ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 341
REGIONAL
ECONOMICS
WINTER 2005
Due Dates
Midterms: Feb. 11th and March 23th
Essay: March 29th
STUDY GUIDE TO FINAL
Answers to some
exercises
Readings: for final see highlights below in course
outline:
Helpful handouts and lecture
notes.
First step of essay
Example of
referencing source material
Notes on mid-term
(your guide): Answer two of three
questions that ask you to show you understand the relationship between fixed
costs transportation costs and the size of a region. You must be able to predict when a firm will
build one or two factories, which region it will prefer to build them in, how
population will change depending on the share of manufacturing in a
region. You must be able to draw the
Krugman box when given different numbers about fixed costs, population size,
share of manufacturing in the economy etc.
I will likely make it very hard to avoid drawing the Krugman box.
Anderson model of wage determination
Numerical example of wage determination
model
Assignment Due. Feb. 1 Tues. Excel sheet with
Anderson model
Anderson example, core ships to
periphery
Link to tables in Jan. 5th
lecture
Link to more tables from
Jan 5th.
Power point
presentations:
Measuring regional disparities
Sources of income growth
Unemployment rates, Dec. 2004 If your last name begins with the letter A to
H, calculate the index of variation of the Provincial
unemployment rates. If your last name begins with the letter I to
Z calculate the index of variation of the Metropolitan
centre unemployment rates. (If you
don’t know how to use a spread sheet, you may do the provincial rates,
regardless of your name.)
Everyone should look at the metro rates and make a note
of surprises.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 341
REGIONAL
ECONOMICS
WINTER 2005
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Dr. Marilyn Gerriets, 304
Nicholson Hall, 867‑3848, mgerriet@stfx.ca
Class times: Tues. 11:15, Wed. 1:15;
Fri. 12:15
Text: Krugman, Paul. (1991) Geography and Trade. (Belgium and Cambridge Mass: The MIT
Press). Available in bookstore.
Course work:
|
Assignments and participation
|
10%
|
|
First Mid-term
|
15%
|
|
Second Mid-term
|
15%
|
|
Essay
|
20%
|
|
Final
|
40%
|
|
|
100%
|
I.
The
Nature of the Problem:
*Lipshitz, Gabriel. (Fall,
1995) ‘Regional
disparities: the Canadian case in the theoretical context’. The Canadian Journal of Regional
Science.
Vol. 18, Issue. 3.
http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/CJRS/bin/get.cgi?directory=Fall95/&filename=lipshitz.htm
*Baldwin, John R. Mark
Brown, Jean-Pierre Maynard and Danielle Zietsma. (Nov. 2004)
‘Catching Up and Falling Behind: The Performance of Provincial GDP per
Capita from 1990 to 2003.’
Statistics Canada, Research Paper, 11F0027MIE No 024.
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11F0027MIE/11F0027MIE2004024.pdf
*Fortin, Pierre. (2001) ‘Has Quebec’s
Standard of Living Been Catching Up?’ The
State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater. (Montreal
& Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press). http://www.csls.ca/events/festschrift.asp
Courchene, Thomas J. (Fall 1981)
‘A Market Perspective on Regional Disparities’. Canadian Public Policy Vol. 7, issue 4.
http://economics.ca/cgi/jab?journal=cpp&view=v07n4/CPPv07n4p506.pdf
Matthews, Ralph. (Spring 1981)
‘Two Alternative Explanations of
the Problem of Regional Dependency in Canada’. Canadian Public Policy. Vol. 7 No. 2.
http://economics.ca/cgi/jab?journal=cpp&view=v07n2/CPPv07n2p268.pdf
II.
Origins of regional divergence
A.
Core and Periphery or Symmetry
*Anderson, F.J. (1988) Regional Economic Analysis. (Toronto:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), ch. 2, pp. 24-33.
*Arthur, W. Brian. (1994) ‘Urban Systems and
Historical Path Dependence.’ Increasing
Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy. (Ann Arbor: The U. of Michigan
Press), pp. 99-110.
*Krugman, Paul. (1991) ch. 1.
Krugman, Paul. (1991) Appendix A.
(A more analytical approach.)
B. Localization
of Specific Industries
*Isaksen, Arne. (Fall 2001.)
‘Building Regional Innovation Systems:
Is Endogenous Industrial Development Possible in the Global
Economy?’ The Canadian
Journal of Regional Science. Vol. 24, Iss. 1; p. 101.
http://www.hil.unb.ca/Texts/CJRS/bin/get.cgi?directory=Spring01/&filename=Isaksen.htm
*Krugman, Paul. (1991) ch. 2, 3.
Krugman, Paul. (1991) Appendix C.
(A more analytical approach.)
III.
Economic Convergence and endogenous growth
*Martin, Ron and Peter Sunley.
(Jul. 1998) ‘Slow Convergence? The New Endogenous Growth Theory and
Regional Development.’ Economic
Geography, Vol. 74, No. 3 pp. 201-227.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0095%28199807%2974%3A3%3C201%3ASCTNEG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
*Coulombe, Serge and Kathleen M.
Day. “Economic Growth and Regional Income Disparities in Canada and the
Northern United States”. pp. 155-159, 167-172.
http://economics.ca/cgi/jab?journal=cpp&view=v25n2/CPPv25n2p155.pdf
Coulombe, Serge and Frank Lee. (Nov. 1995)
‘Convergence across Canadian Provinces, 1961 to 1991’ The Canadian Journal of Economics. Vol.
28, No. 41.
http://www.jstor.org/view/00084085/ap010115/01a00090/0?currentResult=00084085%2bap010115%2b01a00090%2b0%2c00&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26mo%3Das%26All%3DCoulombe%252C%2BSerge%26Exact%3D%26One%3D%26None%3D%26au%3Don%26sd%3D1990%26ed%3D2000%26jt%3D%26ic%3D00084085%7C03154890%7C03836258%26node.Economics%3D1
Lee, Frank C, Coulombe, Serge. (Spring 1995) ‘Regional Productivity Convergence in Canada.’ The Canadian Journal of Regional Science.
Vol. 18, Iss. 1; p. 39.
Major books on the
subjects discussed above:
Arthur, W. Brian. (1994) Increasing
Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy. (Ann Arbor: The U. of Michigan
Press).
Fujita, Masahisa, Paul Krugman, Anthony J. Vanables. (1999) The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and
International Trade. (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press).
Baldwin, Richard, et. Al. (2003) Economic Geography and Public Policy (Princeton N.J., Princeton U.
Press)