Economic Geography Framework Research Articles

Explorando la Transición hacia la Sostenibilidad, la Creación de Trayectorias y los Espacios de Oportunidad para la Política de Desarrollo Sostenible

This conceptual literature review explores the nuanced terrain of sustainability transitions, path creation, and opportunity space within the theoretical framework of evolutionary economic geography. Grounded in the foundational principles of this field, which examines the spatial and temporal dynamics of economic evolution, the paper applies a systematic approach to meticulously select and analyze twelve scholarly articles dated from 2010 or after. The methodology involved the creation of a comprehensive database organizing and systematizing the relevant data, so offering a robust foundation for the exploration of theoretical approaches and constructs related to sustainability transitions, path creation, and opportunity space. Drawing from the field of evolutionary economic geography, the paper emphasizes key contributions from this theoretical perspective. A common thread identified across these concepts is the pivotal role of change agency. The paper concludes by underlining the contributions of sustainability transitions, path creation, and opportunity space to sustainable development policy, providing insights into their potential impact on shaping a more sustainable and resilient future.

Where Are Business Incubators Built? County-Level Spatial Distribution and Rationales Based on the Big Data of Chinese Yangtze River Delta Region

Business incubators (BIs) in China have predominantly exhibited a government-led characteristic, recently broadening their spatial and temporal scope and extending reach to the county level. Regarding the inadequacies of county-level analysis scale, this study leverages Points of Interest (POI) big data to overcome them. To comprehend the governmental rationale in the construction of BIs, we examine the evolution dynamics of BIs in conjunction with policies. An economic geography framework is developed, conceptualizing BIs as quasi-public goods and productive services, and incorporating considerations of county-level fiscal operations and industrial structures. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region as a case study, our findings reveal that over 98% of County Administrative Units (CAUs) have built BIs. Using kernel density estimation and Moran’s I, the spatial patterns of CAUs are identified. The CAUs are further classified into three categories of economic levels using the k-means algorithm, uncovering differentiated relationships between industry, finance, and their respective BI. Additionally, we analyze the density relationship between BIs and other facilities at a micro-level, showcasing various site selection rationales. The discussions highlight that while BIs tend to align with wealthier areas and advanced industries, affluent CAUs offer location advantages on BIs, whereas less wealthy CAUs prioritize quantity for political achievements. This paper concludes with recommendations about aligning BIs based on conditions and outlooks on future research.

Bricolage or breakthrough? Entrepreneurial responses to tourism development in a regional tourism destination

The Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) framework contributes to the study of tourism destination evolution by focusing on the various circumstances and events through which tourism destinations develop over long periods of time. Our research objective is to investigate how players in tourism destinations shape development pathways when they face stagnant or lock‐in situations. Applying the concepts of path dependence and path creation, we explain how path shaping mechanisms such as bricolage (the process of combining available resources to create innovative outcomes) and breakthrough (a process where actors attempt to generate dramatic outcomes to deviate from existing pathways) occur using two destinations in the two regencies of the Toraja region of Sulawesi, Indonesia, as a case study. Understanding cultural tourism destination pathways requires frameworks capable of interrogating ethno‐political structures and histories and assessing how they influence developmental pathways that generate regional transformations. Our investigation indicates: strong path dependence in tourism, due to cultural, political, and economic conditions, inhibits breakthrough development; that the strength of path dependence at a regional level strongly influences the path shaping processes at the firm level; and that a breakthrough developmental process in tourism does not exclude bricolage.

Differentiated environmental taxes and high-quality economic development in China: theory and evidence.

Environmental tax policy plays an important role in promoting economic efficiency, but it is unclear whether the taxation is well-designed and effective. The differentiated environmental tax and fee policy in China has come a long way in the past 20years, along with the aim of high-quality economic development that focuses on the harmony of environment and productivity, so it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the differentiated environmental tax and fee policy. This paper constructs a pollution and environmental tax model based on the new economic geography framework to simulate the effect of environmental tax and technological innovation in the eastern and western region on pollution, output, and productivity. Using China's provincial panel data from 2005 to 2020 with difference-in-difference method, empirical evidence shows that differentiated environmental tax and fee adjustments generally boost industrial high-quality development by the industrial sulfur dioxide emission deduction and green total factor productivity improvement. When the adjustment is more differentiated between treatment and control, the effect is greater and more significant. Additionally, high environmental tax standard in high SO2 emission provinces significantly contributes to high-quality development. Progressive adjustments in 2007, 2014, and 2018 lead to heterogeneous policy effect. Technological innovation plays a mediating effect between differentiated environmental tax and high-quality economic development. The results above provide theoretical analysis and empirical study of China's differentiated environmental taxes and high-quality economic development for policy making.

Learning from architectural theory about how cities work as complex and evolving spatial systems

Abstract This article seeks to advance a key element of the methodological framework for evolutionary economic geography (EEG)—the conceptualisation of ‘urban space’. Drawing on recent theories from architecture and urban data science, it argues that the networked and topological qualities of urban built environments have been neglected in the EEG discipline, and yet they play an important role in how cities work as ‘complex evolving systems’. The article explores different ways in which the spatial configuration of cities influences urban economic evolution, drawing on Bill Hillier’s theory of space syntax and a case study from Greater Manchester. It concludes that when urban street systems are disrupted this can potentially become one contributing factor in why places become economically ‘left behind’.

Employment of DIY potential to ensure the economic resilience of the regions of Ukraine

Deindustrialization of regions, especially traditional industrial ones, caused by the destruction of enterprises, infrastructure facilities, relocation of businesses to safer regions of the country significantly reduces the economic potential, creating obstacles to ensuring a decent standard of living in wartime and post-war recovery. New challenges and threats form the demand for finding ways to ensure a resilient economy, which in a broad sense means the system's ability to cope with adverse shocks and recover from them. Within the framework of evolutionary economic geography, it is emphasized the need, along with traditional innovative actors, such as firms, research organizations, and state bodies, to distinguish new participants in innovative activity, in particular – citizens, who are able to play a significant role in the development, application, and scaling of innovative solutions of local problems. The article proposes to pay attention to capabilities of the modern «Do-it-yourself» activity format – DIY 4.0 or Third Wave DIY – as a potential for ensuring the economic resilience of the regions of Ukraine. DIY 4.0/Third Wave DIY relies on the functionality of the interactive and social Internet Web 2.0, digital design and additive manufacturing, which allows common people to invent, design, produce and sell the goods they create. The new advantages significantly expand opportunities of regional actors for prosumption, innovation and entrepreneurship, which are important components of the recovery of economic activity, the development of human capital and the growth of the economy based on the internal potential of the territories. The author identified the directions of stimulation of the DIY culture among population by local authorities and expressed an opinion about possible complications in the practical implementation of the proposed approach, primarily due to the lack of functional literacy of population, problems with access to equipment and resources for financing DIY activities. It is proposed to consider the expediency of including projects to create conditions for the development of DIY culture in the post-war reconstruction programs of regions, which does not exclude widespread support for this movement at the state level. The abovementioned may be related to further research.

Spatio-Temporal Differences in Economic Security of the Prefecture-Level Cities in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Region of China: Based on a Triple-Dimension Analytical Framework of Economic Geography.

The assessment of regional economic security (RES) is mainly based on the theoretical ideas of political economy and marginalism, and the research areas are mainly concentrated in European and American countries/regions, especially Eastern Europe. Taking the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in China as an example, this paper constructs a triple-dimensional analytical framework, resources, and environmental–economic foundation-driving forces, based on the institutional approach of economic geography, with the purpose of making up for the deficiency of the extant literature, which pays little attention to regional characteristics and the dynamic mechanism concerning RES, and to provide a tool to identify key factors affecting RES. This paper obtained the main conclusions as follows. (1) The index of the economic security in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is on the rise, and the difference at the level of RES among cities is significant but tends to decrease. (2) There is a significant spatial autocorrelation among cities in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in terms of RES. The high-value areas are concentrated along the southeast edge, and the low-value areas are concentrated in the central areas of the west. (3) Despite lower weight values, the weakness of the economic foundation and the fragility of the ecological environment has increasingly hampered the improvement of the economic security in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. In terms of driving forces, it is the support of the central government and aid programs of other provinces that contributes to its economic development.

Smooth sailing: market integration, agglomeration, and productivity growth in interwar Brazil

Abstract Leveraging an original dataset on coastal shipping and invoking a new economic geography framework, we study the effects of domestic and international trade costs on industrial concentration and productivity growth in interwar Brazil. In the great wave of globalization before 1914, international trade costs were low and domestic costs high. Economic activity was dispersed along the coastline. The interwar period saw a reversal: international costs surged and domestic costs declined. Economic activity was increasingly concentrated in São Paulo. Agglomeration economies enabled productivity growth in the 1930s, mostly in durable and capital goods.

Азиатская Россия – условия и препятствия поступательной диверсификации экономики макрорегиона

The paper considers the peculiarities and directions of economy diversification processes in the eastern part of Russia – the territory that stretches from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean. The processes of diversification are reviewed through the prism of not only the views and approaches developed within the framework of modern evolutionary economic geography but also institutional economics. It is shown that the state and dynamics of diversification processes in the Asian Russia are determined by the peculiarities of the transformation of the country’s economy as a whole during the transition from the system of centralized planning and management to a system based on market principles of interaction between economic agents. The role and importance of previously formed assets and implemented solutions – especially in the infrastructure sphere and previously created production structures – are extremely high. Without taking into account the peculiarities of space – the significant distances between different productions that are links in the value chain – the transformation of the economy leads to a narrowing of the spheres of economic activity and subsequent de-industrialization. According to the authors, the transition to the evolutionary process of economic diversification of the vast macroregion is impossible without a balanced public industrial policy and policy in the field of nature and subsoil use. The analysis of the processes of diversification / de-industrialization is supplemented and expanded within the framework of the cognitive analysis of possible directions and conditions affecting them. The authors offer a set of fundamental measures and steps, that allow, in their opinion, moving from ‘extra-regional’ causes of diversification to augmenting the role and importance of local and internal factors and conditions

Digital skills, relatedness and green diversification: A study of European regions

Prior research identifies relatedness as a key driver of new specializations in the domain of green technologies. The present paper extends the evolutionary economic geography framework by focussing on digital literacy. Specifically, we argue that workforce skills associated with the use and development of ICT technologies are an important, if understudied, determinant of regional diversification into new green technologies. Accordingly, we analyse their relationships with relatedness and green diversification using panel data on 142 European regions for the period 2006 – 2013. We find that e-skills endowment is a positive predictor of regions’ ability to specialise in new technological domains, and especially for green specializations. Further, e-skills negatively moderate the effect of relatedness on technological diversification. These results call attention to the potential of digitalisation in the context of the transition towards a greener economy.

Rural Youth Welfare along the Rural-urban Gradient: An Empirical Analysis across the Developing World

We use survey data on 170,000 households from Asia, Latin America and Africa, global geo-spatial data, and an economic geography framework to highlight five findings about rural youth in developing countries. First, the youth share in population is falling rapidly, and youth numbers are stable or falling slowly everywhere, except in Africa. In Africa, youth share is rising very slowly, but numbers are set to double in 40 years. Second, large majorities of rural youth live in spaces that are not inherently limiting: two-thirds live in zones with highest agricultural potential, and one-quarter combine this with highest commercialisation potential. The 4% that do live in inherently challenging spaces are concentrated in pockets of persistent poverty in middle-income countries. Third, rural spaces’ commercial potential has large impacts on welfare outcomes, but their agricultural potential has no detectable impact. Fourth, households with young members face income- and poverty ‘penalties’ in all regions and spaces within them, compared to households without young members. The poverty penalty declines sharply over space as commercial potential rises, but the income penalty shows ambiguous patterns. Fifth, households with young members earn lower relative returns to education, with varying patterns over space.

New economic geography and economic history: a survey of recent contributions through the lens of the Spanish industrialization process

This paper aims to provide a synthesis of a number of articles that over the last few years have explored the industrialization process in Spain from the perspective of the new economic geography (NEG). To this end, we present some of the seminal theoretical papers of the NEG literature from which originated the main theoretical predictions that have been tested through empirical analysis applied to the case of Spain. We also look at those papers on the economic history of Spain that—through the use of an economic geography framework—have analysed how the location and regional concentration of manufacturing has evolved over the years. Altogether, this paper aims not only to present the determinants of the industrial map of Spain, but also to highlight the positive externalities that stem from the interaction between the NEG and economic history, showing the usefulness of a cliometric approach based on economic theory and empirical testing to give us a more detailed knowledge of the past.

НОВАЯ РОЛЬ ПРИРОДНЫХ РЕСУРСОВ: ТУРИЗМ КАК МЕХАНИЗМ «ВЫХОДА ИЗ КОЛЕИ» РОССИЙСКИХ СЫРЬЕВЫХ РЕГИОНОВ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ КУЗБАССА)

Статья подготовлена в рамках современной междисциплинарной теории «колеи» предыдущего развития (path dependence), которая исходит из того, что текущее развитие экономики любой территории определяется ее историей, сформированными социально-экономическими институтами и структурами. Регионы развиваются в рамках «колеи» и могут попадать в «институциональные ловушки», которые удерживают экономику в рамках одной колеи. Одной из наиболее распространенных экономик, попадающих в ловушки эффекта «колеи», являются регионы, зависимые от природных ресурсов. Экономика многих «нестоличных» удаленных регионов основывается на добыче природных ресурсов – угледобыча, нефтегазовая отрасль, сельское хозяйство, лесозаготовка. Эти продукты являются сырьем, т. е. природными ресурсами, получающими минимальную обработку (добавленную стоимость) перед экспортом, а экономики данных регионов – сырьевыми. В данной статье дается ответ на вопрос – могут ли природные ресурсы стать основой экономики нового типа, может ли сырьевой регион преодолеть институциональные ловушки и перейти от экономики добычи к креативной экономике. В мировой литературе недостаточно исследований, посвященных тому, как накопленные экономические и социальные ресурсы «старой» ресурсной колеи могут быть использованы для создания новой, креативной. Представлен успешный опыт Кемеровской области о том, как новая отрасль экономики – туризм, по-новому использует не только природные ресурсы региона, но и накопленные компетенции и ресурсы добывающей отрасли. Статья показывает, что активное взаимодействие органов власти, бизнеса и университетов может вывести из «колеи» даже ресурсозависимые регионы и сформировать туристскую дестинацию.

Growth in regions, knowledge bases and relatedness: some insights from the Italian case

ABSTRACTThe present work uses an evolutionary economic geography framework to contribute to the literature on the combinatorial dimension of differentiated knowledge bases (DKB). The aim is to determine if there is a pattern of knowledge creation that does not rely on one specific knowledge base, and if the three knowledge bases require the presence of other related sectors to exploit their innovative capacity leading to the growth of the region. We apply Hidalgo, Klinger, Barabási, and Hausmann’s [2007. The product space conditions the development of nations. Science, 317(5837), 482–487.] methodology of a revealed relatedness measure between sectors, thus measuring the relatedness between the three KB and the relatedness of each KB with all other sectors (outside). The results show how, at the local level, the sectors characterized by synthetic and symbolic knowledge bases in the presence of other sectors with a high degree of relatedness are able to increase the employment growth of the area.

Boomeranging home: understanding why young adults live with parents in Toronto, Canada

ABSTRACT This article examines young adults’ experiences of living at home with their parents in the Greater Toronto Area. Although media frequently references co-residence as part of the trope of struggling/lazy millennial adulthood, it has received little academic attention from geographers. Co-residence offers a unique lens to understand some of the vital economic geographies of young adults, especially when set within a context of financial uncertainty, inaccessible housing markets and a job market characterized by precarious work. The research draws on a feminist economic geography framework to understand why millennials (those born between 1980 and 1995) live at home. Analysis of qualitative interviews reveals the key social structures and processes that organize and shape millennials’ experiences, including the economy, education and debt, as well as the family, culture and mutual reliance. This research highlights the role families play in the struggle to maintain a middle class social position for their children, providing insight into the complexity of young adults’ decisions to co-reside with parents, where motivations of choice and constraint often overlap.

Trade costs, regional inequality, and the Home-Market Effect

ABSTRACTThis paper develops an economic geography framework with positive trade costs in both manufacturing and traditional sectors, mobile skilled workers, and unequal shares of unskilled labour in regions. It shows that partial agglomeration always features the Home-Market Effect (HME) regardless of whether regions trade only the manufacturing good or both. Moreover, spatial factor mobility is significant for the HME to arise, while intersectoral mobility does not play a crucial role. Furthermore, a decrease in the traditional sector trade costs makes the HME weaker and increases the likelihood of full agglomeration in the larger region. Finally, the paper shows that a small departure from Cobb–Douglas upper-tier utility towards gross substitutability of manufacturing and traditional goods reinforces the HME, while the opposite holds for gross complementarity of goods.

Are there different local patterns of convergence concealed beneath the regional level? An analysis for US states and counties using a multilevel approach

The extensive literature on economic convergence has explored a wide variety of ways of measuring convergence in addition to finely tuning and improving the applicable econometric techniques. However, very few contributions analyze the relevance of the spatial level of analysis. Our hypothesis is that studying the convergence at the level of large regions (states) could conceal intraregional heterogeneity. This hypothesis is consistent with the New Economic Geography framework, which highlighted core-periphery patterns at the local level. However, this polarization mechanism may become difficult to identify with aggregated data or neoclassical dynamics operating at the same time. This paper proposes a multilevel approach to study this question. It allows the identification of possible heterogeneous local patterns of behavior within regions. It is applied to the US economy in a hierarchy of two levels: states and counties. The results show high intraclass correlation, indicating significant variance within states. An overall pattern of convergence is observed in line with previous results, although some states present internal patterns of divergence or significant changes in the rate of convergence.

Defining region

Regional studies are right in the center of scientific and political discourse at the moment; regional issues acquire special significance in the countries with a transition economy. However, there is still no clear definition of the term “region”. Due to its multifaceted nature, it certainly has natural, cultural, economic, political, and social dimension. At the same time, this term occupies a wide range of phenomena from small parts of countries to huge continental interstate formations. The goal of this paper is the analysis of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the definition of the region. We have brought different approaches, from the classical school to the New Economic Geography. The latter considers the region as a unit of space for economic activities. Thus, the region becomes a multidisciplinary object of research within the framework of economic theory and economic geography. In Europe, the integration processes put the region on the forefront of economic policy. The issues of regional policy are equally important in the light of the economic modernization processes taking place in Russia and Serbia. This article also summarizes the experience of regional studies of Serbian and Russian schools. The results can be used in further theoretical and applied research, writing theses in the field of economics and economic geography.

Location of leisure: the New Economic Geography of leisure services

Understanding more about the geographic location of leisure services is an important quest for research. For a long time now in developed economies, almost all employment growth is occurring within the service sector. In this sector, leisure services are fast growers. This means that the location of these services is important for economic growth and for employment opportunities of local market areas. Regional policy-makers time and again highlight these sectors as future engines of growth. This paper investigates the role of local demand in determining the availability and the scale of various types of leisure services. The analysis is motivated by observed regularities that indicate large and persistent interregional differences in the location and growth of leisure services. Based on a New Economic Geography framework, we investigate the role of local and regional demand for the size of leisure services in geographically separate markets in Sweden. We use data for 290 Swedish municipalities for the period 2002–2013 and run year-municipality fixed-effects regressions. Our main findings suggest a strong dependency on local demand, and less on the demand originating from other regions.

Economic Theories of Labor Migration

The article presents the review of labor migration economic theories evolution from the middle of the XIX century, when Ravenstein E.G. founded the modern economic theory of manpower migration in market economy, to the latest ideas of labor migration regularities within New Economic Geography framework by P. Krugman. On the research basis, the conclusion about absence of the uniform theory of labor migration and its moving factors is received. However, the existing theoretical approaches may be used to solve certain social and economic objectives. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s7p101