• ‘By "economic geography" I mean the "the location of production in space"; that is, that branch of economics that worries about where things happen in relation to one another.’

  • Krugman, P. 1992. Geography and Trade. MIT Press. pp 1.
• Also known as (AKA)
  • Geographical Economics
  • Regional Science
  • Urban Economics

1. Understand the importance of location/space/geography in explaining economic, social and political phenemona
2. Understand the role, different types, and implications of place-based policies that attemp to improve welfare

1. How important do you think economic geography is for explaining Trump’s victory in the US 2016 Presidential Election?

• Economists define the Great Divergence as the growing divide between…

  1. the higher-skilled, higher-income, more educated workers of Blue America

  2. the lower-skilled, lower-income, less educated workers of Red America.

• The election of Donald Trump exposed the polarization of America by class and geography.
  • Knowledge workers and manufacturing workers occupy different classes, AND different spaces and worlds.

• Prior to 1980s
  • incomes of workers actually converged, both across skill groups and across regions of the country.
  • e.g. a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats kind of economy.
• Since 1980s
  • loss of high-paying blue-collar jobs led to bifurcation of market into high-paid knowledge workers and low-paid service workers.
• Geographic clustering amplified market segmentation
  • knowledge workers clustered into a select group of large cities and tech hubs.

End Outcome: America, and Americans, have split apart by class and geography.

• 1940-1980: steep line indicates wage convergence
• 1980-2010: flat line highlights the more recent divergence of wages
• Note the positioning of Boston, San Francisco, and New York

• Ganong and Shoag Study shows:
  • From 1880 to 1980, incomes across states converged at a rate of 1.8 percent per year.
  • From 1990 to 2010, convergence slowed to less than half that
• Giannone study looks at wages
  • Wage convergence prior to 1980,
  • but divergence afterwards.
• Both studies show how states have drifted apart in recent decades

• America’s division into blue and red states and cities is not just a result of political preferences and ideology, but of the sorting of its people into distinct separate classes and locations.

• While Clinton won the popular vote (large populations in few clustered cities), but lost the electoral college.

• Trump Won electoral college because majority of higher-skilled workers clustered in too few coastal cities/states, while too many disaffected working-class workers dispersed throughout the country.

• There are no prerequesites for this class

• Some basic economic knowledge is presumed, but will be reviewed
  • e.g. increasing returns to scale

• Class attendance is expected

• Two 50 minute lectures a week:

  • First 50 minutes: concepts, methods, examples
  • Last 50 minutes: Experiments, student presentations, quizzes
• Experiments:
  • Students will participate in small in-class experiments to gain a deeper intuition and better connect abstract class concepts to real life.

• No required textbook, but several are highly recommended:

  • The Web book of Regional Science Regional Research Institute. West Virginia University.
  • Brueckner, Lectures on Urban Economics
  • O ’Sullivan, A. Urban Economics
  • Barnes et al. (2012), Companion to Economic Geography
  • Baldwin, R. et al. (2007), Economic Geography and Public Policy (Advanced)

• Excessive tardiness or absences will negatively affect your final grade.

• Plagiarism is not allowed in any form.

• Please do not use your cell phones or surf the web during class
  • During student presentations, all computers and cell phones should be turned off

• The course is broken down into several parts:
  1. Introduction to Economic Geography and Urbanization (Weeks 1-4)
     • Why cities exist, what is pros/cons of urbanization
  2. Regional Inequality and Public Policy (Weeks 5-7)
     • Uneven development, geographical immobility, indirect place-based policies
  3. Clustering and Public Policies (Weeks 8-10)
     • Anatomy of a cluster, cluster mechanisms, and direct place-based policies
  4. Core Urban Laws and Theory (Weeks 11-15)
     • Laws of cities, spatial equilibriurm
  5. Student Presentations (Weeks 15-16)

• Participation grade is based on in-class attendance and participation in experiments

• There will be approximately 4 experiments during the semester

Participation points are calculated as follows:

• 2 quizzes in the second half of term.
• Will be based on class labs.
• Dates and times will be announced in advance.
• Purpose is to assess your understanding of various concepts that are central to the class.

• This mini-project requires students to explore Beijing
  
• Create urban scenes by taking pictures of particular features of the city and juxtapose constrasting themes
• e.g. visualize the good and bad of urbanization, e.g. luxury cars/hotels, tall skylines contrasted by congestion, polution, inequality, etc,
• Reflect on your experience and give a short presentation to the class.

• Write a fieldwork-led report that examines the anatomy of a local Beijing-based cluster.
• Complete research experience; Students will be expected to:
  1. select a Beijing cluster and find out who the main actors are and how they interact with each other;
  2. interview a main actor in the cluster to help guide policy;
  3. provide a policy recommendation on how to better support your local cluster;
  4. write a report describing the anatomy of the cluster, your fieldwork experience, and any findings
• Work in small groups to decide what cluster you want to focus on and to carry out fieldwork
• BUT each student will be required to produce and submit their own final report.

• Quizzes: 4 hours
  • 2hrs: preparation/study for each quiz (x2)
• Mini-Project: 10 hours
  • 5hrs: take pic of Beijiing
  • 5hrs: annotate pics, write short reflection, 1-2 .ppt slides
• Cluster Map Project: 18 hours
  • 3hrs: study cluster literature (e.g. google); summarize
  • 3hrs: study chosen cluster (e.g. news articles); summarize
  • 4hrs: fieldwork (e.g. pics of main actors, 1 interview)
  • 5hrs: write-up fieldwork results, use pictures to dicuss main actors, create cluster map
  • 3hrs: create and prepare for final presentation

• Office hours by appointment

• Syllabus, class notes, and grading policies posted on class email.

• Use course email for gradebook and for turning in assignments

• Wechat for class forum
  • Please post class related question on Wechat instead of emailing the teaching staff

• I value students' opinions regarding my teaching effectiveness
• I will take student feedback in consideration to make this course as exciting and engaging as possible.
• You are encouraged to leave (anonymous) feedback in the form of a note in my departmental mail box.