Prof Andres Rodriguez-Pose and Prof Michael Storper

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Local Economic Development. This course is available on the MSc in African Development, MSc in Environment and Development, MSc in Regional And Urban Planning Studies and MSc in Urban Policy (LSE and Sciences Po). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If the course is over-subscribed, places will be allocated at the Department’s discretion and a waiting list may be created. For further details, please contact your relevant Programme Coordinator.

A good background is required in one of the fields of management, economics, economic geography, regional and urban studies.

This course analyses the theory and practice of economic development focusing on response to change, stimulation of development, and methods of local or regional delivery. Term A: Theories of regional economic development, location, and trade are applied to the contemporary process known as globalization, and used to decipher this phenomenon and its effects on development, employment, and political institutions. A number of major issues for regional and industrial policy are considered, including trade, convergence/divergence, corporate power, knowledge and technology, governance, and inter-place competition. Term B: This section of the course deals with the management and institutions of local and regional economic development. It dwells on the socio-economic implications of the emergence of local and regional governments and institutions as key actors in the design and implementation of economic development strategies across the world. In particular, the first section of the course analyses the consequences for economic efficiency and equality of the gradual but relentless shift of development responsibilities from the national and the supranational to the local and regional scale, linked of political and fiscal decentralisation, The second section of the course focuses, from a theoretical and empirical perspective, on the strategies being implemented by subnational governments across the world in order to cope and redress development problems. Strategies based on the building of infrastructure, the attraction of foreign direct investment, the support to local production and the promotion of local human resources are analysed in different institutional and governance contexts. The course draws on examples from Europe, the US, Latin America, and Asia.

20 hours of lectures and 15 hours of lectures in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 20 hours of seminars in the LT.

Students will be expected to participate in group debates throughout the course, with written presentation slides required.  Feedback is provided in the sessions.

S Brakman, H Garretsen & C van Marrewijk, The New Introduction to Geographical Economics, Cambridge University Press, 2009; G Clark, M Gertler & M Feldman (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, 2000; P Dicken, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, Sage, 2007; J H Dunning (Ed), Regions, Globalization and the Knowledge-Based Economy, Oxford University Press, 2000; J V Henderson & J F Thisse (Eds)Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, volume 4: Cities and Geography, Elsevier, 2004; P Krugman & M Obstfeld, International Economics: Theory and Policy, Harper-Collins, 1991; A Pike, A Rodríguez-Pose & J Tomaney, Local and Regional Development, Routledge, 2006; A Pike, A Rodríguez-Pose & J Tomaney, Handbook of Local and Regional Development, Routledge, 2011; A Scott (Ed),Global City Regions, Oxford University Press, 2000; M Storper, The Regional World: Territorial Development in a Global Economy, Guilford Press, 1997. A number of more specialised texts will be recommended at the beginning of the course.

Essay (25%, 2500 words) in the LT.
Take home exam (75%) in the ST.