This companion volume to the 'World Development Report 2009' comprises twenty papers authored by noted Asian scholars. These studies highlight how, throughout East Asia, spatial considerations have influenced Government policies at the national, regional, and local levels. Key themes include how countries have dealt with: (1) agglomeration economies, urbanization, and regional disparities; (2) improving connectivity with infrastructure investments; and (3) eliminating barriers across and within countries to favor the movement of labor, goods and services. Achievements vary widely across countries: while some succeeded in enhancing competitiveness and improving social outcomes, others are experiencing increasing inequalities and failures to spur growth in disadvantaged areas. The book highlights many examples of how the new economic geography is reshaping development objectives: from initiatives to foster growth via enhanced agglomeration and improved local connectivity to the world economy, to special decentralization programs that channel resources to lagging regions. This volume will be of great interest to readers working in the areas of economic policy, poverty reduction and urban-rural development strategies, and transport-led infrastructure policy.

Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. The conclusion is not without controversy. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The WDR has a different message: economic growth is seldom balanced, and efforts to spread it out prematurely will jeopardize progress. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow. proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations. revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.

Widely adopted throughout the world, this definitive text comprehensively examines how the global economy works and its effects on people and places. Peter Dicken provides a balanced yet critical analysis of globalization processes and debates. The text synthesizes a wealth of data on production, distribution, consumption, and innovation, including detailed case studies of key global industries. Students learn how the global economic map is being shaped and reshaped by dynamic interactions among transnational corporations, states, consumers, labor, and civil society organizations. Useful features include nearly 250 quick-reference figures and tables. The companion website offers PowerPoint slides of the figures and tables, additional case studies and questions, annotated Web links, and more. New to This Edition Revised throughout to incorporate the latest ideas in the field; gives increased attention to global production networks as a major organizing principle. Addresses the current global financial crisis. Chapter on environmental impacts of global production networks. Case study chapter on the extractive industries. Fully updated empirical data; additional maps and charts.

The book first examines some radical new directions in Korea's regional policies instigated by the newly established permanent Presidential Commission of Regional Development. The existing nine provinces and seven 'Special Cities' (i.e. metropolitan areas), will yield considerable power and budget authority to seven new mega-regions. Many of the ideas behind the new policies (such as territorial cohesion, regional innovation and regional competitiveness) were inspired from abroad, especially Europe. There are also changes at the lower urban scale to modify Korea's traditional top-down strategies. Previous policies, named ?balanced national development', were targeted at undermining Seoul by redistributing activities, including government, to other parts of the country under the zero sum game assumption. The new policies aim to benefit both the Capital Region and other mega-regions under a ?win-win' assumption. The book evaluates these approaches. Original contributions from some of the field's foremost scholars - including Sang-Chuel Choe, Sir Peter Hall, Andreas Faludi, Michael Storper, Takashi Onishi, Maryann Feldman and Sam Ock Park - identify priorities for territorial integration, develop ideas for crossborder cooperation, discuss EU policy and policies for overall regional competitiveness, examine the construction of regional entrepreneurial advantage and consider fiscal policy and decision-making.

This book addresses how economic spaces dynamically change within the context of the global knowledge-based economy. Specifically, it centers the discussion on integrated views of understanding and conceptualizing dynamic changes of global economy under the global megatrends of globalization, knowledge-based economy, information society, service world, climate change, and population aging. Focusing on East Asia, especially on Korea, it deals with case studies regarding the processes and patterns of these global dynamics, looking at economic spaces of various spatial scales and types of economic actors. This book develops a theoretical model for understanding and analysing the dynamics of economic spaces that are being reshaped within the larger global economy. It also emphasizes the analysis of empirical studies at the level of firm, region, and state by considering an evolutionary perspective over time. In developing its theoretical framework, this book examines regional resilience, intangible assets, service innovation, path dependence, and other notions related to the evolution of economic spaces, and incorporates these elements into real-world case studies. The integrated theoretical framework examined here contributes a new perspective on spatial disparities in the global economy. An integral model of service innovation; the integration of path dependence and regional resilience; the interaction between firm and region for the accumulation of intangible assets; and the roles of governments and global firms: these are all essential to understanding the dynamics of economic spaces in East Asia. The theoretical model and case studies in this book suggest policy implications for developing countries, especially in the Asian and African regions, with regard to regional development and innovation policies.

This volume is intended to be the most comprehensive textbook on economic integration in East Asia. It introduces the reader to various issues related to the topic such as institutional building of FTAs; production networks and the location choice of MNEs; R&D and innovation; infrastructure development and transport costs; international migration and service trade; monetary integration; regional disparity and poverty. It also deals with the critical energy, environmental and agricultural concerns. Each chapter contains ample data and rigorous analyses, complemented by illustrative box articles. Covering a wide range of aspects surrounding economic integration in East Asia, this well-researched text will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students of development studies, regional economics and Asian studies. It will be of particular value to those on courses concerned with economic and regional integration.