Special Issue: The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Inter-Regional Inequality
Since about 1980, economic inequality between urban regions in the U.S. and many other high-income countries has risen dramatically. Social scientists and policymakers alike have become increasingly concerned with understanding the nature, causes and consequences of inter-regional inequality in economic living conditions. Contemporary spatial inequality is multi-faceted – it varies depending on how we define inequality, the scale at which it is measured, and which groups in the labor force are considered. Increasing economic inequality has important implications for broader social and political issues. Notably, it is difficult to reconcile the rise of far-right populism in many countries outside the context of growing inter-regional inequality. Important explanations for rising inter-regional inequality have centered on changing patterns of worker and firm sorting across space, major shocks to the economy like the 3rd industrial revolution and increasing global economic integration, as well as policy. Indeed, it is argued that rising geographical inequality emphasizes the need for place-based policies. This special issue of the Journal of Economic Geography brings together recent research on spatial, particularly inter-regional, economic inequalities, and identifies challenges for future research to spark further conversations on related topics.
Social scientists and policymakers alike have become increasingly concerned with understanding the nature, causes, and consequences of inter-regional inequality in economic living conditions. Contemporary spatial inequality is multi-faceted—it varies depending on how we define inequality, the scale at which it...
Interest in regional convergence in mean incomes has been rekindled by findings that suggest a shift from convergence to divergence. While the majority of existing research has explored convergence in mean incomes, this research focuses specifically on the convergence/divergence of...
This article examines the role of work at the cutting of technological change—frontier work—as a driver of prosperity and spatial income inequality. Using new methods and data, we analyze the geography and incomes of frontier workers from 1880 to 2019....
We argue that trans-local knowledge connections positively impact local epistemic inventor communities in global cities, using patent citations as an indicator of global knowledge connectivity. Patented inventions have become more concentrated in the most internationally connected global cities, increasing inter-regional...
Why did rural areas recover from the great recession much more slowly than metropolitan areas? Due to declining tax revenues and intergovernmental aid, employment in the American local government sector fell substantially after the great recession. Cuts to local public...
Right-wing populism and related geographies of discontent have become central subjects in the recent debate on regional inequalities. The present contribution seeks to complement existing, predominantly synoptic approaches by looking at specific economic practices of local actors. We argue that...
Economic change over the past 20 years has rendered many individuals and territories vulnerable, leading to greater interpersonal and interterritorial inequality. This rising inequality is seen as a root cause of populism. Yet, there is no comparative evidence as to...
