On new Directions in the Development of Soviet Economic Geography

A review of new research areas in Soviet economic geography distinguishes three categories of topics in terms of the level of advance and the volume of research being done. The most viable new areas, with a large number of studies, include the resource-oriented approach to economic geography and the systems approach to settlement geography. In other research areas, such as the geography of services and the geography of land use, only the first steps are being made. The lag in land-use studies behind the West is explained in terms of the large territory of the USSR, which is said to have made this type of research unnecessary until recently. The potentialities of some research areas are only just beginning to be perceived, notably in the case of studies on spatial value relationships, involving regional accounts and balance of payments.     

The use of Savings-Bank Statistics in Economic Geography

Soviet savings-bank statistics are examined as a potential source of data in economic-geographic research, with particular reference to four distinctive areas of Donetsk Oblast (Yenakiyevo, a large coal-steel city; Debal'tsevo, a middle-size railroad town; a suburban rural area; and a purely rural area). The average deposit balance in rural areas tends to be larger and more stable than in cities. City dwellers view savings banks as a place for keeping temporarily available money while rural residents use the banks for savings for particular purposes (home building, automobile purchase, etc.). The coefficient of territorial concentration (the ratio of the mean deposit in the local area to the mean deposit in the oblast as a whole) reflects differences in income levels. The mean deposit tends to be highest in suburban rural areas, where employment in the central city is supplemented by the sale of produce from private garden plots. Income levels in Yenakiyevo, with its high-paid labor force in the coal and steel industries, are higher than among the railroad workers of Debal'tsevo. Changes in deposit balances through the year also reflect urban and rural peculiarities in family incomes and expenditures.     

Forecasting in Economic Geography

Economic-geographic forecasting is intended to predict the dynamics of the interplay between nature and society and to serve as the basis for economic development plans. Because of the large number of variables involved, probability analysis may be expected to play an important role in economic-geographic forecasts. One approach suggested is the analysis of chain reactions involved in various energy-and-production cycles, the name given to integrated economic-geographic systems based on the use of a given set of energy and raw-material sources.     

Methodological Problems in Economic Geography

The author uses the techniques of paleogeography and archeology to trace climatic fluctuations in inner Asia and the rise of nomadism in the 1st millennium B. C. replacing a settled mode of stock herding and agriculture. Previous papers in this series appeared in Soviet Geography, June 1964 and February 1966.     

The Industrial District and the 'New' Italian Economic Geography

The industrial district is one of the theoretical concepts by which Italian economic geography has redefined a large part of its scientific and methodological status. The successful of industrial district is linked to the explanation of the Italian model of light industrialization, that is to the role played by small firms in Italian manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to know that industrial district was introduced as a theoretical paradigm to stress the territoriality of the production process and the gain of productiveness and innovativeness for the firm which sources from the embedding of economic activity within the local society where the production takes place. Support for this approach is found in the Marshallian external economies. This article addresses the importance of industrial district from the point of view of this neo-Marshallian reading of the organization of production. This framework of reference provides the basis for the formulation and implementation of local policies which recast traditional economic, social and infrastructural ones as specialist policies aimed at the creation of the institutional and environmental conditions for the competitiveness of places.     

Teaching Economic Geography in Two Contrasting Asian Contexts: Decentering Anglo-American Economic Geography in China and Singapore

Teaching economic geography outside Anglo-American countries presents a particular pedagogical challenge, as theories and concepts developed in these countries might not be directly applicable outside their intellectual and national contexts. In this paper, the authors show how the peculiar institutional and development environments in China and Singapore have shaped the ways in which the economic geography curriculum is developed and taught in institutions of higher education. They also examine how students respond to the intellectual challenges presented to them. In their view, successful pedagogy in teaching economic geography requires a significant degree of localization of the curriculum.     

历史经济地理学的问题和机遇——以近代经济地理为例

对历史经济地理进行清晰的学科边界界定,既无必要,亦无可能,不妨将其视为一个研究领域.该领域关注的核心问题应是历史时期的经济活动在空间上的展开过程和空间分布.这个领域是历史学、经济学、地理学三个学科的交叉地带.     

A Classification of Models in Economic Geography

Models used in economic geography are classified on the basis of a general scientific classification of models which distinguishes two broad categories: ideal and material models. Ideal models are further categorized as visual, symbolic, and mathematical models, and material models as natural, physical, and mathematical models. Examples of each type are suggested. Other possible typologies of models can be devised; for example, logical, graphic, and mathematical models, representing a logical progression of scientific research. Models can be divided into general and particular models, depending on whether they treat aggregates or individual aspects. The complete model of a regional territorial-production complex would be a system of general and particular models. In terms of content, models can be classified as structural, functional, or synthetic (structural-functional) models. Finally, there could be a typology distinguishing static and dynamic models, nonoptimized and optimized models, and varying categories of prediction (models of an existing situation, planning models, predictive models).     

Re-emerging China and Consequences for Economic Geography

A noted specialist on the spatial dimensions of China's economy surveys questions and opportunities for economic geography raised by the re-emergence of China. He explores the ways in which the rise of China may alter economic geography's object of study (the organization of the world economy), force re-conceptualization of some fundamental concepts and theories, and affect the way the discipline conducts its work. The paper argues that cooperation of Western and Chinese scholars in forging a new economic geography is contingent on a redirected focus away from concerns relevant only to the West and the discarding of research frameworks that bracket China off from experiences in the West.     

口岸贸易与经济地理:怎样理解近代中国经济

百年来历经数代学者的努力,从开放口岸理解近代中国经济,逐渐描绘出一幅相对准确的图景,究竟怎样才能更全面准确地解读近代中国经济的多样性与矛盾性,给予贴近实情的分析,而不是面上的估测?如今发现从经济地理的角度,能够描绘近代中国经济的全息图,从而相对完整地理解大国经济的多样性,明晰其中同时共存的斑驳陆离,进而获得近代中国经济发展的实情。     

The Economic Geography of the USSR by the Year 2000

A Soviet economic geographer uses a popular science monthly to predict some of the changes that may be expected in the Soviet Union over the next three decades. Urban population will tend to live in middle-size cities rather than gigantic urban complexes or excessively small settlements. Farm yields will be increased through more intensive use of the land. Conventional fuels and hydroelectricity will not be challenged by atomic power except in remote areas lacking other energy sources. Heavy industry will continue a gradual eastward shift beyond the Urals but will not be matched by an equal flow of population, which will remain concentrated in the European part of the country.     

近代经济地理的研究历程

近代经济地理学经过二十多年的发展,现已成为历史地理诸学科中重要的学科方向,并受到历史学、地理学、经济学等相关学科的重视.对近代经济地理研究进行必要的学术史回顾,为下一步的研究指出新的学术起点,意义是不言而喻的.     

The Place of Regional Economic Geography in the System of Geographical Sciences

The author holds that regional geography cannot be regarded as an independent geographic discipline because it lacks its own system of laws, such as the natural laws that operate in physical geography and the social laws that operate in economic geography. He agrees with the view that both physical and economic geography fall into theoretical and regional departments, and that regional studies test the localized application of the general laws formulated by the theoretical departments of the two great divisions of geography.     

On Some Problems of Theory and Practice in Economic Geography

The author, an opponent of Anuchin's views, charges that the discussion around the theory of a unified geography has been diverting the attention of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University away from practical tasks contributing to the growth of the national economy. Vol'skiy restates the Marxist theory of economic geography and calls on economic geographers for more constructive contributions to Communist economic development.     

The Development of Geography in the Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia

A review of geographic research in Transcaucasia during the 50 years of Soviet rule. A great diversity of natural conditions within a relatively limited area has made the region a miniature laboratory and testing ground for a variety of geographic concepts, especially in climatology and hydrology.