Author: Adam Tickell
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446234347
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
"The biggest strength of the book is its pedagogic design, which will appeal to new entrants in the field but also leaves space for methodological debates... It is well suited for use on general courses but it also involves far more than an introduction and is full of theoretical insights for a more theoretically advanced audience." - Economic Geography Research Group In the last fifteen years economic geography has experienced a number of fundamental theoretical and methodological shifts. Politics and Practice in Economic Geography explains and interrogates these fundamental issues of research practice in the discipline. Concerned with examining the methodological challenges associated with that ′cultural turn′, the text explains and discusses: qualitative and ethnographic methodologies the role and significance of quantitative and numerical methods the methodological implications of both post-structural and feminist theories the use of case-study approaches the methodological relation between the economic geography and neoclassical economics, economic sociology, and economic anthropology. Leading contributors examine substantive methodological issues in economic geography and make a distinctive contribution to economic-geographical debate and practice.

Author: Trevor J. Barnes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118874323
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This volume in the celebrated Critical Introductions to Geography series introduces readers to the vibrant discipline of economic geography. The authors provide an original definition of the discipline, and they make a strong case for its vital importance in understanding the dynamic interconnections, movements, and emerging trends shaping our globalized world. Economic Geography addresses the key theories and methods that form the basis of the discipline, and describes its “communities of practice” and relations to related fields including economics and sociology. Numerous illustrative examples explore how economic geographers examine the world and how and why the discipline takes the forms it does, demonstrating the critical value of economic geography to making sense of globalization, uneven development, money and finance, urbanization, environmental change, and industrial and technological transformation. Engaging and thought-provoking, Economic Geography: A Critical Introduction is the ideal resource for students studying across a range of subject areas, as well as the general reader with an interest in world affairs and economics.

Author: Philip McCann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317237188
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
In recent years, the United Kingdom has become a more and more divided society with inequality between the regions as marked as it has ever been. In a landmark analysis of the current state of Britain’s regional development, Philip McCann utilises current statistics, examines historical trends and makes pertinent international comparisons to assess the state of the nation. The UK Regional–National Economic Problem brings attention to the highly centralised, top down governance structure that the UK deploys, and demonstrates that it is less than ideally placed to rectify these inequalities. The ‘North-South’ divide in the UK has never been greater and the rising inequalities are evident in almost all aspects of the economy including productivity, incomes, employment status and wealth. Whilst the traditional economic dominance of London and its hinterland has continued along with relative resilience in the South West of England and Scotland, in contrast the Midlands, the North of England, Northern Ireland and Wales lag behind by most measures of prosperity. This inequality is greatly limiting national economic performance and the fact that Britain has a below average standard of living by European and OECD terms has been ignored. The UK’s economic and governance inequality is unlikely to be fundamentally rebalanced by the current governance and connectivity trends, although this definitive study suggests that some areas of improvement are possible if they are well implemented. This pivotal analysis is essential reading for postgraduate students in economics and urban studies as well as researchers and policy makers in local and central government.

Author: Trevor J. Barnes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470754745
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
This reader introduces students to examples of the most important research in the field of economic geography. Brings together the most important research contributions to economic geography. Editorial commentary makes the material accessible for students. The editors are highly respected in their field.

Author: Neil Coe
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446247716
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
With the UK still facing the repercussions of the 2007 economic downturn, Coe and Jones′ text is a timely, engaging discussion of the key issues facing the UK economy from a purely geographical perspective, written by some of the leading academics in the field. With pedagogical features to facilitate learning, including further reading and chapter aims, the text explores the complex connections that constitute the UK economy including the city and finance, the uneven development of the UK, the UK economy′s links to the European Union and its wider ties to the global economy. Written for geography students studying modules on economic geography and the human geography of the UK, the text is a vibrantly written, easy-to-understand analysis of the current and future challenges that face the contemporary UK economy. Includes a preface by Doreen Massey.

Author: Ron Johnston
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197262863
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
These essays trace the evolution of British geography as an academic discipline during the last hundred years, and stress how the study of the world we live in is fundamental to an understanding of its problems and concerns. Never before has such an ambitious and wide-ranging review been attempted, and never before has it been done with so much knowledge and passion. The principal themes covered in this volume are those of environment, place and space, and the applied geography of map-making and planning. The volume also addresses specific issues such as disease, urbanization, regional viability, and ethics and social problems. This lively and accessible work offers many insights into the minds and practices of today's geographers.

Author: Ray Hudson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131762047X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
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.

Author: Frank Giarratani
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1782549005
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
This unique Handbook examines the impacts on, and responses to, economic geography explicitly from the perspective of the behaviour, mechanics, systems and experiences of different firms in various types of industries. The industry studies approach all

Author: Ron Martin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000592901
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The nature of the problem: • Geographical inequalities in the UK are a longstanding and persistent problem rooted in deepseated and cumulative processes of local and regional divergence with antecedents in the inter-war years and accelerating since the early 1980s. • This spatial divergence has been generated by the inability of some places to adapt to the emergence of the post-industrial service and knowledge-based economy whose geographies are very different from those of past heavy industries. As a consequence, the "left behind" problem has become spatially and systemically entrenched. • Challenging ideas of market-led adjustment, there is little evidence that real cost advantages in Northern areas are correcting and offsetting the geographically differentiated development of skilled labour and human capital and the quality of residential and business environments. • A variety of different types of "left behind place" exist at different scales, and these types combine common problems with distinctive economic trajectories and varied causes. These different types will need policies that are sensitive and adaptive to their specific problems and potentialities. • Contemporary economic development is marked by agglomeration in high-skilled and knowledge-intensive activities. Research-based concentrations of high-skilled activity in the UK have been limited and concentrated heavily in parts of London and cities in the Golden Triangle, especially Oxford and Cambridge. Even in London, the benefits have been unevenly spread between boroughs. • Existing analyses of the predicaments of left behind places present a stark division between rapid growth in "winning" high-skilled cities and relative decline in "losing" areas. This view is problematic because it oversimplifies the experience in the UK and other countries. A false binary distinction is presented to policymakers which offers only the possibility of growth in larger cities and derived spillovers and other compensations elsewhere. • Yet, the post-industrial economy involves strong dispersal of activity and growth to smaller cities, towns and rural areas. However, this process has been highly selective between local areas and needs to be better understood. The institutional and policy response: • Past policies in the UK have lacked recognition of the scale and importance of the left behind problem and committed insufficient resources to its resolution. The objective of achieving a less geographically unequal economy has not been incorporated into mainstream policymaking. When compared with other countries, the UK has taken an overcentralized, "top-down" approach to policy formulation and implementation, often applying "one size fits all" policy measures to different geographical situations. • Political cycles have underpinned a disruptive churn of institutions and policies. In contrast with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, particularly in Europe, there has been limited long-term strategy and continuity, and inadequate development of local policymaking capacity and capabilities, especially for research, analysis, monitoring and evaluation. • Past policies have been underfunded, inconsistent, and inadequately tailored and adapted to the needs of different local economies. We estimate that, on average over the period 1961–2020, the UK government invested on average £2.9 billion per annum in direct spatial policy (2020 prices), equivalent to around 0.15% of gross national income (GNI) per annum over the period. European Union Structural and Cohesion Policy support has added around 0.12% GNI (2020 prices) per annum to this over the period from the late 1970s. • These broad estimates suggest that discretionary expenditure in the UK on urban and regional policy when both domestic and European Union spatial policy was in operation was equivalent to 0.27% per annum of UK GNI (2020 prices). This is dwarfed by mainstream spending programmes (by comparison, the UK committed £14.5 billion (0.7% of GNI) to international aid in 2019). The level of resources devoted to spatial policy has been modest given the entrenched and cumulative nature of the problem. • Policies for "levelling up" need clearly to distinguish different types of left behind places and devise a set of place-sensitive and targeted policies for these types of "clubs" of left behind areas. This shift will need a radical expansion of "place-based" policymaking in the UK which allows national and local actors to collaborate on the design of appropriate targeted programmes. • A key priority for "levelling up" is revitalizing Northern cities and boosting their contribution to the national economy. Underperformance in these urban centres has been a major contributor to persistent geographical inequality in the UK. • Addressing the UK’s geographical economic inequalities and the plight of left behind places requires substantially more decentralization of power and resources to place-based agencies. This would enable the current UK government’s "levelling up" agenda to capitalize on the many advantages of more "place-based" policymaking to diagnose problems, build on local capabilities, strengthen resilience and adapt to local changes in circumstances. • Crucially, place-based efforts need to be coordinated and aligned with place-sensitive national policies. The key challenge of a levelling up mission is to integrate "place-based" policies with greater place sensitivity in national policies and in regulation and mainstream economic spending. • It is important to develop policies that spread the benefits from agglomeration and ensure that the income effects and innovations produced by high-skill concentrations diffuse to the wider cityregional economies and their firms (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) and workers. There is a clear need for more policy thinking on how this can be achieved. • Policy for levelling-up needs to align and coordinate with the other national missions for net zero carbon and post-pandemic recovery. This suggests that a strong "place-making" agenda focused on quality of life, infrastructure and housing in many left behind places is important for post-industrial and service growth. • Genuine place-making is a long-term process involving public, private and civic participation which allows local responses to those economic, environmental, and social constraints and problems that most strongly reduce the quality of life in local areas. A truly "total place" approach is required. The quality of infrastructure, housing stock and public services is crucial for the quality of place as well as the ability to secure and attract more dispersed forms of growth. There is little hope of delivering "place-making" if public sector austerity is once again allowed to cut back public services more severely in poorer and more deprived areas. The way forward: • The scale and nature of the UK’s contemporary "left behind places" problem are such that only a transformative shift in policy model and a resource commitment of historic proportions are likely to achieve the "levelling up" ambition that is central to the current government’s political ambitions. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS In summary, our recommendations are that the UK government should: • Grasp the transformative moment for local, regional and urban development policy as the UK adjusts to a post-Covid-19 world and seeks a net zero carbon future. • Establish a clear and binding national mission for "levelling up". • Realize the potential of place in policymaking. • Decentralize and devolve towards a multilevel federal polity. • Strengthen subnational funding and financing and adopt new financing models involving the public, private sector and civic sectors to generate the resources required. • Embed geography in the national state and in national policy machinery. • Improve subnational strategic research, intelligence, monitoring and evaluation capacity. A failure to learn from the lessons of the last 70 years of spatial policy risks the UK becoming an ever more divided nation, with all the associated economic, social and political costs, risks and challenges that this presents.

Author: B. Fingleton
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 184720421X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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This book is a serious attempt to cover all of the relevant subdisciplines in the geographical economics framework. . . I would recommend the book to students of economic geography, regional economics, and related disciplines. Frans Boekema, Journal of Regional Science . . . this book is empirically and theoretically comprehensive in its scope. The nearly eighteen authors who have contributed to this book present a truly transatlantic perspective on NEG. . . this volume will be extremely useful to those dealing with rigorous modelling to examine spatial issues in economics, geography and planning. Rajiv Thakur, Regional Science Policy and Practice I recommend the book. . . The papers of a high quality, well written and organized; empirical analyses are based on the most advanced empirical techniques, and the reader enjoys their application. Roberta Capello, Growth and Change A very interesting volume indeed, recommended reading for everyone interested in theorizing space in economics or working in the empirical spatial-economic research arena. Economic Geography Research Group This important book explores original and alternative directions for economic geography following the revolution precipitated by the advent of so-called new economic geography (NEG). Whilst, to some extent, the volume could be regarded as part of the inevitable creative destruction of NEG theory, it does promote the continuing role of theoretical and empirical contributions within spatial economic analysis, in which the rationale of scientific analysis and economic logic maintain a central place. With contributions from leading experts in the field, the book presents a comprehensive analysis of the extent to which NEG theory is supported in the real world. By exploring whether NEG theory can be effectively applied to provide practical insights, the authors highlight novel approaches, emerging trends, and promising new lines of enquiry in the wake of advances made by NEG. Rigorous yet engaging, this book will be an essential tool for academics and researchers specialising in regional studies, urban and spatial economics and economic geography. It will also have widespread appeal amongst policymakers involved in planning and land use.