Economic Geography Review Summary

The title of the reviewed book is Economic Geography and Uneven Development of Regions the book is co-authored and authors of the book are Jean-Claude Prager and Jacques-Francois Thisse.

It was first published in 2012 by Routledge, OX, U.K. The book contains total 134 pages of black and white. The book contains 2 figures, 3 tables, and 13 boxes. The price of the hardbound and eBook edition is $140 and $33.49 in U.S.A.

The book originated from the desire of a French agency, Agence Francaise de D´eveloppement (AFD). The agency asked authors to write a report on the policy implications of the WDR (World Development Report, 2009), and the book is based on their report.

The title of the book is totally appropriate for research questions and study

This is a well-written and thought-provoking book that, simply put, probes into why some regions are more prosperous and developed than others (both within and across nations).

The book is divided into five chapters; (1) The world is anything but flat (2) Economic Geography: Facts and theories (3) The long-growth of regions: What we know and we don’t (4) From economic theory to policy (5) Everything is in the execution.

In Chapter 1, authors start their first chapter with the words: the demise of distance’s influence on the relative prosperity of regions has been greatly exaggerated, and the current economic landscape is “anything but flat” (p. 2). The starting chapter, which is short at only four pages long, also provides some examples of uneven development and the importance of big cities, as well as a clear statement of the objective for the rest of the book: “to provide an overview of what has been accomplished in new economic geography and urban economics that could explain the role of cities and regional agglomerations in the development process” (p.

Authors discuss various strategies that regions have used to achieve economic development, with a warning against a “one-size-fits-all policy mix” (p. 71). In the last, Prager and Thisse suggest that an appropriate role of policy is to help regions differentiate themselves, “Which is the complete opposite of imitating neighbouring regions” (p. 97).

No book about economic geography would be complete without a discussion of clusters, and chapter 4 contains a section on the limitations of a cluster-based development. Regarding the almost universal interest in clusters, Prager and Thisse writes, “The policy actually used [to support clusters] and its effectiveness seem to be of little importance, as long as the magic word is used” (p. 102). The laws of economic geography do not suggest any universal policies for all regions and, to conclude the book, Prager and Thisse warn that “one must avoid using simple rules of thumb” (p. 110) when making recommendations. This advice is worth following when suggesting ways to promote regional economic