GY313      Half Unit
Firms and Economic Geography: Location, Technology and Innovation

This information is for the 2019/20 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Davide Rigo

Availability

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Geography with Economics. This course is available on the BA in Geography, BSc in Economic History and Geography and BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Pre-requisites

Students should have normally taken EC100 or EC102, and one or more of: EC201, GY201 or GY222

Course content

This course aims to develop theoretical and empirical understanding of spatial economic processes in order to study and evaluate a wide range of issues and policies. Particular emphasis will be put on regional economies, business and worker location decisions, focusing in particular on models of the location of economic and innovation activity with a particular emphasis on regional economies. We will analyse the New Economic Geography theories and the agglomeration of economic activity, with a particular focus on EU integration as a testing ground. We will also look at the global and local knowledge economy, focusing on core aspects of a society based on knowledge and technical progress and how this proceeds hand in hand with the enlargement of markets and the intensification of exchange. We will also explore the seeming contradiction that geographically localized knowledge may be increasingly significant just as so much of our world becomes more globalized.

Topics covered:

1. Core-periphery patterns and New Economic Geography theories

2. Formal tests of New Economic Geography models

3. Geographical clustering of firms

4. Spatial distribution of firms, skills and growth

5. Geographical clustering of innovative activities

6. Externalities: knowledge spillovers, networks and agglomeration

7. Relatedness, path dependency and resilience

8. Location strategies of multinational enterprises

9. The impact of foreign investment

Teaching

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the MT.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6.

Formative coursework

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT.

Indicative reading

Assessment

Coursework (100%, 3000 words) in the LT.

Key facts

Department: Geography & Environment

Total students 2018/19: 28

Average class size 2018/19: 14

Capped 2018/19: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills