GEOG2010
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHIES
Dr Jurgen Essletzbichler
Unit Value: 0.5 unit Year 2 Term 1
Objectives: To offer an overview of approaches in economic geography and to examine the economic processes resulting in the uneven and inconstant geography of capitalism
Prerequisites: An interest in the economic processes shaping contemporary society. No formal prerequisites.
Outline contents:
- Capitalism (competition, technological change, globalization, inequality); Post-war evolution of ‘core’ economies; the Fordist/Post-Fordist ‘transition’; Keynesian and entrepreneurial regional policies; growth versus equity;
- Key conepts in economic geography: uneven accumulation of capital; clustering of economic activity; path-dependence and lock-in; agglomeration and localization economies; commodity chains;
- Regional examples: Ruhr area, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Third Italy, London, Detroit
Evaluation: Examination (60%) plus course essay (40%)
Relationship to core skills teaching: In order to write your essay, you will carry out a literature review and critically analyse that work. You will also carry out an empirical research project based secondary data/literature.
Student dissertations on local or regional economic change can be undertaken on the basis of the material in this course.
Teaching: Teaching will be primarily through lectures.
Advanced reading:
Coe, N.M., Kelly, P.F., and Yeung, H.W.C. (2007). Economic Geography. A Contemporary Introduction. Malden MA and Oxford UK, Blackwell.
Harvey, D. (1982). The Limits to Capital. Malden MA and Oxford UK, Blackwell:
Scott, A. (1988). Metropolis - From the Division of Labor to Urban Form. Los Angeles and Berkeley, University of California Press.
Sheppard, E. and Barnes, T.J. (2000). A Companion to Economic Geography. Malden MA and Oxford UK, Blackwell.
Smith, N. (2008). Uneven Development. 3rd ed. Athens, Georgia.
Storper, M. (1997). The Regional World. New York and London, Guilford.
Storper, M. and R. Walker (1989). The Capitalist Imperative - Territory, Technology, and Industrial Growth. Oxford, UK and Cambridge, US, Blackwell Publishers
