The World Bank. World Development Report 2009. Reshaping Economic Geography

Report. - the US: Washington, DC, the World Bank, the IBRD, 2008. - 300 p.Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions — density, distance, and division — are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. The Report concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow; proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations; revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.Geography in motion: The Report at a Glance — Density, Distance, and Division
Place and prosperity
Markets shape the economic landscape
Putting development in place
Geography in motion: Overcoming Distance in North America
Economic concentration — the richer, the denser
Convergence — rural-urban and within cities
What’s different for today’s developers?
Economic concentration in leading areas
Divergence, then convergence — between leading and lagging areas
What’s different for today’s developers?
Geography, globalization, and development
Shaping Economic Geography
Scale Economies and Agglomeration
A guide to scale economies
A different realm
A portfolio of places
Apprehension of market forces
Factor Mobility and Migration
Labor mobility: learning from a generation of analysis
Transport Costs and Specialization
What has happened: two centuries of experience
Transport costs and scale economies: two decades of analysis
What to do: transport policies in the developing world
Transport: an increasingly important sector
Geography in motion: Distance and Division in East Asia
Reframing the Policy Debates
Concentration without Congestion: Policies for an inclusive urbanization
Principles for managing a portfolio of places
A framework for integration
The framework in action
A strategy for inclusive urbanization
Effective approaches to territorial development
People seek opportunities
Regional integration to scale up supply, global integration to scale up demand
Building integrated neighborhoods: a framework
Bibliographical NoteSelected Indicators
Selected World Development Indicators