Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 57,
no. 3, September 2019
(pp. 575–643)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Spatial economics aims to explain why there are peaks and troughs in the spatial distribution of wealth and people, from the international and regional to the urban and local. The main task is to identify the microeconomic underpinnings of centripetal forces, which lead to the concentration of economic activities, and centrifugal forces, which bring about the dispersion of economic activities at the regional and urban levels. Transportation matters at both scales, but in a different way. The emphasis is on the interregional flows of goods and passenger trips at the regional level and on individual commuting at the urban level.Citation
Proost, Stef, and Jacques-François Thisse. 2019. "What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?" Journal of Economic Literature, 57 (3): 575–643. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20181414Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F12 Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
- L13 Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
- R12 Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- R30 Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location: General
- R40 Transportation Economics: General