IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecdequ/v16y2002i1p3-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economic Importance of Being Different: Regional Variations in Tastes, Increasing Returns, and the Dynamics of Development

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Cortright

    (Impresa, Inc.)

Abstract

A region’s distinctive social and cultural characteristics, measured by the behaviors of its residents, represent an important source of knowledge and innovation that can drive economic development. It is well-known that many industries are localized—concentrated in specific geographic areas. Agglomeration economies, a special case of increasing returns in space, cause positive feedbacks that promote further concentration. Although often ascribed to chance, some of the events that trigger the formation of localizations appear to be related to the distinctive behaviors of a region. An examination of data on consumer behavior suggests that there are significant, nonrandom differences in behavior among regions. In the case of the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, many of these behavioral differences are related to concentrations of local economic activity. Local tastes and preferences may be a source of the new knowledge and innovation that spawn industry agglomerations, a connection that has important implications for development policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Cortright, 2002. "The Economic Importance of Being Different: Regional Variations in Tastes, Increasing Returns, and the Dynamics of Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 16(1), pages 3-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:16:y:2002:i:1:p:3-16
    DOI: 10.1177/0891242402016001001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891242402016001001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0891242402016001001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416-416.
    3. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-337, May.
    4. Kilkenny, Maureen, 1999. "New Economic Geography for Low Density Places: Insights from Kaldor and Lancaster," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1688, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Neil Reid & Ralph McLaughlin & Michael Moore, 2013. "The Ubiquity of Good Taste: A Spatial Analysis of the Craft Brewing Industry in the United States," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1026, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Markusen, Ann, 2007. "A Consumption Base Theory of Development: An Application to the Rural Cultural Economy," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Boeing, Geoff, 2017. "Neighborhood Change, One Pint at a Time: The Impact of Local Characteristics on Craft Breweries," SocArXiv v88hh, Center for Open Science.
    4. Rachel Bouvier, 2009. "Determinants of Environmental Performance," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(2), pages 111-126, May.
    5. Ann Markusen, 2015. "Problem-driven Research in Regional Science," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 38(1), pages 3-29, January.
    6. Maryann Feldman & Roger Martin, 2004. "Jurisdictional Advantage," NBER Working Papers 10802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ann Markusen & Greg Schrock, 2006. "The Distinctive City: Divergent Patterns in Growth, Hierarchy and Specialisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(8), pages 1301-1323, July.
    8. Olivier Crevoisier & Delphine Rime, 2021. "Anchoring Urban Development: Globalisation, Attractiveness and Complexity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(1), pages 36-52, January.
    9. Leendertse, Jip & Schrijvers, Mirella & Stam, Erik, 2022. "Measure Twice, Cut Once: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Metrics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    10. Ann Markusen (ed.), 2007. "Reining in the Competition for Capital," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ricc, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Åsa Johansson, 2016. "Public Finance, Economic Growth and Inequality: A Survey of the Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1346, OECD Publishing.
    2. G Cameron, 1996. "Innovation and Economic Growth," CEP Discussion Papers dp0277, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Pranab Bardhan, 1993. "Economics of Development and the Development of Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 129-142, Spring.
    4. Modrego, Félix & Berdegué, Julio A., 2015. "A Large-Scale Mapping of Territorial Development Dynamics in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 11-31.
    5. Masson, P., 2000. "Fiscal Policy and Growth in the Context of European Integration," Papers 7, Warwick - Development Economics Research Centre.
    6. Frakes, Michael D. & Wasserman, Melissa F., 2021. "Knowledge spillovers, peer effects, and telecommuting: Evidence from the U.S. Patent Office," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Debraj Ray, 2000. "What's New in Development Economics?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 44(2), pages 3-16, October.
    8. Michael D. Frakes & Melissa F. Wasserman, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers and Learning in the Workplace: Evidence from the U.S. Patent Office," NBER Working Papers 24159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ha-Joon Chang & Ali Cheema & L. Mises, 2002. "Conditions For Successful Technology Policy In Developing Countries—Learning Rents, State Structures, And Institutions," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4-5), pages 369-398.
    10. Takahashi, Takuma & Namiki, Fujio, 2003. "Three attempts at "de-Wintelization": Japan's TRON project, the US government's suits against Wintel, and the entry of Java and Linux," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1589-1606, October.
    11. Onno Hoffmeister, 2006. "Die retionale Dimension sozialer Ungleichheit in der erweiterten Europäischen Union: Statistische, wirtschaftliche und politische Effekte der Osterweiterung auf die Einkommensverteilung in der EU," LIS Working papers 438, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    12. Krieger-Boden, Christiane, 1995. "Neue Argumente für Regionalpolitik? Zur Fundierung der Regionalpolitik in älteren und neueren regionalökonomischen Theorien," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1643, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Shihe Fu, 2005. "What Has Been Capitalized into Property Values: Human Capital, Social Capital, or Cultural Capital?," Working Papers 05-25, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    14. Jan Eeckhout & Boyan Jovanovic, 2002. "Knowledge Spillovers and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1290-1307, December.
    15. Garzarelli, Giampaolo & Limam, Yasmina Reem & Thomassen, Bjørn, 2007. "Open Source Software and Economic Growth: A Classical Division of Labor Perspective," MPRA Paper 3849, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Junius, Karsten, 1997. "Economies of scale: A survey of the empirical literature," Kiel Working Papers 813, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. Dyba Wojciech & Loewen Bradley & Looga Jaan & Zdražil Pavel, 2018. "Regional Development in Central-Eastern European Countries at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Path Dependence and Effects of EU Cohesion Policy," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 37(2), pages 77-92, June.
    18. Sandra Silva, 2009. "On evolutionary technological change and economic growth: Lakatos as a starting point for appraisal," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 111-135, February.
    19. P. Giannoccolo, 2003. "Brain Drain and Fiscal Competition. A theoretical model for the Europe," Working Papers 481, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    20. P. Giannoccolo, 2003. "Brain Drain and Fiscal Competition. A theoretical model for the Europe," Working Papers 481, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:16:y:2002:i:1:p:3-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.