Over the last twenty years the economies of North America and Western Europe have undergone massive industrial-geographical transformations. The New Industrial Geography focuses on three of the most important: on the heightened
importance of the region as a generator of both technological innovation and economic wealth; on the contingent effects
of new local, national and international forms of regulation; and on the emergence of new institutions, and the reworking of old ones. Drawing on the theoretical resources of institutional economics, The New Industrial Geography opens new perspectives in economic geography. In its focus on historical and geographical context, institutional embeddedness, and
tacit rules and formal regulations, institutional economics
is shown to be the perfect basis for understanding the profound economic and geographical changes of the last two decades, and on which also to build a new kind of industrial geography. Issues covered include: the retheorization of the geography of industrial districts; the analysis of institutional 'thickness', and the economic-geographical effects of institutional rigidity and sclerosis; the economic-geographical consequences of new regulatory bodies and policies; and the
geographically situated character of institutions and regulatory frameworks, and the effects of separating them from their originating context; the development of new strategies for achieving more equitable forms of regional development. This interdisciplinary volume brings together some of the most prominent scholars writing on the topic of contemporary industrial and economic geographical change. They are Ash Amin, Trevor Barnes, John Britton, Susan Christopherson, Philip Cooke, Richard Florida, Meric Gertler, Roger Hayter, John Holmes, Ann Markusen, Kevin Morgan, Mark Samber, Erica Shoenberger, Michael Storper, Nigel Thrift and David Wolfe. It will
be of interest to students and researchers of economic and industrial geography, industrial and regional economics, political science, industrial sociology and urban and planning studies.
Regions, regulation and institutions: a preface Trevor Barnes and Meric Gertler 1. Industrial geography, institutional economics and innis Trevor Barnes Part I Regions 2. The resurgence of regional economics, ten years later Michael Storper, University of California, USA 3. The co-operative advantage of regions Philip Cooke, University of Wales, Cardiff 4. Reversing attrition? The auto cluster in Baden-Wurttemberg Kevin Morgan, University of Wales, Cardiff 5. Sticky places in slippery space: a typology of industrial districts Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA (as of July 1 1999) Part II Regulation 6. Harnessing the region: changing perspectives on innovation policy in Ontario David Wolfe, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada 7. Rules as resources: how market governance regimes influence firm networks Susan Christopherson, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA 8. Continentalism in an era of globalisation: a perspective from Canada's resource periphery Roger Hayter, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada and John Holmes, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada Part III Institutions 9. The Firm in the region and the region in the firm Erica Schoenberger, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA 10. The production of industrial processes: regions, nation states and the foundations of regulation Meric Gertler 11. Does nationality still matter? The new competition and the foreign ownership question revisited John Britton, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada 12. Capital and creative destruction: venture capital and regional growth in US industrialization Richard Florida, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA and Mark Samber, Carnegie Mellon university, Pittsburgh, USA 13. Institutional issues for the European regions: from markets and plans to socioeconomics and the powers of association Ash Amin, University of Durham, UK and Nigel Thrift, University of Bristol, UK
Edited by Trevor Barnes, Meric S. Gertler
Reviews for The New Industrial Geography: Regions, Regulation and Institutions
The New Industrial Geography provides a high-quality summation of the state of the art in the 1990s, rather than setting the pace for a new decade in a new millennium.. <br>-Edward J. Malecki, Ohio State University <br>
