Economic Geography

Klepeis, Peter; Vance, Colin

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00210.xpmid: N/A

AbstractA lingering question in economic geography is the degree to which there is a link between neoliberal policies and environmental degradation. Research is needed to relate such policies empirically to local-level decision making, both to evaluate their consequences and to contribute to an understanding of how cross-scalar dynamics drive processes of land-use change. This study examines the environmental impacts of a Mexican rural support program, referred to by its Spanish acronym, PROCAMPO, which was introduced in 1994 as part of a comprehensive agenda to liberalize the agricultural sector. Using both descriptive analyses of the study region’s political ecology and econometric modeling, we draw on a panel of farm-household data spanning 1986–1997 to assess the impact of PROCAMPO on land-use change in southeastern Mexico. The results indicate that the program has had the unintended effect of fostering deforestation and has led to an only modest increase in market production. These findings suggest that alternative mechanisms may be needed to achieve the market integration and agricultural modernization sought by neoliberal policies and that such policies may have to be restructured to avoid unintended environmental impacts. By connecting macro-level economic phenomena with regional and local environmental impacts, this study addresses the linkages of cross-scale human-environment interaction.

Norcliffe, Glen; Rendace, Olivero

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00211.xpmid: N/A

AbstractCurrent interpretations of North American cultural production stress the spatial concentration of these activities in metropolitan centers. There are, however, multiple geographies of cultural production, with other cultural activities deconcentrated and, in some cases, dispersed to distant locations. This situation poses an enigma, since these activities normally form part of a social economy in which networks of personal communication remain important. This paradox is explored using the case of the comic book industry, which has shifted from an in-house Fordist-like mode of organization to widespread distancing employing neoartisanal workers who are sometimes located close to the publishing houses, but in other instances are at considerable distances and hence require electronic communication and overnight courier services. Comic book artists often work in isolation but participate from time to time in social activities that are necessary to their creative work. Their work is seen as one of a number of cultural activities that form a periodic social economy with a distinctive time geography.

Bathelt, Harald; Boggs, Jeffrey S.

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00212.xpmid: N/A

AbstractThis article develops a model of regional development that is then used to examine the evolution of two media industries in Leipzig, Germany. We note that the city’s current media cluster, centered on television/film production and interactive digital media, shares little in common with the city’s once-premier book publishing media cluster. Treating interactive learning as the primary causal mechanism that drives economic growth and change, our conceptual framework incorporates both sectoral/technological and political crises as mechanisms that rupture regional development paths. These regional development paths are not homogeneous, but instead consist of bundles of various technological trajectories. Regions recover from crises as their actors continually rebundle local assets until they find a combination that generates growth. As a result of these crises, new opportunities for growth may arise for new and previously marginal industries. In turn, these expanding industries shape the region’s development path.

Fan, C. Cindy; Scott, Allen J.

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00213.xpmid: N/A

AbstractIn this article, we explore the issue of industrial agglomeration and its relationship to economic development and growth in the less-developed countries of East Asia. We present theoretical arguments and secondary empirical evidence as to why we should have strong expectations about finding a positive relationship between agglomeration and economic performance. We also review evidence from the literature on the roles of formal and informal institutions in East Asian regional economic systems. We then focus specifically on the case of China. We argue that regional development in China has much in common with regional development in other East Asian economies, although there are also important contrasts because of China’s history of socialism and its recent trend toward economic liberalization. Through a variety of statistical investigations, we substantiate (in part) the expected positive relationship between agglomeration and economic performance in China. We show that many kinds of manufacturing sectors are characterized by a strong positive relationship between spatial agglomeration and productivity. This phenomenon is especially marked in sectors and regions where liberalization has proceeded rapidly. We consider the relevance of our comments about industrial clustering and economic performance for policy formulation in China and the less-developed countries of East Asia.

Lee, Yong-Sook

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00214.xpmid: N/A

AbstractThis article investigates why Korean auto assembly firms introduced “lean production systems” and chose greenfield locations as their new flexible production sites in the 1990s. I show that labor unions are important actors that directly affect firms’ adoption and location strategies for lean production systems, by means of an analysis of Korean auto firms’ managerial and locational strategies in response to adversarial labor relations. Korean firms’ choice of greenfield locations for implementing lean production systems indicates that their desire to procure a malleable labor force is more important than proximity. Korean auto firms’ decisions to implement Japanese-style lean production systems and their choice of greenfield locations reflect conflicts between workers and managers. The findings in this article critique the existing literature in economic geography, which is devoid of discussions of workers and labor unions as active geographic agents, from the labor geography point of view.

Gatrell, Tony

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00215.xpmid: N/A

Leigh, Nancey Green

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00216.xpmid: N/A

Levinson, David

doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00217.xpmid: N/A