Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Those that succeed in doing this tend to prosper while those that fall behind can atrophy
and die. The disruptive technologies and processes associated with new technological
paradigms confront existing i rms with even greater challenges and introduce whole new
industries into regional and national economies.
Previous Kondratief (1935) / Schumpeterian (1939) paradigm shifts have not only had
major economic implications but also have had signii cant spatial results. The economies
of whole regions have risen and fallen on the basis of such changes. This highlights the
theoretical limitations of the neoclassical assumption that in the long term regional and
national economies should be moving towards some equilibrium path. Empirical support
for this assumption is either unsatisfactory because of the limitations of the models used
to calculate long-term convergence (Henley, 2005), or lacking altogether.
From an evolutionary perspective it is to be expected that as i rms and industries
move along existing technological trajectories at dif erent speeds the spatial economies
in which they are located will also diverge at similar rates. The processes of cumula-
tive and circular causation in which those economies that start with the most relevant
economic resources end up with even more of them later in time also contribute to the
divergence of spatial economies. Breakthrough innovations leading to major technologi-
cal paradigm shifts magnify the scale and scope of these selective forces. Thus it is to be
expected that the shift to post-industrial capitalism and the development of the informa-
tion economy will result in the accelerated divergence among spatial economies. This
appears to be the case in England where the regions that benei ted most from earlier
manufacturing growth are now lagging behind those that have participated most and
adapted best to the demands of the information economy. Recently this has become a
major policy issue, with central government adopting a target to close the gap in growth
rates between those of the poorer regions of the north and the faster growth regions in
the south. Evolutionary theory and the evidence presented here suggest that without
major improvements in the information-based economies of the northern regions this
target cannot be attained in any meaningful way.
References
Anderson, B., J. Howells, R. Hull, I. Miles and J. Roberts (2000),
Knowledge and Innovation in the New Service
Economy
, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.
Arthur, W.B. (1990), 'Silicon Valley locational clusters: when do increasing returns imply monopoly?',
Mathematical Social Sciences
,
19
(3), 235-51.
Bell, D. (1973),
The Coming of Post-industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting
, New York: Basic
Books.
Bessant, J. and H. Rush (2000), 'Innovation agents and technology transfer', in M. Boden and I. Miles (eds),
Services and the Knowledge-Based Economy
, London & New York: pp. 155-69.
Boschma, R.A. and K. Frenken (2006), 'Why is economic geography not an evolutionary science? Towards an
evolutionary economic geography',
Journal of Economic Geography
,
6
(3), 273-302.
Breschi, S. and F. Malerba (2003), 'Mobility and social networks: localised knowledge spillovers revisited',
CESPRI Working Paper 142, available at: www.cespri.it
Bresnahan, T., E. Brynjolfsson and L.M. Hitt (2002), 'Information technology, workplace organization and
the demand for skilled labor: form level evidence',
Quarterly Journal of Economics
,
117
, 339-76.
Camagni, R. (ed.) (1991),
Innovation Networks
.
Spatial Perspectives
, London & New York: Bellhaven Press.
Capello, R. (1999), 'Spatial transfer of knowledge in high technology milieux: learning versus collective learn-
ing processes',
Regional Studies
,
33
(4), 353-65.
Castells, M. (1996),
The Rise of the Network Society
, Oxford: Blackwell.
City Corporation of London (2003), 'Financial services clustering and its signii cance in London', Report
prepared by Manchester Business School and Loughborough Department of Geography, London, City
Corporation.
