Regional economics is a sub-discipline of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and is often regarded as one of the fields of the

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s. It addresses the economic aspect of the

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

problems that are spatially analyzable so that theoretical or

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

implications can be the derived with respect to regions whose geographical scope ranges from local to global areas. Regional Economics: refer to the economic advantage of a geographical location and human activities of greatest height to contribute maximally to the general growth and prosperity of the region.

Origins

Regional economics has shared many traditions with

regional science Regional science is a field of economics concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are related specifically to regional and international issues. Topics in regional science include, but are not limited to location theory or spatial eco ...

, whose earlier development was propelled by Walter Isard and some economists' dissatisfaction with the existing regional

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

analysis. Despite such a rather critical view of regional economics, however, it is hard to be denied that the "economic" approach to regional problems was and has been the most significant one throughout the development of

. As a sub-discipline of

, it has also developed its independent traditions and approaches that conform with the subject matter or perspective of

. Location theory, that had been separately developed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in the early 20th century, and the theory of external economies from "localized industries" (as described in

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time. His book ''Principles of Economics (Marshall), Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textboo ...

's '' Principles of Economics'' (1890)) formed the theoretical basis of regional economics, which has played a central role in regional science. As the preface and the contents of August Lösch's ''Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft'' (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1940; 2nd ed., 1944), whose English translation was made in 1954 by W. H. Woglom under the title of ''The Economics of Location'', consistently showed, economic approach to (industrial and consumer) locations has been central in both regional economics and

Harold Hotelling Harold Hotelling (; September 29, 1895 – December 26, 1973) was an American mathematical statistician and an influential economic theorist, known for Hotelling's law, Hotelling's lemma, and Hotelling's rule in economics, as well as Hotelling ...

's spatial approach to economic competition, which was introduced in ''

The Economic Journal ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edito ...

'' in 1929 under the title of "Stability in Competition," and Edgar M. Hoover's ''Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries'' (1937) and ''The Location of Economic Activity'' (1948) were

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

scholars' representative contribution to theorizing and empirically verifying the regional problems from the viewpoint of economics. In his seminal paper, "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," ''Journal of Political Economy'',

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American New Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He ...

(1991: 498) emphasized the importance of economic geography and regional economics for enriching economics concluding it with his statement of scholarly hope as follows: "Thus I hope that this paper will be a stimulus to a revival of research into regional economics and economic geography."

Definition

Vinod Dubey (1964) summarized the following four approaches to define regional economics. The first approach is "to deny the possibility of isolating such a discipline." According to Vinod Dubey (1964), Harvey Stephen Perloff, who co-authored ''State and Local Finance in the National Economy'' (with Alvin Harvey Hansen) and ''Regions, Resources, and Economic Growth'' (with Edgar S. Dunn, Jr., Eric E. Lampard, and Richard F. Muth), denied the possibility for any break-up of regional studies or regional science into "parts parallel to the disciplines employed." The second approach is to conform with the definition of Lionel Charles Robbins (1932: 15), stated as "Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses," for the economic problems occurring in regions. The third approach is to define regional economics as a sub-discipline of economics that addresses spatial general equilibrium. This approach was emphasized by L. Lefeber and H. O. Nourse. The fourth approach is to define it as a sub-discipline of economics that addresses immobile resources. This view was supported by G. H. Borts (1960), J. L. Stein (1961), an
J. R. Meyer (1963)
In his ''Regional Economic Growth'' (1969), Horst Siebert viewed regional economics as the study of humans' economic behavior in space. Drawing from the definition of regional economics as the system of the scholarly answers to the question "What is where, and why--and so what?" in ''An Introduction to Regional Economics'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971; 3rd ed., 1984) by Edgar M. Hoover and Frank Giarratanai, and from Dubey's (1964: 29) definition of regional economics as "the study of differentiation and interrelationships of areas in a universe of unevenly distributed and imperfectly mobile resources with particular emphasis in application on the planning of the social overhead capital investments to mitigate the social problems by these circumstances," it is definable as the study of the systems of how (much) and where to produce and redistribute what using scarce resources or public goods.

External links

Organizations

Note: The list below is to be updated.
American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association

Australia New Zealand Regional Science Association International Inc (ANZRSAI Inc)

Community and Regional Economics Network (CRENET)

European Regional Science Association

Mid-Continent Regional Science Association

* ttp://www.narsc.org North American Regional Science Council
Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization

* ttp://www.regionalscience.org Regional Science Association International
Regional Science Consortium at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center
*

Southern Regional Science Association

Journals

Note: The list below is to be updated.
''Spatial Economic Analysis''

''Annals of Regional Science''

''Canadian Journal of Regional Science''
* '' Growth and Change''
''Industrial Geographer''

''International Regional Science Review''

''Investigaciones Regionales'' (en español)

''Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy''

''Journal of Regional Science''

''Journal of Urban Economics''

''Papers in Regional Science''

''Regional Economies and Policies''

''Regional Science and Urban Economics''

''Regional Studies''

''Review of Regional Studies''

''Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies''

''Regional Science Policy & Practice''
{{Authority control Economic geography

Origins

Definition

See also

External links

Organizations

Journals