Economic Geography

The benefits firms gain from locating near other firms, including shared labor pools, specialized suppliers, and knowledge spillovers. Agglomeration explains why industries tend to cluster geographically rather than dispersing evenly.

The ability of a region or country to produce a particular good or service at a lower opportunity cost than another. This principle, originating with David Ricardo, explains patterns of regional specialization and international trade.

A framework describing how economic activity concentrates in dominant core regions that attract capital and skilled labor, while peripheral regions supply raw materials and cheap labor. The relationship tends to be self-reinforcing.

A theoretical framework developed by Paul Krugman that uses mathematical models to explain spatial concentration of economic activity through the interaction of increasing returns to scale, transportation costs, and factor mobility.

Geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters boost productivity through competition, cooperation, and knowledge sharing.

An early spatial model (1826) explaining agricultural land use as concentric rings around a central market, where the type of farming at each distance is determined by transportation costs and the perishability of the product.

The geographic separation of different stages of production, where high-skill management and R&D functions locate in wealthy regions while routine manufacturing is placed in lower-cost areas.

Walter Christaller's model (1933) explaining the size, number, and distribution of settlements as a function of the range and threshold of goods and services, producing a hierarchical pattern of towns and cities.

The linked sequence of activities involved in the production of a good, from raw material extraction through processing, manufacturing, distribution, and retail, often spanning multiple countries.

The observation that capitalist economies produce systematic spatial inequalities, with some regions accumulating wealth while others stagnate or decline. This pattern operates at local, national, and global scales.