IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/inrsre/v3y1978i1p1-48.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The State of Regional Economics: A Survey Article

Author

Listed:
  • Harry W. Richardson

    (School of Urban and Regional Planning and Department of Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007 USA)

Abstract

This paper reviews regional economics research of recent years under the three categories of theory, methods, and policy. The theoretical topics analyzed include spatial prices, location, regional growth, and spatial diffusion. The methods section focusses on the five most popular techniques: economic base, regional input-output, regional econometric models, shift-share, and the gravity model. Policy issues discussed include the efficiency vs. equity trade-off, the case for subsidized migration, the relative merits of subsidies of capital, labor, and infrastructure, growth centers, and regional policy evaluation. It is suggested that many of the unresolved questions in regional economics spill over disciplinary boundaries and require the interdisciplinary skills of the regional scientist rather than those of the mainstream economist.

Suggested Citation

  • Harry W. Richardson, 1978. "The State of Regional Economics: A Survey Article," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 3(1), pages 1-48, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:3:y:1978:i:1:p:1-48
    DOI: 10.1177/016001767800300101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/016001767800300101
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/016001767800300101?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. Lawrence R. Klein, 1969. "The Specification Of Regional Econometric Models," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 105-116, January.
    2. Klein, Lawrence R. & Glickman, Norman J., 1977. "Econometric model-building at regional level," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-2), pages 3-23, March.
    3. Goldfarb, Robert S. & Woglom, Geoffrey, 1974. "Government investment decisions and institutional constraints on income redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 171-180, May.
    4. MacKay, R R, 1972. "Employment Creation in the Development Areas," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 19(3), pages 287-296, November.
    5. Karl A. Fox & T. Krishna Kumar, 1965. "The Functional Economic Area: Delineation And Implications For Economic Analysis And Policy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 57-85, January.
    6. Mera, Koichi, 1973. "On the Urban Agglomeration and Economic Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 309-324, January.
    7. J. P. Hutton & K. Hartley, 1968. "A Regional Payroll Tax," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 417-426.
    8. Tiebout, Charles M, 1969. "An Empirical Regional Input-Output Projection Model: The State of Washington 1980," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(3), pages 334-340, August.
    9. Randall, J N, 1973. "Shift-Share Analysis as a Guide to the Employment Performance of West Central Scotland," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 20(1), pages 1-26, February.
    10. Walter Isard, 1975. "A Simple Rationale For Gravity Model Type Behavior," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 25-30, January.
    11. Pfister, R.L., 1976. "On Improving Export Base Studies," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13.
    12. William A. Schaffer & Kong Chu, 1969. "Nonsurvey Techniques For Constructing Regional Interindustry Models," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 83-104, January.
    13. Esteban-Marquillas, J. M., 1972. "I. A reinterpretation of shift-share analysis," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 249-255, October.
    14. Smith, Donald Mitchell, 1974. "Regional Growth: Interstate and Intersectoral Factor Reallocations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(3), pages 353-359, August.
    15. Holahan, William L, 1975. "The Welfare Effects of Spatial Price Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 498-503, June.
    16. Steven J. Weiss & Edwin C. Gooding, 1968. "Estimation of Differential Employment Multipliers in a Small Regional Economy," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(2), pages 235-244.
    17. Ashcroft, Brian & Taylor, Jim, 1977. "The Movement of Manufacturing Industry and the Effect of Regional Policy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 84-101, March.
    18. A. P. Thirlwall, 2015. "A Model of Regional Growth Rate Differences on Kaldorian Lines," Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Essays on Keynesian and Kaldorian Economics, chapter 12, pages 286-301, Palgrave Macmillan.
    19. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "Exports and Regional Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 160-160.
    20. Leon N. Moses, 1974. "Outputs And Prices In Interindustry Models," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 7-18, January.
    21. Fisher, Walter D., 1971. "Econometric estimation with spatial dependence," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-40, May.
    22. Kaldor, Nicholas, 1970. "The Case for Regional Policies," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 17(3), pages 337-348, November.
    23. Schweizer, Urs & Varaiya, Pravin & Hartwick, John, 1976. "General equilibrium and location theory," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 285-303, July.
    24. Andrew M. Isserman, 1975. ""Regional Employment Multiplier: A New Approach": Comment," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(3), pages 290-293.
    25. John B. Parr, 1973. "Growth Poles, Regional Development, And Central Place Theory," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 173-212, January.
    26. Mayer, Wolfgang & Pleeter, Saul, 1975. "A theoretical justification for the use of location quotients," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 343-355, August.
    27. Liu, Ben-chieh, 1975. "Differential Net Migration Rates and the Quality of Life," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 329-337, August.
    28. Robert D. Dean & Thomas M. Carroll, 1977. "Plant Location under Uncertainty," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 423-444.
    29. Brownrigg, M & Greig, M A, 1975. "Differential Multipliers for Tourism," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 22(3), pages 261-275, November.
    30. Walter Isard & Tony E. Smith, 1967. "Location Games: With Applications To Classic Location Problems," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 45-80, January.
    31. Blake, Christopher, 1972. "The Effectiveness of Investment Grants as a Regional Subsidy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 19(1), pages 63-71, February.
    32. Kemble Stokes, H. Jr., 1974. "Shift share once again," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 57-60, June.
    33. Hordijk, L., 1974. "Spatial correlation in the disturbances of a linear interregional model," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 117-140, October.
    34. McGuire, Martin C & Garn, Harvey A, 1969. "The Integration of Equity and Efficiency Criteria in Public Project Selection," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 79(316), pages 882-893, December.
    35. Douglass C. North, 1955. "Location Theory and Regional Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63, pages 243-243.
    36. Doeksen, Gerald A. & Little, Charles H., 1968. "Effect of Size of the Input-Output Model on the Results of an Impact Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics Research, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 20(4), pages 1-5, October.
    37. Musgrave, Richard A, 1969. "Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Theory of Public Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 797-806, September.
    38. Unknown, 1962. "Community Development and Economic Development," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 17(3), pages 1-2.
    39. Stanislaw Czamanski, 1964. "A Model Of Urban Growth," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 177-200, January.
    40. Walter Isard, 1969. "Some Notes On The Linkage Of The Ecologic And Economic Systems," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 85-96, January.
    41. Stan Czamanski, 1971. "Some Empirical Evidence Of The Strengths Of Linkages Between Groups Of Related Industries In Urban‐Regional Complexes," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 137-150, April.
    42. Theodore Lane, 1966. "The Urban Base Multiplier: An Evaluation of the State of the Art," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3), pages 339-347.
    43. Thomas A. Reiner, 1971. "A Multiple Goals Framework For Regional Planning†," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 207-239, January.
    44. Michael E. Conroy, 1973. "Rejection of Growth Center Strategy in Latin American Regional Development Planning," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(4), pages 371-380.
    45. Sakashita, N., 1973. "An axiomatic approach to shift-and-share analysis," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 263-272, August.
    46. Martin J. Beckmann, 1970. "The Analysis Of Spatial Diffusion Processes," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 109-117, April.
    47. Lasuen, J. R., 1971. "Venezuela: An industrial shift-share analysis 1941-1961," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 153-219, August.
    48. Engle, Robert F, III, et al, 1972. "An Econometric Simulation Model of Intra-Metropolitan Housing Location: Housing, Business, Transportation and Local Government," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 87-97, May.
    49. A. P. Thirlwall, 1967. "A Measure Of The ‘Proper Distribution Of Industry’," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 46-58.
    50. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "Exports and Regional Economic Growth: Rejoinder," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 169-169.
    51. Martin J. Beckmann, 1976. "Spatial Price Policies Revisited," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(2), pages 619-630, Autumn.
    52. Dean T. Chen, 1972. "A tabular survey of selected regional econometric models," Working Papers in Applied Economic Theory 11, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    53. William H. Miernyk, 1976. "Some Regional Impacts Of The Rising Costs Of Energy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 213-227, January.
    54. Oates, Wallace E & Howrey, E Philip & Baumol, William J, 1971. "The Analysis of Public Policy in Dynamic Urban Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(1), pages 142-153, Jan.-Feb..
    55. Edward L. Ullman & Michael F. Dacey, 1960. "The Minimum Requirements Approach To The Urban Economic Base," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 175-194, January.
    56. Harold Brodsky & David E. Sarfaty, 1977. "Measuring the Urban Economic Base in a Developing Country," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 445-454.
    57. John H. Cumberland, 1966. "A Regional Interindustry Model For Analysis Of Development Objectives," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 65-94, January.
    58. Adams, F Gerard & Brooking, Carl G & Glickman, Norman J, 1975. "On the Specification and Simulation of a Regional Econometric Model: A Model of Mississippi," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 286-298, August.
    59. Daniel Z. Czamanski & Stan Czamanski, 1977. "Industrial Complexes: Their Typology, Structure And Relation To Economic Development," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 93-111, January.
    60. Metwally, Mohktar M & Jensen, Rodney C, 1973. "A Note on the Measurement of Regional Income Dispersion," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 135-136, October.
    61. M. Dutta & V. Su, 1969. "An Econometric Model of Puerto Rico," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 36(3), pages 319-333.
    62. Hart, R A, 1971. "The Distribution of New Industrial Building in the 1960's," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 181-197, June.
    63. Greenberg, Michael R., 1972. "A test of alternative models for projecting county industrial production at the 2, 3, and 4-digit standard industrial code levels," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 397-417, February.
    64. Archibald, G C, 1969. "The Phillips Curve and the Distribution of Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 124-134, May.
    65. C. D. Hyson & W. P. Hyson, 1950. "The Economic Law of Market Areas," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(2), pages 319-327.
    66. Glickman, Norman J., 1977. "Econometric Analysis of Regional Systems," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780122865503 edited by Mills, Edwin S..
    67. Buck, T W & Lowe, J F, 1972. "Regional Policy and the Distribution of Investment," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 19(3), pages 253-271, November.
    68. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    69. Siebert, Horst, 1973. "Environment and regional growth," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 3522, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    70. Kuenne, Robert E., 1977. "Spatial oligopoly: price-location interdependence and social cost in a discrete market space," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 339-358, November.
    71. Murray Brown & Maurizio di Palma & Bruno Ferrara, 1972. "A Regional‐National Econometric Model Of Italy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 25-44, April.
    72. James E. McNulty, 1977. "A Test of the Time Dimension in Economic Base Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 359-368.
    73. Edgar M. Hoover, 1937. "Spatial Price Discrimination," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 182-191.
    74. Dominick Salvatore, 1972. "The Operation Of The Market Mechanism And Regional Inequality," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 518-536, August.
    75. Gerking, Shelby D, 1976. "Input-Output as a Simple Econometric Model," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 58(3), pages 274-282, August.
    76. John B. Parr, 1974. "Welfare Differences Within A Nation: A Comment," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 83-91, January.
    77. Sosnow, Neil D., 1974. "Optimal policies for income redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 159-169, May.
    78. Leontief, Wassily, 1970. "Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(3), pages 262-271, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Andrew M. Isserman, 1980. "Estimating Export Activity in a Regional Economy: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Alternative Methods," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 5(2), pages 155-184, August.
    2. repec:elg:eechap:14395_10 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. J.A. Schofield, 1979. "Macro Evaluations of the Impact of Regional Policy in Britain: a Review of Recent Research1," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 16(3), pages 251-271, October.
    4. Thomas R. Harris & J. Scott Shonkwiler & George E. Ebai, 1999. "Dynamic Nonmetropolitan Export-Base Modeling," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 29(2), pages 115-138, Fall.
    5. Selting, Anne C. & Loveridge, Scott, 1992. "A Summary Of The Literature On Shift-Share Analysis," Staff Papers 14086, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    6. Charles B. Garrison & Hui S. Chang, 1979. "The Effect of Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Regional Business Cycles," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 4(2), pages 167-180, December.
    7. Ted Rutland & Sean O'Hagan, 2007. "The Growing Localness of the Canadian City, or, On the Continued (Ir)relevance of Economic Base Theory," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 22(2), pages 163-185, May.
    8. Soo Ha & J. Swales, 2012. "The export-base model with a supply-side stimulus to the export sector," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 49(2), pages 323-353, October.
    9. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 113-129, Fall.
    10. Robison, M. Henry & Duffy-Deno, Kevin T., 1996. "The role of the oil and gas industry in Utah's economy: An economic base/input-output analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 201-218, June.
    11. Edward J. Malecki, 1983. "Technology and Regional Development: A Survey," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 8(2), pages 89-125, October.
    12. Francis Aubert & Abdoul Diallo & Quentin Frère & Denis Lépicier & Stéphanie Truchet & Dominique Vollet, 2014. "Analyse économétrique de la croissance de l'économie présentielle en France," Working Papers hal-02516950, HAL.
    13. Ann Markusen (ed.), 2007. "Reining in the Competition for Capital," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ricc, November.
    14. Jessie Lerousseau, 2018. "Tentatives de réhabilitation de la théorie de la base : à la recherche des origines," Working Papers hal-01874818, HAL.
    15. Christofakis Manolis & Gaki Eleni & Lagos Dimitrios, 2019. "The impact of economic crisis on regional disparities and the allocation of economic branches in Greek regions," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 44(44), pages 7-21, June.
    16. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Fellows Address: Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," Working Papers Working Paper 2015-04, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    17. Stanley, Denise L., 2003. "The Economic Impact of Mariculture on a Small Regional Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 191-210, January.
    18. Guisan, M.C. & Frias, I., 1995. "An Interregional Econometric Model for Market Services Employment in 120 EEC Regions," Faculty of Economics 01, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Faculty of Economics, Applied Econometric and Quantitative Studies.
    19. Debashis Pal, 1994. "Cournot Competition and Spatial Agglomeration," Microeconomics 9402002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Gavin Bridge, 1999. "Harnessing the bonanza: economic liberalization and capacity building in the mineral sector," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 23(1), pages 43-55, February.
    21. Cooke, Stephen C. & Watson, Philip, 2011. "A Comparison of Regional Export Enhancement and Import Substitution Economic Development Strategies," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-15.

    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:inrsre:v:3:y:1978:i:1:p:1-48. 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.