Reshaping Economic Geography

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Reshaping Economic Geography
Policy Messages for Domestic Integration
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Concentration, a fact of life,
Half of the worlds production..
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at the global spatial scale
.can fit onto 1.5 of its land, less than the
size of Algeria
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at the national spatial scale
Even in a small country like Belgium, production
is concentrated in small areas
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at the local spatial scale
Cairo produces over half of Egypts GDP with
0.5 of its land
Bangkok generates close to half of Thailands GDP
with lt 0.1 of its land
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similarly in Central Asia
economic landscapes are bumpy
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Uzbekistan
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A Bumpy Economic Landscape
.. different parts of a country urbanize at
different pace . and these areas present
different policy challenges
Incipient stage urbanization Popayan, Colombia
Intermediate stage urbanization Bucaramanga,
Colombia
Advanced stage urbanization Bogota, Colombia
Orange areas denote urban settlementsPopayan,
Bucaramanga, and Bogota
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As urbanization advances, the functions of cities
change
and they deliver different types of scale
economies
Popayan, Colombia
Bucaramanga, Colombia
Bogota, Colombia
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Some are at the incipientstage of urbanization
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and face the challenge
that rapid urbanization takes places when
countries are at low-income levels
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Incipient Urbanization Stages
in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic
imply.

• Priority Policy Instrument
• Spatially blind institution
• universal provision of basic amenities and social
  services
• tax and transfer systems
• land market institutions

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Areas at incipient urbanization stageDensity
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about facilitating Density, building spatially
blind Institutions
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Spatially Blind Institutions
Land market institutions are critical --- to
facilitate agglomerations --- to encourage
mobility
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Historical and contemporaneous examples of land
market institutions

• Land tenure security, private property rights
• England 16th century enclosure movement in 1500
  Enclosure Act 1604
• Denmark 18th century Abolition of villenage
  1760 communal to private land holding
• USA 19th century 1862 Homestead Act the
  foundation of strong property rights
• Cambodia 20th century land tenure security land
  registry land administration, conflict
  resolution
• Ease of land use conversion versatile zoning
  law
• London 18th --19th century Land Enquiry
  Commission 1832 Reform Acts Land valuation
  decrees The Housing of the Working Classes Act
  1890 and Cheap Trains for London Workers Bill
  1890
• NYC 19th - 20th century 1916 zoning resolution
  1938 City Planning Commission 1961 zoning law.
• Hong Kong 20th century 1935 Housing Commission
  and Town Planning Ordinance (amended overtime)
  1963 first land-use strategy Zoning Plan
• USA, 1930s-40s Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of
  1937, good intra-urban public transport systems
• Sweden, 1960s-70s Royal Housing Commission in
  1945 Million Homes Programme
• Korea, 1980s-90s universal provision of basic
  amenities property rights and subsidized credit
  for slum dwellers to become home owners

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Spatially Blind Institutions
Universal provision of basic amenities and social
services --- to generate portable assets for
the population so people can move to places with
economic opportunity --- to equip every place
to be ready for urbanization (industrialization)
--- to ensure comparable levels of basic living
standards across areas
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Some places are at the intermediate stage of
urbanization
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Areas at intermediate urbanization stageDensity
Distance
In addition to providing institutions to continue
building density, infrastructure is necessary to
reduce distance due to congestion
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promote Density reduce Distance strengthen
Institutions invest in Infrastructure
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Spatially blind Institutions and Spatially
connective Infrastructure

• London 18th --19th century Land valuation
  decrees underground The Housing of the Working
  Classes Act 1890 and Cheap Trains for London
  Workers Bill 1890
• NYC 19th - 20th century 1916 zoning resolution
  1938 City Planning Commission 1961 zoning law.
• Hong Kong 1930s-80s 1935 Housing Commission and
  Town Planning Ordinance (amended overtime) 1963
  first land-use strategy Zoning Plan
• Bangkok 2000s zoning and parking spaces traffic
  demand controls

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Territorial Development Issue
Poverty Mass
Poverty Rate

• Main Policy Instrument Institutions e.g.,
  universal provision of basic and social services
• Secondary Policy Instrument Infrastructure that
  connects some places to leading areas

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Policy Response An I for a D
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APPENDIX
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Leading and lagging areas