We analyse the internal spatial wage and employment structures of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, using regional data for 1996–2000. A new economic geography model predicts wage gradients and specialization patterns that are smoothly related to the regions’ relative market access. As an alternative, we formulate a ‘Comecon hypothesis’, according to which wages and se...

This journal has been launched in 1972 under the title Regional and Urban Economics, which is almost the name of the JEL-classification entry R. The first point we wish to make is that, by the time this journal was launched, urban economics was already a well-established field drawing on new concepts and tools. By contrast, the scientific status of regional economics was less clear in that regi...

The benchmark of this paper is the Fujita and Thisse (2002) core-periphery model, which adds a R&D sector with skilled labor to create new varieties for the modern sector. The number of R&D firms increases not only with the number of existing patents and knowledge spillovers but also with the number of skilled workers who can migrate and choose the region offering the better lifetime salary. Th...

This paper presents an overview of recent development in the new economic geography (NEG), and discusses possible directions of its future development. Since there already exist several surveys on this topic, we focus on the selected features of the NEG which are important yet have attracted insufficient attention, and also on the recent refinements and extensions of the framework. The Institut...

Since its very appearance, probably thanks to its provocative name, new economic geography (NEG) has stirred a debate on whether it is economic geography proper or rather geographical economics. In both cases, its real novelty has been questioned. We focus on this last issue. In particular, we argue that many NEG ideas have been around for a long time in the works of economic geographers and lo...

The economic geographies of Asia are highly fascinating, not least because Asia has increasingly emerged as a significant economic player in all three spheres of global competition: production, consumption, and circulation. This dynamic mosaic of economic landscapes in Asia is further complicated during and after the recent 1997/1998 economic crisis. While some aspects of these economic geograp...