Rethinking relational economic geography

Recent theoretical and empirical work in economic geography has experienced what might be termed a 'relational turn' that focuses primarily on the ways in which socio-spatial relations of economic actors are intertwined with processes of economic change at various geographical scales. This phenomenon begs the questions of whether the 'relational turn' is simply an explicit reworking of what might be an undercurrent in economic geography during the late 1970s and the 1980s, and whether this 'turn' offers substantial advancement in our theory and practice. In this paper, I aim to evaluate critically the nature and emergence of this relational economic geography by revisiting its antecedents and conceptual frameworks. This evaluation opens up some significant conceptual issues that are further reworked in this paper. In particular, I argue that much of the work in this 'relational turn' is relational only in a thematic sense, focusing on various themes of socio-spatial relations without theorizing sufficiently the nature of relationality and its manifestation through power relations and actor-specific practice. This paper thus illuminates the nature of relationality and the multiple ways through which power works itself out in 'relational geometries', defined as the spatial configurations of heterogeneous power relations. As a preliminary attempt, I first conceptualize different forms of power in such relational geometries and their causal effects in producing concrete/spatial outcomes. I then show how this relational view can offer an alternative understanding of a major research concern in contemporary economic geography – regional development.     

Small firm finance and economic geography

This paper argues that firm finance is something of a ‘black-box’in economic geography, a largely take-for-granted aspect ofproduction. Focusing on small firms, the paper argues that firmfinance warrants analysis, not simply to ‘add’ toknowledge and to form another sub-discipline of economic geography,but in order to further develop and refine our understandingof uneven development. The paper explores the neglect of firmfinance in economic geography and highlights some of the contributionsof literatures in eco-nomics and business. Finally, the paperoutlines three points of intersection between these disparate,usually disciplinary-bound, literatures in business, economics,and economic geography: the place-bound nature of firms, thesocial character of economic relations, and third, the powerrelations and asymmetries inherent in financial relationships.These intersections are used to critique existing small firmfinance literatures and to outline the contours of an emergingresearch agenda in economic geography.     

Complexity thinking and evolutionary economic geography

Thus far, most of the work towards the construction of an evolutionaryeconomic geography has drawn upon a particular version of evolutionaryeconomics, namely the Nelson-Winter framework, which blendsDarwinian concepts and metaphors (especially variety, selection,novelty and inheritance) and elements of a behavioural theoryof the firm. Much less attention has been directed to an alternativeconception based on complexity theory, yet in recent years complexitytheory has increasingly been concerned with the general attributesof evolutionary natural and social systems. In this articlewe explore the idea of the economic landscape as a complex adaptivesystem. We identify several key notions of what is being calledthe new ‘complexity economics’, and examine whetherand in what ways these can be used to help inform an evolutionaryperspective for understanding the uneven development and adaptivetransformation of the economic landscape.     

Toward a relational economic geography

In this paper, we argue that a paradigmatic shift is occurringin economic geography toward a relational economic geography.This rests on three propositions. First, from a structural perspectiveeconomic actors are situated in contexts of social and institutionalrelations. Second, in dynamic perspective economic processesare path-dependent, constrained by history. Third, economicprocesses are contingent in that the agents' strategies andactions are open-ended. Drawing on Storper's holy trinity, wedefine four ions as the basis for analysis in economic geography:organization, evolution, innovation, and interaction. Therein,we employ a particular spatial perspective of economic processesusing a geographical lens.     

On economic geography in economic theory: increasing returns and pecuniary externalities

Our objective is twofold. First, we show why there is a spatialquestion in economic theory – why a free competitive marketis unable to cope with agglomeration and regional imbalancein the absence of market distortions. Second, using a new andsimple model, we review what has been accomplished in economictheory during the 1990s when due allowance is given to increasingreturns, while market structure is given by monopolistic competition.     

Theoretical economic geography and spatial econometrics: dynamic perspectives

Theoretical economic geography has received significant newimpetus from so-called ‘new economic geography’theory, and this provides the basis of the spatial econometricmodel developed in this paper. The model, which is seen as partof an attempt to bridge the gap that presently exists betweenthis new body of theory and reality, is fitted using 3SLS todata on manufacturing productivity growth data for 178 regionsof the EU covering the periods 1975–81, 1981–89,1989–95. The resulting estimates point to the continuedexistence over time of increasing returns, and thus providessupport for one of the main tenets of new economic geographytheory. The results also highlight urbanization, peripherality,the initial level of technology and across-region spilloversas determinants of regional productivity growth variations,operating via the rate of technical progress and labour efficiencyvariations. There is no evidence that these variables are diminishingin significance systematically over time, leading to the conclusionthat spatial polarization in productivity will persist. Thepaper points to the need for further testing of fundamentalassumptions of the underlying theory, and for developments inthe theory to accommodate interdependence between model parametersand the socio-economic context within which the process is operating.     

Teaching economic geography in UK higher education institutions

Abstract

This paper examines how the changes in the last decade in economic geography have been reflected in the courses taught in the UK and assesses the impact of recent changes in teaching styles and methods on how the subject is taught. It summarises the findings from a survey of 50 UK Geography Departments. The paper covers three main topics: the significance of economic geography in UK degrees courses; the characteristics of introductory economic geography courses; and the issues involved in the teaching of economic geography.     

The economic geography of the impacts of climate change

Our ability to understand the geographical dispersion of theimpacts of climate change has not yet progressed to the pointof being able to quantify costs and benefits distributed acrossglobe along one or more climate scenarios in any meaningfulway. We respond to this chaotic state of affairs by offeringa brief introduction to the potential impacts of a changingclimate along five geographically dispersed portraits of howthe future climate might evolve and by presenting a modern approachto contemplating vulnerability to climate impacts that has beendesigned explicitly to reflect geographic diversity and uncertainty.Three case studies are offered to provide direct evidence ofthe potential value of adaptation in reducing the cost of climateimpacts, the versatility of thinking about the determinantsof adaptive capacity for specific regions or sectors, and thefeasibility of exploring both across a wide range of ‘not-implausible’climate and socio-economic scenarios. Three overarching themesemerge: adaptation matters, geographic diversity is critical,and enormous uncertainty must be recognized and accommodated.     

On evolutionary economic geography: a literature review using bibliometric analysis

During the past few decades, there has been growing attention paid towards evolutionary economic geography (EEG) perspectives, methodologies, and concepts in various disciplines such as geography, urban studies, and regional science. In order to better understand the development of EEG studies, this paper employs multiple bibliometric analyses. Specifically, it examines the temporal evolution of keyword co-occurrence network and the reference co-citation network of EEG publications during the last few decades to reveal the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of EEG publications, scholarly communication, research fronts, and intellectual structure of the scientific field.     

Positional issues, valence issues and the economic geography of voting in British elections

A body of research has built up in recent years linking thechanging geography of party support in British elections tovariations in the country's economic geography. Consistent withthe economic vote model, government support has been shown tobe higher than average in affluent areas and lower than averagein poorer areas. However, the great majority of such studieshave concentrated on elections between 1979 and 1997, a prolongedperiod of one-party rule. This article argues that this meansexisting research cannot differentiate between the very differentpredictions of positional and valence approaches to economicvoting since both suggest identical outcomes during Conservativeadministrations. By contrasting a period of Conservative rulewith a period of Labour rule, however, the article providesa test of the competing claims of the positional and valencearguments for an understanding of Britain's electoral geography.     

Monitoring the media: student production and use of newspaper resource files in economic geography

Abstract

This article discusses the use of newspaper resource files in economic geography, in particular focusing on a simple method of production involving student participation. It connects two related issues: first, the question of topicality in course content; and second, the problems associated with the collection and collation of up‐to‐date material at a time when there are both teaching pressures and an unrelentingly wide array of information and sources available to economic geographers. Against this background, the paper discusses the rationale for such a student‐based media monitoring activity, the simple procedures that might be used, and the advantages and disadvantages involved. It concludes that media monitoring is useful for students in maintaining up‐to‐date ideas and information in their course activity and that it may also trigger a series of valuable debating points, adding to the richness of the educational experience in economic geography.     

Regional knowledge capabilities,embeddedness of firms and industry organisation: Bioscience megacentres and economic geography

Changes in epistemology in biosciences are generating important spatial effects. The most notable of these is the emergence of a few 'Bioscience Megacentres' for basic and applied bioscience medical and clinical research (molecular, post-genomic, proteomics, etc.), biotechnology research, training in these and related fields, academic entrepreneurship and commercial exploitation by clusters of 'drug discovery' start-up and spin-off companies, along with specialist venture capital and other innovation system support services. Large pharmaceutical firms that used to lead such knowledge generation and exploitation processes are becoming increasingly dependent upon innovative drug solutions produced in such clusters, and megacentres are now the predominant source of such commercial knowledge. 'Big pharma' is seldom at the heart of megacentres such as those the paper will argue are found in about four locations each in the USA and Europe, but remains important for some risk capital ('milestone payments'), marketing, and distribution of drugs discovered. The embedding of these processes also creates major new regional disparities, which some regional governances have recognised, causing them to develop responsibilities for regional science policy and funding to offset spatial biases intrinsic in traditional national (and in the EU, supranational) research funding regimes. Responses follow a variety of models ranging from market-following to both regionalised (decentralising by the centre) and 'regionalist' (ground-up); in each case, the role of megacentres is justified in health terms. But their role in assisting fulfilment of regional economic growth visions is also clearly perceived and pronounced in policy terms.     

Linking scales: or how research about gender and organizations raises new issues for economic geography

One of the key geographical organizing concepts is that of scale.In the last few years, there has been an interesting debateabout the nature of scale and its relational character, constructedthrough and reinforcing social relations of power. In this paper,I suggest that the rapid growth of a literature about genderand organizations, largely ignored by geographers, might profitablybe brought into juxtaposition with geographical analyses ofeconomic restructuring to suggest both new ways of thinkingabout the scale and about the organization. As organizationsbecome increasingly transnational in their operation, interestingnew questions about connections, networks and hierarchies andthe governance of different aspects of the organization andthe economy arise at different spatial scales.     

Re-engaging with rationality in economic geography: behavioural approaches and the importance of context in decision-making

Behavioural approaches have become mainstream in economics,supported by the research of cognitive scientists and psychologists,yet their findings have attracted little attention from geographers.This article argues for a renewed behavioural economic geographythat builds on research in behavioural economics but also addressesone of its main shortcomings: a lack of engagement with thesocial context of decision-making. I outline a research agendathat bridges the gap between the disciplines in the area ofpension decision-making, using the example of choice in UK occupationalplans to argue for a mixed methodological approach to meet thechallenge of taking context seriously.     

A theoretical framework for evolutionary economic geography: industrial dynamics and urban growth as a branching process

We propose a framework that specifies the process of economicdevelopment as an evolutionary branching process of productinnovations. Each product innovation provides a growth opportunityfor an existing firm or a new firm, and for an existing cityor a new city. One can then obtain both firm size and city sizedistributions as two aggregates resulting from a single evolutionaryprocess. Gains from variety at the firm level (economies ofscope) and the urban level (Jacobs externalities) provide thecentral feedback mechanism in economic development generatingstrong path dependencies in the spatial concentration of industriesand the specialization of cities. Gains from size are also expected,yet these are ultimately bounded by increasing wages. The contributionof our framework lies in providing a micro-foundation of economicgeography in terms of the interplay between industrial dynamicsand urban growth. The framework is sufficiently general to investigatesystematically a number of stylized facts in economic geography,while at the same time it is sufficiently flexible to be extendedsuch as to become applicable in more specific micro-contexts.A number of extensions related to the concepts of knowledgespillover and lock-in, are also discussed.