Economic Geography And Public Policy

Research on the spatial aspects of economic activity has flourished over the past decade due to the emergence of new theory, new data, and an intense interest on the part of policymakers, especially in Europe but increasingly in North America and elsewhere as well. However, these efforts--collectively known as the "new economic geography"--have devoted little attention to the policy implications of the new theory. Economic Geography and Public Policy fills the gap by illustrating many new policy insights economic geography models can offer to the realm of theoretical policy analysis. Focusing primarily on trade policy, tax policy, and regional policy, Richard Baldwin and coauthors show how these models can be used to make sense of real-world situations. The book not only provides much fresh analysis but also synthesizes insights from the existing literature. The authors begin by presenting and analyzing the widest range of new economic geography models to date. From there they proceed to examine previously unaddressed welfare and policy issues including, in separate sections, trade policy (unilateral, reciprocal, and preferential), tax policy (agglomeration with taxes and public goods, tax competition and agglomeration), and regional policy (infrastructure policies and the political economy of regional subsidies). A well-organized, engaging narrative that progresses smoothly from fundamentals to more complex material, Economic Geography and Public Policy is essential reading for graduate students, researchers, and policymakers seeking new approaches to spatial policy issues.

Illustrating policy insights that stem from economic geography models, this text focuses on trade policy, tax policy and regional policy. The authors show how these models can be used to make sense of real-world situations.

Illustrating policy insights that stem from economic geography models, this text focuses on trade policy, tax policy and regional policy. The authors show how these models can be used to make sense of real-world situations.

The last four decades have seen major changes in the global economy, with the collapse of communism and the spread of capitalism into parts of the world from which it had previously been excluded. Beginning with a grounding in Marxian political economy, this book explores a range of new ideas as to what economic geography can offer as it intersects with public policy and planning in the new globalised economy. Approaches to Economic Geography draws together the formidable work of Ray Hudson into an authoritative collection, offering a unique approach to the understanding of the changing geographies of the global economy. With chapters covering subjects ranging from uneven development to social economy, this volume explores how a range of perspectives, including evolutionary and institutional approaches, can further elucidate how such economies and their geographies are reproduced. Subsequent chapters argue that greater attention must be given to the relationships between the economy and nature, and that more consideration needs to be given to the growing significance of illegal activities in the economy. The book will be of interest to students studying economic geography as well as researchers and policy makers that recognise the importance of the relationships between economy and geography as we move towards a sustainable future economy and society.

Social policy and human geography are intimately intertwined yet frequently disconnected fields. Whilst social policies are always conceived, implemented and experienced in and through geography, the role of place in social policy scholarship and practice is frequently overlooked. Bringing together experts from both fields, this collection illuminates the myriad of ways that human geography offers rich insights conceptually, empirically and methodologically into the neglected spatialities of policy scholarship, practice and experience. By building the necessary bridges towards a spatial social policy, this book enables the enhanced design, performance and understanding of social policies once properly rooted in their multiple spatialities.

Facts and theories, spatial inequalities, space in economic thought. Space, trade, and agglomeration, monopolistics competition. Breadth and determinants of spatial concentration, the empiics of economic geography, theory with numbers, concluding remarks.

Within the European context of innovation for growth, public and corporate actors are faced with pressing questions concerning innovation policy and the return on public and private investment in innovation at the regional level. To help them answer these questions, researchers in the field of Geography of Innovation propose interesting developments and new perspectives for the analysis of localized innovation processes, interactions between science, technology and industry, and their impact on regional growth and competitiveness, offering new foundations for designing and evaluating public policies. The aim of this book is firstly to highlight major recent methodological advances in the Geography of Innovation, particularly concerning the measurement of spatial knowledge externalities and their impact on agglomeration effects. Strategic approaches using microeconomic data have also contributed to showing how firms’ strategies may interact with the local environment and impact upon agglomeration dynamics. Interesting new results emerge from the application of these new methodologies to the analysis of innovation dynamics in European regions and this book shows how they can help revisit some of the main tenets of received wisdom concerning the rationale and impact of public policies on the Geography of Innovation. This book was previously published as a special issue of Regional Studies.

The impact of economic geography both within and beyond the wider field of geography has been constrained in the past by its own limitations. Drawing together the work of several eminent geographers this superb collection assesses the current state of knowledge in the sub discipline and its future direction. In doing so, the contributors show how economic geographers have offered explanations that affect places and lives in the broader context of the global economy. Offering a discussion of theoretical constructs and methodologies with the purpose to show the need to combine different approaches in understanding spatial (inter) dependencies, contributors also demonstrate the need to engage with multiple audiences, and within this context they proceed to examine how geographers have interfaced with businesses and policy. This excellent collection moves economic geography from a preoccupation with theory towards more rigorous empirical research with greater relevance for public policy. With excellent breadth of coverage, it provides an outstanding introduction to research topics and approaches.