In this chapter we look at the spatial distribution of economic activities in China and Japan. Japan has excellent data and relatively uniform institutions since World War II, which allow us to track its spatial evolution and detail its key features today. For Japan we show how structural shifts...

This chapter examines empirical strategies that have been or could be used to evaluate the importance of agglomeration and trade models. This theoretical approach, widely known as New Economic Geography (NEG), emphasizes the interaction between transport costs and firm-level scale economies as a...

This detailed policy review examines recent developments in regional policy in France and in particular, challenges regarding competiveness policies and multilevel governance. It includes interesting statistics related to regions and makes a series of recommendations for French authorities.