Economische Geografie Dynamics in Economic Geography
MIDTERM
1. Application Possibilities for Economic Geography
Two questions are at the heart of economic geography:
Why does a company establish itself in region A and not in region B?
Why are some countries, regions or cities economically more successful
that others?
1.1 Rediscovery of Economic Geography
Geographic factors are of great importance in explaining economic differences
between nations and regions. From 1990 onwards, economic geography has been
a flourishing discipline.
Ellsworth Huntington considered climatic differences relevant to environmental
factors influencing business (and thus overall economic achievements).
The solution to poverty would have to come from humans and technology.
Breaking the vicious circle of poverty is possible, but it is a complex process. This
complexity has been reduced to 2 factors:
The division of power
Access to natural resources
Richard Florida argued that creativity was becoming the main driving force
behind economic growth.
Philip Parker concluded that distance to the equator is highly predictive of the
wealth of a nation. But it is unwise to rely entirely on location and climate factors
when seeking explanations for differences in wealth.
Silicon Valley emerging semiconductor industry in southern San Francisco Bay
area. Number of factors that led to the success of Silicon Valley: -Continual influx
on highly trained engineers
-Enterprise culture with no fear of failure
-Ample venture capital available
-Government policy creating right growth
conditions
1.2 Location, Distance and Networks
According to Crevoisier there are 2 main opposing views in economic geography:
Homogenizing approach (focuses on finding regularity and patterning and
ignores historical and spatial deviations from the theory)
Particularizing approach (focuses on finding explanations for the particular
and unusual and embracing temporal and geographic deviations within the
economy)
Economics is shaped by regions.
Pankaj Ghemawat drew attention to the role of distance. He distinguished 4
dimension:
Geographic distance
Cultural distance
Stronger impact on
Administrative distance
international trade than
Economic distance
geographical distance
Peter Taylor argued that it is impossible to explain the location choices of
organizations without insight into the information exchange between these
MIDTERM
1. Application Possibilities for Economic Geography
Two questions are at the heart of economic geography:
Why does a company establish itself in region A and not in region B?
Why are some countries, regions or cities economically more successful
that others?
1.1 Rediscovery of Economic Geography
Geographic factors are of great importance in explaining economic differences
between nations and regions. From 1990 onwards, economic geography has been
a flourishing discipline.
Ellsworth Huntington considered climatic differences relevant to environmental
factors influencing business (and thus overall economic achievements).
The solution to poverty would have to come from humans and technology.
Breaking the vicious circle of poverty is possible, but it is a complex process. This
complexity has been reduced to 2 factors:
The division of power
Access to natural resources
Richard Florida argued that creativity was becoming the main driving force
behind economic growth.
Philip Parker concluded that distance to the equator is highly predictive of the
wealth of a nation. But it is unwise to rely entirely on location and climate factors
when seeking explanations for differences in wealth.
Silicon Valley emerging semiconductor industry in southern San Francisco Bay
area. Number of factors that led to the success of Silicon Valley: -Continual influx
on highly trained engineers
-Enterprise culture with no fear of failure
-Ample venture capital available
-Government policy creating right growth
conditions
1.2 Location, Distance and Networks
According to Crevoisier there are 2 main opposing views in economic geography:
Homogenizing approach (focuses on finding regularity and patterning and
ignores historical and spatial deviations from the theory)
Particularizing approach (focuses on finding explanations for the particular
and unusual and embracing temporal and geographic deviations within the
economy)
Economics is shaped by regions.
Pankaj Ghemawat drew attention to the role of distance. He distinguished 4
dimension:
Geographic distance
Cultural distance
Stronger impact on
Administrative distance
international trade than
Economic distance
geographical distance
Peter Taylor argued that it is impossible to explain the location choices of
organizations without insight into the information exchange between these
