Development, Geography, And Economic Theory

Why do certain ideas gain currency in economics while others fall by the wayside? Paul Krugman argues that the unwillingness of mainstream economists to think about what they could not formalize led them to ignore ideas that turn out, in retrospect, to have been very good ones. Krugman examines the course of economic geography and development theory to shed light on the nature of economic inquiry. He traces how development theory lost its huge initial influence and virtually disappeared from economic discourse after it became clear that many of the theory's main insights could not be clearly modeled. Economic geography seems to have fared even worse, as economists shied away from grappling with questions about space – such as the size, location, or even existence of cities – because the "terrain was seen as unsuitable for the tools at hand."

This book describes the progress and prominent theories of regional development research in the past decades, especially in the past decade, discusses the industrial structure, spatial structure, resources, and environment, as well as a series of practical issues, and reveals the general characteristics of spatial structure evolution in the process of regional development. The research on the issues of regional development has become the frontier of relevant disciplines since the 1950s, and much progress has been made in the process of solving practical problems in social and economic development. This book provides an in-depth and systematic demonstration of the "point-axis system" theory of regional exploitation and development as well as the T-shaped structure of China's regional economic action in theory and practice and discusses the impact of location differential rent, restricted accessibility, technological innovation, etc., on regional development theoretically. This book is used as a reference for planning, scientific research, and teaching personnel in territorial expansion, regional economy, human geography, etc.

by Dimitris Ballas (Author),‎ Graham Clarke (Author),‎ Rachel S. Franklin (Author),‎ Andy Newing (Author)