This paper surveys the empirical literature on the economic geography of trade flows, factor prices, and the location of production. The discussion is structured around the empirical predictions of a canonical theoretical model. We review empirical evidence on the determinants of trade costs and...

Carbon pricing is a central part of climate policy, but is politically difficult while the economy is still reliant on fossil fuels. The long-lived green investments required to break the carbon lock-in depend on expected taxes, not current taxes. Policies which target the expectations of the...

The emergence of new economic activities is the driving force of economic development. The development of such activities is often ‘lumpy’, manifesting itself in rapid growth of particular regions or sectors. Recognition of these facts requires a reorientation of the analytical frameworks...

The observation of an increase in the ratio of skilled to unskilled wages in the high-income countries and in some cases in low/middle income countries has led to considerable discussion and indeed controversy as to its cause. Virtually none of the analysis has considered a possible role of...

This paper analyses three main mechanisms through which transport improvements have impacts that deliver real income gain over and above user-benefits. One is economic density and productivity, a second is induced private investment and associated land-use change, and a third is employment...

This paper reviews recent work on the economics of fast growing developing country cities, with a focus on Africa. It sets out some of the broad facts about African urbanisation and summarises two recent pieces of research work. The first argues that coordination failure can create multiple...

The observation of an increase in the ratio of skilled to unskilled wages in the high-income countries and in some cases in low/middle income countries has led to considerable discussion and indeed controversy as to its cause. Virtually none of the analysis has considered a possible role of...

We develop and econometrically estimate a model of the location of industries across countries. The model combines factor endowments and geographical considerations, and shows how industry and country characteristics interact to determine the location of production. We estimate the model on...

Classic trade questions are reconsidered by generalizing a factor-proportions model to multiple countries, multi-stage production, and country-specific trade costs. We derive patterns of production specialization and trade for a matrix of countries that differ in relative endowments (columns)...