Regional economics is a sub-discipline of

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

and is often regarded as one of the fields of the

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of s ...

s. It addresses the economic aspect of the

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 orga ...

implications can be the derived with respect to regions whose geographical scope ranges from local to global areas. Regional Economics: refer to the economics 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, whose earlier development was propelled by

Walter Isard Walter Isard (April 19, 1919 – November 6, 2010) was a prominent American economist, the principal founder of the discipline of regional science, as well as one of the main founders of the discipline of peace studies and Peace economics. Life an ...

and some economists' dissatisfaction with the existing regional

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

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 regional science. 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 Location theory has become an integral part of economic geography, regional science, and spatial economics. Location theory addresses questions of what economic activities are located where and why. Location theory or microeconomic theory generally ...

, that had been separately developed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

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 was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book '' Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. I ...

'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 August Lösch (15 October 1906 – 30 May 1945) was a German economist, known for his seminal contributions to regional science and urban economics. Born in Öhringen, Württemberg, Lösch obtained his doctorate from the University of Bonn in 1 ...

's ''Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft'' (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1940; 2nd ed., 1944), whose English translation was made in 1954 by

W. H. Woglom W. may refer to: * SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel * ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush * "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...

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 regional science.

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 ...

'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 (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

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 economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was t ...

(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 Vinod ( hi, विनोद , mr, विनोद , gu, વિનોદ) is a male given name used in India and Nepal, meaning "delight", "enjoyment", or "pleasure". People *Vinod Agarwal, Indian-American businessman and scientist * Vinod Agg ...

(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