New Economic Geography: What About the N?

Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P.; Thisse, Jacques-François

doi:10.2139/ssrn.660124

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

New Economic Geography: What About the N?

CORE Discussion Paper No. 2004/65

31 Pages Posted: 3 Feb 2005

See all articles by Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano

Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano

Bocconi University - Department of Economics and Paolo Baffi Centre on Central Banking and Financial Regulation

Jacques-François Thisse

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: September 2004

Abstract

Since its very appearance, probably due to its provocative name, New Economic Geography 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 of the NEG ideas have been around for a long time in the works of economic geographers and location theorists. However, NEG has the fundamental merit of having framed those ideas within a general equilibrium model encompassing most of these ideas. This has drawn economic geography and location theory from the periphery to the center of mainstream economic theory. More importantly, it has made already existing ideas more amenable to empirical scrutiny and policy analysis.

Keywords: Portfolio selection, value-at-risk, skewed-t distribution, weighted maximum likelihood

JEL Classification: C32, C35, G10

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. and Thisse, Jacques-François, New Economic Geography: What About the N? (September 2004). CORE Discussion Paper No. 2004/65, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=660124 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.660124