Geography Of Growth

The conditions for sustainable growth and development are among the most debated topics in economics, and the consensus is that institutions matter greatly in explaining why some economies are more successful than others over time. This book explores the relationship between economic conditions, growth, and inequality.

What makes certain cities more competitive than others? Why is it that countries often find talent concentrated more so in a few regions than evenly spread across the country? What are the economic drivers that make cities more productive? These are a few of the many questions that this volume aims to answer.

This book examines the geography of economic development and variations in the degree to which globalization of production, consumption, and exchange has affected economic growth and regions' development status. As the world's regions become more highly integrated and interdependent through time, it is essential that we gain a basic understanding of the factors and forces which both influence regional economic change and determine future economic development potential. In so doing, we acknowledge that the effectiveness of regional development strategies and policies are, to a large extent, contingent upon our ability to find solutions to a complex set of global development problems.

Krugman examines the course of economic geography and development theory to shed light on the nature of economic inquiry.

Since the 1990s, new economic geography has received a lot of attention as mainstream economists such as Krugman and others began to focus on where economic activity occurs and why. Coincidentally, international trade, location theory, and urban economics all appear to be asking the same question: where is economic activity located and why? The challenge is to explain the economic concentration or agglomeration of a large number of activities in certain geographical space. This volume breaks down the various types of cities and evaluates the key factors used to look at cities, such as innovation, green growth, spatial concentration, and smart cities in order to understand how cities work. Why is it that certain cities attract talent? How do some cities become business hubs? Why is it that few cities become increasingly competitive while others remain stagnant? As development specialists are increasingly focusing on how to make cities competitive, this book can serve as a guide for providing key insights, backed by cases on how cities can possibly become more competitive and productive.

The spillovers in knowledge among largely college-educated workers were among the key reasons for the impressive degree of economic growth and spread of entrepreneurship in the United States during the 1990s. Prior 'industrial policies' in the 1970s and 1980s did not advance growth because these were based on outmoded large manufacturing models. Zoltan Acs and Catherine Armington use a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to explain new firm formation rates in regional economies during the 1990s period and beyond. The fastest-growing regions are those that have the highest rates of new firm formation, and which are not dominated by large businesses. The authors of this text also find support for the thesis that knowledge spillovers move across industries and are not confined within a single industry. As a result, they suggest, regional policies to encourage and sustain growth should focus on entrepreneurship among other factors.

The conditions for sustainable growth and development are among the most debated topics in economics, and the consensus is that institutions matter greatly in explaining why some economies are more successful than others over time. Probing the long-term effects of early colonial differences on immigration policy, land distribution, and financial development in a variety of settings, Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth explores the relationship between economic conditions, growth, and inequality, with a focus on how the monopolization of resources by the political elite limits incentives for ordinary people to invest in human capital or technological discovery. Among the topics discussed are the development of credit markets in France, the evolution of transportation companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the organization of innovation in the United States.