{"title":"How evolving institutions shaped China’s economic geography","authors":"Wen-Tai Hsu,Jing Li,Lin Ma","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag055","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article reviews how evolving institutions shaped China’s economic geography since the reform era. The review covers three areas. First, we examine reductions in spatial frictions through hukou reform and transportation expansion, and their effects on migration, productivity, welfare, and spatial inequality. Second, we review urban and rural land reforms, housing reform, land-based public finance, and the promotion tournament, which improved allocation but distorted land use, infrastructure, and local debt. Third, we discuss place-based policies and agglomeration, including special economic zones as bundled institutions combining economic incentives with political support. We highlight China’s contribution to core questions in economic geography.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148895352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transport mode and the geography of exchange rate pass-through","authors":"Davide Del Prete,Aminur Rahman,Edoardo Tolva","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag056","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines how transport mode shapes the geography of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) within Global Value Chains. Using transaction-level customs data from the Bangladeshi garment sector (2018–24), we exploit the sharp depreciation of the Bangladeshi Taka in 2022 to compare maritime and air-based trade corridors through Chittagong seaport and Dhaka airport. We show that ERPT to exporter prices is incomplete on average and systematically lower in buyer–seller relationships that rely more intensively on air transport. This differential is concentrated in destinations and products where delivery speed is especially valuable, notably European fast-fashion markets.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"379 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148895358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender quotas and female entrepreneurship: evidence from Italian municipalities","authors":"Enrique Carreras,Elena Grinza,Alessandro Manello,Noemi Oggero","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag062","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article estimates the effect of gender quotas in local politics on female entrepreneurship. We exploit the introduction of a 2012 Italian reform mandating female candidate representation in municipal elections for municipalities above 5,000 inhabitants, and implement a difference-in-differences event-study design comparing municipalities first exposed to the reform with never-treated municipalities, restricting attention to a narrow population window around the binding threshold. Using a balanced panel of 607 municipalities observed from 2007 to 2022, we find that quota exposure increases female entrepreneurship by approximately 2–3 per cent. The effect is concentrated in regions with lower baseline gender equality, consistent with a catch-up mechanism whereby female political visibility matters most where it is most novel. We find no evidence that the effect operates through increased municipal spending on childcare or social-care services, providing no support for the most natural policy channels. The evidence is instead broadly consistent with a role-model interpretation: the increased visibility of women in local political leadership appears to shift the perceived feasibility of entrepreneurial entry among women in gender-unequal environments.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148894995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impacts of high-speed Internet access on monopsony power","authors":"Li Yu,Yurou Wang,Jingxiang Song,Mengjun Yang","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag053","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract While the literature on the Internet’s economic impact often focuses on skill-biased technological change, less is known about its effect on employer market power. This article asks whether the arrival of high-speed Internet can weaken firms’ monopsony power, particularly in a developing country context. Using firm-level data from China and leveraging the quasi-exogenous expansion of broadband Internet around the year 2000 in a difference-in-differences design, we find that broadband access leads to a significant reduction in firm-level wage markdowns. This effect is driven by four channels: reduced search frictions, increased labor mobility, enhanced firm entry, and stronger worker bargaining power. The resulting decline in labor market power is associated with a higher labor share of income and an increased pass-through of productivity gains to wages. Our findings challenge the conventional view that information and communications technology exacerbates inequality, demonstrating that by promoting labor market competition, it can also have a significant pro-labor equalizing effect.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148894996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lockdowns and export growth: the role of domestic production networks","authors":"Meng Zhang,Junli Wang,Jiansuo Pei","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag058","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study investigates the role of domestic production networks in transmitting lockdown shocks originating in upstream and downstream provinces and shaping export performance in the focal province. Using a firm-to-firm transaction-based interprovincial input–output table to construct exposure measures, we find that a one-standard-deviation increase in downstream lockdown exposure reduces export growth by 13.6 log points, whereas upstream lockdown exposure has negligible effects. The impact is short-lived and concentrated in ordinary trade, differentiated products, and durable goods. These findings indicate complementarity between domestic sales and exports. Our evidence supports the economies of scale channel over liquidity constraints.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"379 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148894999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ronize Cruz, Francisco Nobre, João Pereira dos Santos
{"title":"The economic footprint of short-term rentals on local businesses: evidence from Portugal","authors":"Ronize Cruz, Francisco Nobre, João Pereira dos Santos","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag048","url":null,"abstract":"We analyze how the proliferation of short-term rentals (STRs) affects firm survival, performance, and entry in two European cities with high STR density. Using administrative firm-level accounting data, a shift-share instrument, and an event-study design, we find that STR growth increases exit rates among underperforming firms, while surviving firms experience relative gains in sales and profits, with no effects on employment or investment. Corporate tax revenues accruing to the central government also rise, pointing to broader fiscal spillovers. STR expansion stimulates entrepreneurship, though new entrants face higher costs and lower initial profitability. These findings underscore the nuanced impacts of tourism-driven demand shocks on urban economic ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148459302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roberta Capello, Andrea Caragliu, Roberto Dellisanti
{"title":"Geopolitical Integration vs. fragmentation: the economic geography of disparities in Europe","authors":"Roberta Capello, Andrea Caragliu, Roberto Dellisanti","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag046","url":null,"abstract":"Rising geopolitical tensions and emerging skepticism against globalization cast doubt on the future evolution of European regional economic growth. We simulate regional GDP growth rates for all NUTS2 regions in the EU27+UK for the period 2021–2035, using the MASST5 model, in two extreme scenarios; the first, termed “Cohesive EU in an Integrated World”; the second, labeled “Nationalistic EU in a Fragmented World”. Results document substantial spatial heterogeneity in the outcomes of the two scenarios, with Integration leading to superior economic performance but at the cost of increasing regional disparities triggered by higher growth opportunities for national champions.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148440900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contested clocks: uniformity and resistance in global time zone standardization","authors":"Thomas Sigler, Matthew Zook","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag049","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the political processes by which time zones are locally managed and changed, and how these are converted into global standards in the absence of an international time zone standardization body. We argue that the persistence of a singular global time zone standard depends on technical infrastructures operating largely independently of state and non-state actors. The apparent neutrality of time zones as technical artifacts supporting international coordination required for economic globalization obscures locally negotiated practices shaped by social, biological, political, and economic rationales. The study highlights how globally uniform technical systems can coexist with locally differentiated yet politically contested practices.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"217 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148440901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bernardo S Buarque, Ronald B Davies, Ryan M Hynes, Gianluca Tarasconi, Dieter F Kogler
{"title":"Europe’s two towers: the uneven regional geography of telecommunication standard essential patents","authors":"Bernardo S Buarque, Ronald B Davies, Ryan M Hynes, Gianluca Tarasconi, Dieter F Kogler","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag045","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the role of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) in shaping technological development and regional innovation in Europe’s telecommunications sector. Results reveal strong geographic concentration: Helsinki and Stockholm account for one-third of all cellular SEPs. Unlike other technologies, SEP distribution does not scale with population or prior technological expertise. Findings suggest a “rich-get-richer” dynamic where early leadership reinforces future dominance; however, this advantage weakens across technological generations. This study offers new insights into standardization’s spatial dynamics and underscores the need for long-term perspectives when modeling technological competition and diffusion.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148415368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giuseppe Cavaliere, Graziano Moramarco, Alireza Naghavi
{"title":"Intellectual property rights and the efficiency of international production networks: evidence from the automotive industry","authors":"Giuseppe Cavaliere, Graziano Moramarco, Alireza Naghavi","doi":"10.1093/jeg/lbag042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag042","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the potential benefits of intellectual property rights (IPR) institutions for international production networks. Using unique data on manufacturer-supplier linkages in the automotive industry, we establish a positive empirical relationship between the efficiency of vehicle producers and IPR protection in their suppliers’ locations. Notably, IPR do not have the same impact on ownership networks as knowledge is internalized within the boundaries of the firm. We confirm that the results are not driven by other firm- or country-level characteristics, and address potential endogeneity concerns by employing a novel gravity-based IV approach using geographical distance and language proximity.","PeriodicalId":48251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Geography","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148401402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}