On completion of the course the students will be able to:

1. describe the advanced concepts of location of activities, in combination with location and trade.
2. analyze city-system development, urban region formation, and the implication of such changes for
trade.
3. distinguish between local market and distant markets inference on regional development.

4. analyze economic convergence or divergence of regions using data and quantitative methods.
5. formulate and solve models of geographical economics.

6. understand the implications of the models in terms of economic policy decisions.

The objective of the course is to give students knowledge about location aspects of innovation and trade, on the basis of various forms of scale economies as well as proximity and network externalities. The course will provide the student with a capacity to critically analyse economic problems relating to location, specialisation and trade for regions of different types. It will establish a competence in penetrating the reasons for how regions specialise and how they develop in a perspective of a global economy.

Important elements of the course are the following:

• Static and dynamic comparative advantages, location advantages and spatial externalities.
• Clusters and Regional Systems of Innovation.
• Different types of equilibria and path dependence.
• Finding equilibria of non-linear models by numerical simulation.
• Stability conditions of spatial equilibria.

Connection to Research and Practice
The content of the course is tightly linked to research in the field of geographical economics and New Economic Geography (NEG). This is evidenced by the course literature wich includes a book closely related to research as well as research articles from reputable international scientific journals. The course content is also close to the research performed at the research center CEnSE (Center for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics) at JIBS.

In the assignments the students use research models and methods to investigate phenomena related to economic geography as well as drawing conclusions about published research and what we can learn from it.

The content of the course is relevant for policy making. The students will appreciate how policy can be used to influence the development of society, and how theory and empirical work can be used to guide policy.

Lectures and seminars. The course includes two assignments (individual work) as compulsory parts.

The teaching is conducted in English.

Bachelor’s degree in Economics (or the equivalent).

The course is graded A, B, C, D, E, FX or F.

Individual written exam (ILO 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) representing 4.5 credits.
Group assignment 1 (ILO 4, 5, 6) representing 1.5 credits.
Group assignment 2 (ILO 1, 2) representing 1.5 credits.

Name of the Test	Value	Grading
Individual written exam1	4.5 credits	A/B/C/D/E/FX/F
Group assignment 11	1.5 credits	A/B/C/D/E/FX/F
Group assignment 21	1.5 credits	A/B/C/D/E/FX/F

¹ All parts of compulsory examination in the course must be passed with a passing grade (A-E) before a final grade can be set. The final grade of the course is determined by the sum total of points for all parts of examination in the course (0-100 points). Grade is set in accordance to JIBS grading policy.

Course evaluation
It is the responsibility of the examiner to ensure that each course is evaluated. There must be course evaluators identified among the students. The evaluation is carried out continuously as well as at the end of the course, through a survey. After the course the course Examiner meets with student evaluators to discuss the survey results and possible improvements. A summary report is also created. The report is followed up by program directors and discussed with faculty and relevant others (e.g. Associate Dean of Education, Associate Dean of faculty, Director of PhD Candidates, Dean, or Director of Studies). The next time the course runs, students should be informed of any measures taken to improve the course based on the previous course evaluation.

Academic integrity

JIBS students are expected to maintain a strong academic integrity. This implies to behave within the boundaries of academic rules and expectations relating to all types of teaching and examination.
Copying someone else’s work is a particularly serious offence and can lead to disciplinary action. When you copy someone else’s work, you are plagiarizing. You must not copy sections of work (such as paragraphs, diagrams, tables and words) from any other person, including another student or any other author. Cutting and pasting is a clear example of plagiarism. There is a workshop and online resources to assist you in not plagiarizing called the Interactive Anti-Plagiarism Guide.
Other forms of breaking academic integrity include (but are not limited to) adding your name to a project you did not work on (or allowing someone to add their name), cheating on an examination, helping other students to cheat and submitting other students work as your own, and using non-allowed electronic equipment during an examination. All of these make you liable to disciplinary action.

The listed literature will be combined with lecture notes. Lecture notes will be available electronically. Also several articles, which will be announced when the course starts, will be used for the assignments.

Recommended literature

• Pierre-Philippe Combes, Thierry Mayer & Jacques-François Thisse, “Economic Geography: The Integration of Regions and Nations” (latest edition). Princeton University Press.