Regional Economics

A regional economy is a system, an entity made up of separate parts that interact. The purpose of regional economics is to study the parts of a regional economy and how they fit together. One aspect of this is the spatial economics of a region and regional systems. As one regional economist, Edgar Hoover, puts it, "What is where and why--and so what?"

There is an emphasis in regional economics on relating locational decisions to economic models of behavior and market structures. One line of analysis relates locational decisions for plants to sources of raw materials, locations of markets, and transportation costs of goods raw materials versus finished products.

Some industries supply markets which are outside of the region. These industries are crucial to the local economy and are called the economic base of the region. The major analytical methods of regional economics are the economic base model of a region and the methodology of regional income and employment multipiers. There are dynamic aspects as well as static aspects of the model.

The relationships of the industries within a region are most easily analyzed in the format of Leontieff's input-output analysis. This methodology may also be extended to cover interregional relationships. Gravity models also play a role in describing the relationships within a region. In addition, agglomeration is an essential concept in understanding regional and urban phenomena.

A major task of regional economics is to develop models of land use and the spatial structure of urban areas. This involves examining several abstract models of land use.

Labor market areas and housing market areas, which are concepts closely related to the structure of a region, are also important in regional economics. Regional economics ties occupational labor market markets and residential housing markets into the ethnic composition of the region and the socio-economic impacts of policy decisions.

Regional economics also covers social accounting systems which measure regional product and regional income. The conceptual problems and information requirements make regional accounts more difficult than national income accounting.

Bibliography:

• Avrom Bendavid-Val, Regional and Local Economic Analysis for Practioners, 1991.
• Gene Bylinsky, "California's Great Breeding Ground for Industry," " Forture 1974
• Gordon Clark, Regional Dynamics: Studies in Adjustment Theory, 1986.
• David Harrison, Simulating the Impacts of Transportation Policies on Urban Landuse Patterns, 1979.
• Edgar Hoover, An Introduction to Regional Economics, 1980.
• Walter Isard et al., Methods of Regional Science, 1965.
• John Kain, Housing and Neighborhood Dynamics, 1985.
• Wassily Leontief, Input-Output Economics, 1986.
• William H. Miernyk, The Elements of Input-Output Analysis, 1965.
• Roger Miller and Marcel Cote, "Growing the Next Silicon Valley", 1987.
• Peter Nijkamp (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, 1986.
• Hugh O. Nourse, Regional Economics, 1968.
• H.W. Richardson, Regional Economics, 1979.
• Donald Rothblatt, Regional Planning: The Appalachian Experience, 1971.
• Jerome Rothenberg, The Maze of Urban Housing Markets, 1991.
• A.T. Thwaites and R.P. Oakey (eds.), The Regional Impact of Technological Change, 1985.
• R.W. Vickerman, Spatial Economic Behavior: the Microeconomic Foundations of Urban and Transportation Economics, 1980.
• Mark Perlman, Charles J. Leven, and Benjamin Chinitz (eds), Spatial, Regional and Population Economics, Gordon and Breach, New York, 1972.

Regional Policy:

• Niles M. Hansen (ed.), Public Policy and Regional Economic Development: The Experiences of Nine Western Countries, Ballinger Publishing Co.: Cambridge, Mass., 1974.
• Hugh Clout (ed.), Regional Development in Western Europe, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1981.