Meric S. Gertler - Böcker

Recent years have seen a lively debate over the role of tacit knowledge and interactive learning in privileging the local over the global. Yet, our continuing inability to answer questions such as 'when and why is the local important in production and innovation processes?' indicates that our understanding of the firm and the forces that shape its managers' choices remains weak. Such a theory ought to be able to answer fundamental questions like: why do firms in particular places adopt particular production and innovation practices, and not others? What forces determine what a firm 'knows' and when it is able to act upon this knowledge? How easy is it to transfer this knowledge between places?This book presents a new conception of industrial practice and firm behaviour. It explains how the cultures that shape the practices of firms and the trajectories of regional and national economies are actually produced. The analysis shows how the internal and inter-firm organization of production, use of technologies, and the industrial knowledge underpinning these practices are strongly influenced by their social and institutional context. Routine forms of behaviour are not simply inherited from past practice. Instead, they are shaped and constrained - though not wholly determined - by a set of institutions that govern how work is organized, workers are deployed, and technology is implemented. Because of the slowly evolving nature of these institutions, distinctive national 'models' are not converging around a single global norm.

The first fifteen years of the 21st century have thrown into sharp relief the challenges of growth, equity, stability, and sustainability facing the world economy. In addition, they have exposed the inadequacies of mainstream economics in providing answers to these challenges. This volume gathers over 50 leading scholars from around the world to offer a forward-looking perspective of economic geography to understanding the various building blocks, relationships, and trajectories in the world economy. The perspective is at the same time grounded in theory and in the experiences of particular places. Reviewing state-of-the-art of economic geography, setting agendas, and with illustrations and empirical evidence from all over the world, the book should be an essential reference for students, researchers, as well as strategists and policy makers.Building on the success of the first edition, this volume offers a radically revised, updated, and broader approach to economic geography. With the backdrop of the global financial crisis, finance is investigated in chapters on financial stability, financial innovation, global financial networks, the global map of savings and investments, and financialization. Environmental challenges are addressed in chapters on resource economies, vulnerability of regions to climate change, carbon markets, and energy transitions. Distribution and consumption feature alongside more established topics on the firm, innovation, and work. The handbook also captures the theoretical and conceptual innovations of the last fifteen years, including evolutionary economic geography and the global production networks approach. Addressing the dangers of inequality, instability, and environmental crisis head-on, the volume concludes with strategies for growth and new ways of envisioning the spatiality of economy for the future.

This is the most comprehensive and significant statement about the value and potential of economic geography in thirty years. More than forty leading economists and geographers from around the world investigate the rival theories and perspectives that have sustained the recent development of economic geography, and offer stimulating insights into the emerging global economy of the twenty-first century.The editors have outstanding reputations for original research at the boundaries of economics and geography. They have taught in leading U. S. and European universities, and have contributed to significant debates about the theory of economic geography and its applications to public policy. The handbook is devoted to the frontiers of the field, eschewing nostalgia for the past in favour of contributions relevant to the emerging global economy of the twenty-first century. From general statements about the history and evolution of the field to statements about the crucial problems of economic geography, it is concerned with the rival theories and perspectives that have sustained the recent growth of economic geography. Always provocative and challenging, it will continue to define the terms of debate for the coming decade.

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.

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.

With public support for higher education dwindling, and sociopolitical interferences and funding cuts afflicting institutions worldwide, the role of the modern university has become increasingly precarious. Recovering the University attempts to rectify its existential state through a reframing of present obstacles and opportunities.Returning to the fundamental principles that formed the backbone of universities, sixteenth president of the University of Toronto Meric S. Gertler and University of Toronto’s director of strategic research Anthony Gray remind us of the unrivaled value of these institutions. They show readers why society needs universities – indeed, why their contributions are more important today than ever – but also how universities must evolve in light of contemporary circumstances. The book also considers the factors underlying the dramatic decline in public support for universities in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, juxtaposed to those in China, Singapore, and the Middle East. Furthermore, it highlights the unique case study of the University of Toronto – an institution consistently ranked among the world’s very best universities, while being unusually large, diverse, and inclusive – as an actionable model for other institutions. Articulating a vital new vision for the university, Recovering the University will be transformative for educators, leaders, students, and anyone invested in the development of knowledge and learning.

Originally published in 1986. This book is concerned with how regional economies adapt and respond to changing circumstances, and especially with the spatial system and processes of restructuring. Throughout the book there is a methodological commitment to adjustment theory - a unique analytical framework for the study of the dynamics of advanced capitalist economies. Instead of homogenising space in the manner of neoclassical economic theory, the authors focus on adjustment processes that produce and reproduce spatial differentiation.The most important facets of regional economic structure are covered – employment, wages, prices, migration, and capital investment – in terms of their own dimensions and their connections with the larger theoretical framework. Each part of the book develops one particular dimension of regional adjustment, and each has an overview and summary. Within each part, there is a sequence of related studies focussing on the empirical aspects, theoretical logic, and distributive consequences of regional adjustment.

Originally published in 1986. This book is concerned with how regional economies adapt and respond to changing circumstances, and especially with the spatial system and processes of restructuring. Throughout the book there is a methodological commitment to adjustment theory - a unique analytical framework for the study of the dynamics of advanced capitalist economies. Instead of homogenising space in the manner of neoclassical economic theory, the authors focus on adjustment processes that produce and reproduce spatial differentiation.The most important facets of regional economic structure are covered – employment, wages, prices, migration, and capital investment – in terms of their own dimensions and their connections with the larger theoretical framework. Each part of the book develops one particular dimension of regional adjustment, and each has an overview and summary. Within each part, there is a sequence of related studies focussing on the empirical aspects, theoretical logic, and distributive consequences of regional adjustment.