[EQ] World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography

World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography

 

World Bank, November 6, 2008

 

Website: http://www.worldbank.org/wdr2009.

 

“…..Economic growth will be unbalanced, but development still can be inclusive. That is the main message of this year's World Development Report. The report proposes that spatial transformations along the following three dimensions will be necessary:

Higher density as seen in the growth of cities. Tokyo, the world's largest city is home to 35 million--a quarter of Japan's population--but stands on just four percent of its land.

Shorter distances as firms and workers migrate closer to economic opportunities. Eight million Americans change states every year, migrating to reduce distance to economic opportunity.

 

Fewer divisions as countries thin their economic borders to enter world markets to take advantage of specialization and scale. Border restrictions to flows of goods, capital, ideas, and people continue to prevent progress in Africa, in contrast with Western Europe….”

 

“….The new World Development Report challenges the assumption that economic activities must be spread geographically to benefit the world’s most poor and vulnerable.  Trying to spread out economic activity can hinder growth and does little to fight poverty. For rapid, shared growth, governments must promote economic integration which, at its core, is about the mobility of people, products, and ideas…”

 

Overviews (multilingual) English PDF file [32p.] at:  http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2009/Resources/4231006-1225840759068/WDR09_01_Overviewweb.pdf Coming soon: Arabic, Chinese, French Spanish, and Portuguese

Table of Contents & front matter Complete report Part 1 | Part 2

Available online at: http://go.worldbank.org/O4MD5RGAF0 Geography in motion: The Report at a Glance - Density, Distance, and Division

Overview

Part One: Seeing Development in 3-D

Chapter 1: Density   Chapter 2: Distance   Chapter 3: Division

Geography in motion: Overcoming Division in Western Europe

Part Two: Shaping Economic Geography

Chapter 4: Scale Economies and Agglomeration   Chapter 5: Factor Mobility and Migration   Chapter 6: Transport Costs and Specialization

Geography in motion: Distance and Division in East Asia

Part Three: Reframing the Policy Debates

Chapter 7: Concentration without Congestion: Policies for an inclusive urbanization   Chapter 8: Unity, Not Uniformity: Effective approaches to territorial development   Chapter 9: Winners without Borders: Integrating poor countries with world markets

Geography in motion: Density, Distance, and Division in Sub-Saharan Africa

Bibliographical Note

Endnotes

References

Selected World Development Indicators

Index        *      *     * This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics; Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMS Area] “Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PAHO/WHO Website Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

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