Economics

Economic Geography

Economic Geography

Economic geography is a discipline of geography that studies the spatial distribution of economic activities and how they affect the landscape. It is a subject of human geography that investigates economic activity and the factors that influence it. It investigates the location, distribution, and organization of economic activity such as agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and services within and between regions. It can also be viewed as a subfield or method in economics. There are four types of economic geography.

This area investigates how natural resources, infrastructure, transportation networks, government policies, culture, and historical processes influence economic patterns at various scales, ranging from local to global.

Economic geography approaches many different topics, including the location of industries, economies of agglomeration (also known as “linkages”), transportation, international trade, development, real estate, gentrification, ethnic economies, gendered economies, core-periphery theory, the economics of urban form, the relationship between the environment and the economy (tying into a long history of geographers studying culture-environment interactions).

Key topics in economic geography include:

  • Spatial Organization of Economic Activities: This involves understanding why certain economic activities are concentrated in specific locations and how they interact with each other within those regions.
  • Location Theory: Location theory seeks to explain why businesses and industries choose particular locations for their operations, considering factors such as proximity to resources, markets, labor, transportation networks, and agglomeration economies.
  • Regional Development: Economic geography investigates the disparities in economic development between regions and explores policies and strategies to promote balanced and sustainable development.
  • Globalization: Economic geography investigates globalization processes, such as economic integration via trade, investment, and information flows, as well as the effects on regions and local economies.
  • Urban and Rural Economics: This section examines the economic dynamics of cities and rural areas, including urbanization, land use patterns, residential segregation, and cities’ position as centers of innovation and economic progress.

Overall, economic geography sheds light on the intricate interactions between economic systems, human societies, and the physical environment, enabling policymakers, corporations, and researchers to better understand and solve diverse economic challenges and opportunities in a spatial context.