The New Economic Geography, now middle-aged

Abstract

The New Economic Geography, now middle-aged, Regional Studies. This paper claims that the New Economic Geography has now become 'middle-aged'. On the one hand, the New Economic Geography is said to be of less relevance when describing current developments in advanced economies because it focuses more on tangible causes of the spatial concentration of economic activities, and not so much on intangible sources, such as information spillovers. On the other hand, the paper states that recent developments in developing economies like China are quite in line with the core-periphery model that predicts increasing regional specialization as a result of economic integration. Although both economists and geographers study these spatial processes, no fruitful exchange between the two is expected because of the use of different methodologies. © 2011 Paul Krugman.