical implications Given India’s diverse industrial structure and heterogeneous industrial concentration, the findings highlight the need for a balanced and integrated regional policy for India, as the productivity of one region is affected by the other neighboring region. It advocates for a spatially coordinated regional planning and development of industrial corridors that can harness the spillovers. Further, investment should be made in infrastructure development and skill enhancement, which can further increase the benefits of the agglomeration. Social implications The findings highlight the need for a balanced and integrated regional policy for India, as the productivity of one region is affected by the other neighboring region. It advocates for a spatially coordinated regional planning and development of industrial corridors that can harness the spillovers. Further, investment should be made in infrastructure development and skill enhancement, which can further increase the benefits of the agglomeration. Originality/value This study is novel as it is the first study to integrate spatial econometric methodology to understand the impact of agglomeration on the productivity of the Indian manufacturing sector. It offers a comprehensive understanding of the development of spatially formed policies and highlights spillover effects across states.

The construction complex is one of the key sectors of the national economy, which ensures the creation of a material and spatial environment for human life, the development of production and social infrastructure, and the modernization of settlements. It combines not only material production, but also a complex system of interaction of social, economic, demographic, and spatial and organizational factors. In modern conditions, when Ukraine is experiencing deep transformation processes caused by a full-scale war, the destruction of industrial and residential facilities, large-scale internal migration, and the need to rebuild infrastructure, the role of the construction complex acquires strategic importance. The socio-geographical approach to the analysis of the construction complex allows us to consider it as a territorial system that is formed under the influence of natural, socio-demographic, economic, transport and logistics, and institutional factors. It is their interaction that determines the level of spatial organization of the production of building materials, the location of construction and assembly enterprises, housing construction, and infrastructure facilities. During the period of recovery of the Ukrainian economy after the devastating consequences of military operations, the study of territorial differences in the development of the construction complex becomes of particular importance, which makes it possible to substantiate regional priorities and optimal models of spatial reconstruction of the economy. This article explores the socio-geographical factors shaping the formation and development of the construction complex across Ukraine’s regions during the post-war economic recovery. Drawing on statistical data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, sectoral analyses, and market research on cement and concrete, the study examines trends from 2021 to 2024. It identifies a shift from short-term emergency repair efforts to a phase of systematic, institutionally supported growth and structural modernization within the industry. The strengthening of non-residential and engineering construction, the revival of cement production, and the emergence of new investment hubs in safer and logistically advantageous regions are highlighted. The methodological framework integrates approaches from economic and social geography, statistical and comparative-geographical analysis, as well as spatial data interpretation and graphical visualization. The study demonstrates that the synergy between institutional mechanisms (such as the State Recovery Fund, public-private partnerships, and the Prozorro. Restart procurement system) and resource-based factors (including cement production, metal structure imports, and logistics development) contributes to mitigating material shortages, enhancing infrastructure project efficiency, and fostering regional growth centers. The practical significance of the findings lies in their applicability to improving regional recovery policies, optimizing the territorial structure of construction production, and aligning public and private initiatives within spatial development strategies. Keywords: construction complex, institutional support, public-private partnership (PPP), U-shaped dynamics, spatial planning.

Abstract In 1685, Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes expelled some 200,000 Huguenots–one of the most skill-selective forced migrations in early modern Europe. While their contributions to England, Prussia, and the Dutch Republic are well documented, the economic losses borne by the French regions they left behind have remained surprisingly unmeasured, despite the Huguenots’ disproportionate role in textiles, luxury crafts, finance, and international trade. This paper provides the first economy-wide, micro-quantitative estimate of the long-run cost of this exodus for France. Using a newly assembled parish-level panel of Protestant baptism registers (1570–1700) linked to the industrial censuses of 1839 and 1860, we trace how a seventeenth-century demographic shock-shaped regional development nearly two centuries later. We uncover three core results. (1) A one-standard-deviation decline in Huguenot baptisms ( $$\approx$$ ≈ –20%) led to enduring losses: –5.8% industrial employment, –4.4% establishments, and –5.1% wages in 1839, with output deficits still visible in 1860. (2) These effects persisted remarkably: by 1860, industrial production remained 2.8% lower–about 480,000 francs per arrondissement. (3) The impact hinged on institutional and intellectual complementarities: regions distant from universities, printing presses, commercial hubs, or Parliaments suffered the deepest scars. Together, these findings show how the removal of a highly skilled minority durably reshaped France’s economic geography, leaving an imprint that lasted for nearly two centuries.

The contemporary economic environment recognizes technological change as a phenomenon that results from the relations among actors and from the arrangement of firms and institutions within a territory, conferring on it an active, rather than passive, role. Innovative industrial agglomerations emerge from the ongoing exchange of knowledge, tightly linked to collaborative networks and to local institutional contexts. The evolutionary approach to economic geography emphasizes that the experiences and accumulated competencies shape the present and the future of space, driving competitive transformations. The objective of this study is to discuss theoretically the distinct approaches of Economic Geography and to present Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) as an alternative to the classical models in the regional literature. To this end, a historical-analytical bibliographic research was conducted, based on the identification, systematic reading, and critical interpretation of contemporary articles and books, in order to recover the conceptual and theoretical evolution of the field. EEG stands out as a theoretical framework that allows analyzing how territorial practices, collective learning, and institutional interactions shape the evolutionary trajectory of economies, stimulating innovation and technological adaptation. It is concluded that this perspective offers a solid basis for understanding regional economic and technological changes, as well as assisting in the interpretation of competitive transformations in specific environments.

The new Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030, with a forecast up to 2036, is undoubtedly a step forward in terms of the evolution of Russia’s spatial development priorities. The promotion of anchor settlements as the main institutional priority of the new Strategy clearly demonstrates the desire of its developers to focus not only on ensuring Russia’s national security but also on meeting the needs of the population in terms of socio-economic development. However, there are still several aspects that require close attention. This is primarily about the complementarity of the ongoing institutional transformations in the field of spatial development, on the one hand, and local self-government, on the other. The existing confusion in the content of such concepts as settlement, municipality, and municipal formation also creates problems in terms of implementing the provisions of the Strategy. The paper raises theoretical issues that are still ambiguous and require further research by economists, economic geographers, legal scholars, and lawyers, both in terms of science and the practical implementation of the new Strategy.

Abstract Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 is one of the significant fiscal reforms in India that has significantly changed the economic and social geography of indirect tax taxation. In the North-East (NE) area, which emphasizes tertiary sector, central transfers and a substantial informal economy, this transformation has begun a tortuous structural economic change. This paper discusses the structure transitions in the NE zone post-GST, concentrating on the position Arunachal Pradesh (AP). The research focuses on three central areas: the transition from a non-formal economy to a formal one, the service sector's rapid growth and formalization, and the obvious changes in consumption that occur alongside uniform tax payment and specific rate rationalization. It suggests that the destination-based character of GST and the embedded compliance aspects has substantially bolstered AP's own tax revenues, fostered measurable formalization and improved competitiveness in its core primary and tertiary industries of the country. Keywords: Goods and Services Tax (GST); Structural Transformation; North-East India; Arunachal Pradesh; Informal Economy; Service Sector.

ABSTRACT Narratives of industrial heritage significantly shape post-industrial urban transformation. Drawing on concepts from spatial planning and economic geography, this study examines how spatial and historical contexts influence perceptions of industrial heritage in Trbovlje, a former mining town in Slovenia. The study explores how actors mobilise these perceptions to legitimise competing narratives and thus navigate urban development trajectories. The findings make a significant contribution to the fields of economic geography and planning theory by offering a novel perspective on industrial heritage, portraying it as a dynamic and contested resource for urban development, which is especially pertinent in smaller post-industrial contexts.

ABSTRACT The marketization of rural construction land (RCL) plays a crucial role in facilitating agricultural industrialization. By extending the New Economic Geography periphery (rural) perspective and incorporating resource endowment and transportation constraints, this study constructs a theoretical framework to examine RCL marketization’s impact on industrial agglomeration. Using comprehensive county-level panel data from 2015 to 2022, the analysis reveals three key findings: (1) RCL marketization significantly promotes agricultural industrialization, with industrial land having a stronger effect than commercial service land; (2) In larger agricultural production areas, multi-type RCL joint market entry has a more robust positive impact; (3) Increased RCL transactions alleviate transportation inadequacy’s adverse effects. Heterogeneity analysis reveals variations across regions with different agricultural development levels. Therefore, developed areas should guide multi-type RCL entry; less developed ones encourage agriculture-related industrial land entry; poorly connected regions should moderately increase RCL supply and lower prices while prioritizing agriculture.

Real estate inventory dynamics exhibit distinct temporal patterns and spatial heterogeneity, and precise identification of these trends serves as a prerequisite for effective policy formulation. Research on the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and influencing factors of real estate inventory holds significant academic and practical value. By employing ESDA, the Boston Matrix, and geographically weighted regression models to analyze 2017–2022 data from 287 Chinese cities, this study reveals a cyclical shift in China’s real estate inventory management—from “destocking” to “restocking”. The underlying drivers have transitioned from policy-led interventions to fundamentals-driven factors, including population dynamics, income levels, and market expectations. China’s real estate inventory and its changes exhibit significant spatiotemporal differentiation and spatial agglomeration patterns, demonstrating a spatial structure characterized by “multiple clustered highlands with peripheral lowlands” led by urban agglomerations. The influencing mechanism of China’s real estate inventory constitutes a complex system shaped by three key dimensions: macro-level drivers, regional differentiation, and structural contradictions. Policymakers should reorient destocking policies from “short-term stimulus” to “long-term coordination”, from “industrial policy” to “spatial policy”, and from addressing market “symptoms” to tackling “root causes”. This study argues that effective destocking policies constitute a systematic engineering challenge, demanding policymakers demonstrate profound analytical depth. They must move beyond simplistic sales metrics and perform multi-dimensional evaluations encompassing economic geography, demographic trends, fiscal systems, and land supply mechanisms. This paradigm shift from “symptom management” to “root cause resolution” and “systemic regulation” is essential for achieving sustainable real estate market development.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) have a heightened propensity to seek density in their location choices and to engage in locations with inherent value-creating potential compared to local firms. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on economic geography and using a unique, geographically detailed firm-level data set covering all firms in Sweden, the authors analyze subnational patterns in the location choices of foreign-owned firms compared to those of domestic firms. This study also makes a methodological contribution by exploring detailed subnational patterns down to the level of each plant or office unit’s address, within a firm. Findings This study finds that MNEs tend to choose locations that are more densely populated and to co-locate with other foreign firms in the market. Contrary to theoretical expectations that local firms should have an advantage due to their local awareness, the findings suggest that foreign multinationals can be more effective at leveraging the economic benefits of location. To explain this finding, the authors discuss the concept of MNEs’ relative location flexibility, suggesting that MNEs are well-equipped to strategically target areas that can generate value and contribute to the formation of clusters. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to theories on internationalization, location choice and the formative and nascent dynamics of clusters. The findings nuance assumptions in international business theory regarding the advantages of being embedded in local business systems and the disadvantages of being foreign. The authors also discuss the implications of MNE co-location for location choice and market entry theory. Originality/value Originality pertains to the comparative analysis of multinational enterprises and local firms in a subnational context. The concept of MNE relative location flexibility is a novel way of explaining how MNEs can target areas that generate value and contribute to the formation of clusters.

ABSTRACT As environmental and geopolitical crises deepen and global production networks (GPNs) reorganize, countries proximate to large consumer markets are becoming more attractive investment destinations. This argument has recently gained ground but lacks theoretical and empirical validation. This article opens up space for addressing this gap in two ways. Theoretically, it argues for conceptualizing proximity in multi-dimensional and macro-regional terms in the GPN literature, as this allows for a broader range of proximity benefits that firms might seek to exploit through nearshoring to be identified. Empirically, it performs a country-level panel data analysis of Italian and German nearshoring to Central and Eastern Europe between 2005 and 2019. The analysis found a significant correlation between nearshoring and environmental certification, while the results for regulatory and institutional certainty are inconclusive. The article concludes with a mixed-methods research agenda for the study of nearshoring as de-risking in economic geography.

Preface special issue: advances in evolutionary economic geography

ABSTRACT We investigate the role of tangible versus intangible forms of proximity in facilitating access to Venture Capital (VC) for Innovative Start-up Companies (ISCs), introducing a novel focus on their relational proximity. Combining insights from entrepreneurship research and economic geography, we develop and test hypotheses on the role of proximities using data on the population of Italian ISCs over the period 2014–2019. Our findings show that tangible (i.e. spatial) proximities influence VC–ISC matching, more in terms of functional rather than geographical proximity. Industrial proximity also plays a role, reducing the binding nature of functional proximity for the matching. While this substitutive effect does not emerge with respect to relational proximity, the latter – captured through a novel measure – appears to exert the strongest influence.

Innovation in tourism is increasingly driven by knowledge networks that span sectors and regions, yet their systemic dynamics remain underexplored. This conceptual paper applies a neo-Schumpeterian evolutionary economic geography lens to reframe how tourism knowledge networks are understood at macro-destination and extra-regional levels. Adopting a network-system perspective, it proposes a typology of tourism knowledge networks based on systemic qualities such as boundedness, coherence, and unified function. The paper advocates for a cross-sectoral, multi-destination knowledge network continuum as a more effective foundation for examining innovation processes in tourism. The study contributes a new framework for analyzing regional innovation systems in tourism and sets a research agenda emphasizing the importance of integrated, multi-scalar knowledge exchange in destination development.

The global shift toward cannabis legalization has sparked growing academic interest across disciplines, including geography. While spatial analyses of production, consumption, and regulation have proliferated, economic geography has yet to fully engage with the emergence and legitimation of cannabis industries. This article addresses this gap by examining Colombia’s medicinal cannabis as a critical case for expanding economic geography’s theoretical and empirical horizons. We examine the role of knowledge and epistemic diversity in industrial development, and highlight the importance of integrating endogenous knowledge systems, particularly those often excluded from formal innovation systems. By proposing a decolonial approach to economic geography, we foreground epistemic justice and the adaptability of knowledge systems as central to industrial legitimation. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, we challenge the assumption that external knowledge and technology transfers drive industrial legitimation. Instead, we show that regions where the industry has taken root possessed relevant knowledge but lacked mechanisms to mobilize it. This study contributes to economic geography by theorizing the emergence of controversial industries and by advancing a pluralistic understanding of knowledge in path development processes. It responds to calls for more inclusive frameworks in economic geography and offers a novel lens for understanding industrial emergence in the Global South.

Physical climate risks are reshaping economic geography and pose a direct threat to the collaborative networks of green innovation that underpin mitigation and adaptation. This paper examines how climate risk differentially affects three core structural roles that cities occupy in green innovation collaboration networks: hubs, which aggregate knowledge and are measured by degree centrality; channels, which transmit information and are captured by closeness centrality; and bridges, which link resources and are reflected in betweenness centrality. Using a panel of Chinese cities over the past decade and two way fixed effects models, we estimate the impacts of climate risk on cities’ network roles. The results show that climate risk significantly reduces all three roles, but the negative effects on channels and hubs are substantially larger than the effect on bridges. This pattern is consistent with a defensive structural reconfiguration of the network that emphasizes resilience at the expense of efficiency. The specific pathways and magnitudes of change depend on local financial conditions, regulatory responses, a city’s position in the urban hierarchy, and the type of climate risk encountered. These findings incorporate exogenous environmental pressure into theories of network evolution and provide empirical support for shifting regional innovation policy from an efficiency first orientation toward a resilience oriented innovation ecosystem.

We examine the role of proximity in international financial centres during and since the covid-19 pandemic based on the case study of a Chinese bank branch in the City of London. Our qualitative data is based on 26 interviews conducted in 2021 and 2023, complemented with media-based information on other banks. As experimental studies hardly exist in economic geography, our quasi-experiment on how the forced lack of physical proximity impacted the performance of the bank offers a methodological contribution. Empirically, we show that physical proximity was badly missed in both internal and external activities of the bank, particularly in new relationships with employees, clients, and other financial firms. As a result, the bank returned to office work on an “at least four days a week” basis as soon as it could, following its peers in wholesale finance. We interpret these results through literature on the role of proximity in financial centres, and on factors affecting shifting workplace environments. We argue that the distinction between wholesale and retail financial services is central to understanding the changing geography of finance and workplace environments. We also highlight the distinction between short- and long-term effects of working from home, and the potentially extractive (as opposed to regenerative) character of the latter. In the conclusions we ask what our findings from the case study and media could imply for the future of financial centres. Questions posed and insights revealed by the paper are important for understanding the nature of work and cities in contemporary economies.

This paper aims to contribute to research on sustainability transitions in tourism research by applying recent evolutionary economic geography concepts to understand the role of agency in new path development in tourism regions, focusing on the Eastern part of the Giant Mountains, the oldest National Park in Czechia. Utilising desk research, decade-long participant observation, and twenty-one interviews with key stakeholders, we highlight distinctive leadership and flagship initiatives for sustainability transitions in local tourism. Nevertheless, the tourism industry predominately follows one of less radical pathways – path renewal. Conceptually, first, we documented that the boundary between organizational-level and system-level agency can be blurred and, in some cases, even inseparable. Second, while the literature asserts that the primary obstacle in the operation of the agency-asset nexus is the absence of an interface between organizational-level and system-level agency, we discovered another major hindrance – the weak coordination mechanism between the types of system-level agency exerted by different stakeholders.

Abstract Nearshoring is reshaping Mexico's industrial geography and electricity demand, creating opportunities for growth while raising energy-justice concerns over who benefits, who pays, and whose needs are recognized. This study synthesizes policy evidence and three cases: Tesla/Nuevo León, renewables siting in Oaxaca, and Volkswagen's clean-energy sourcing, to examine distributional, procedural, and recognition dimensions. To translate qualitative insights into priorities, this work implements a compact, desk-based linguistic Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). Six policy packages: T&D upgrades with community-benefit agreements, community microgrids with virtual net metering, industrial clean-sourcing obligations, interconnection/queue reform, participation and benefit-sharing standards, and affordability protections, are evaluated against nine criteria (feasibility, grid capacity, community impact and affordability, firm competitiveness, environmental effects, resilience, regulatory certainty, transparency, and community ownership/benefit. Each alternative-criterion pair is rated using evidence-linked linguistic labels (Very Low to Very High) mapped to triangular fuzzy numbers. It was reported equal weights and two justice-scenario weights (distributional-first, recognition-first) and assess robustness via leave-one-criterion-out tests. Community microgrids with virtual net metering ranks first, followed by targeted T&D with community-benefit agreements. The top-two remain unchanged under both justice scenarios, only dropping the environmental criterion flips their order. Interconnection reform and clean-sourcing obligations place mid-pack, participation standards and affordability protection score high on justice dimension but, because they do not add capacity, rank lower overall. This work concludes that nearshoring can accelerate a just energy transition if community-scale solutions are sequenced with grid reinforcement and embedded participation/benefit-sharing. Without guardrails, nearshoring risks deepening inequities and conflict.

Abstract This anniversary commentary examines, firstly, the role of the Journal of Economic Geography and economic geography accounts more broadly, in the conceptual and empirical explication of the firm in the last 25 years. Secondly, the commentary identifies and explores future avenues of research that are required in the present and future as the nature of the firm changes, as well as aspects of the firm that have been neglected.