This paper reviews and synthesizes major advances in several key areas of regional science that have been revisited through the lens of modern economic theory, thereby contributing to the emergence of what is now commonly referred to as “spatial economics”. Consistent with this objective, the paper also traces the origins of these ideas, some of which can be traced back to the distant past.
The agenda of the paper responds to the long-standing yet unresolved problem in entrepreneurship research that different metrics of entrepreneurial activity capture different facets of entrepreneurship and to the limited knowledge about determinants of regional entrepreneurial activity in Europe. By using panel data for 2010–2021, the paper studies determinants behind the spatial distribution of the level and fluctuations in entrepreneurial activity in European NUTS 2 regions. Four metrics of entrepreneurial activity are considered in a non-spatial and spatial simultaneous equations framework, and confronted with a number of factors of regional labour market and economic conditions as well as regional development. Inter alia, the results suggest that enterprise activity and self-employment are driven by different factors, and that regional unemployment is negatively associated with entrepreneurial activity. Most emerging and perishing enterprises likely fall within the Kirznerian tradition. Ultimately, the results yield distinct implications for regional enterprise versus self-employment policy.
Walter Isard, the founder of Regional Science, developed one of the most groundbreaking projects of the twentieth century, known as Isard’s “Dream”. In his vision, space represented a fundamental dimension of economic analysis and general equilibrium theory, which were largely neglected in classical and neoclassical literature. Factors like production location, transportation costs, market areas and urban structures were treated as endogenous variables in his framework, developed particularly in his book Location and Space-Economy (1956). Despite remaining initially in the background due to its methodological and conceptual complexity, Isard’s work has gained renewed relevance and inspired new theories thanks to the emergence of new technologies and analytical tools. From the New Economic Geography (NEG) to recent studies on agglomeration and urban systems, these developments can be interpreted as a partial realisation of Isard’s ambition: restoring space at the core of economic science and understanding the geography of economic life as an essential component of human development.
Ensuring the social acceptance of disaster management policies and promoting the well-being of residents in safe environments requires consideration not only of objective risk levels but also of subjective risk perception. When individuals perceive hazards as uncontrollable, their anxiety tends to increase, highlighting the importance of training programs that strengthen coping capacity as a critical aspect of disaster management. Against this backdrop, this study examines the effect of coping capacity on disaster-related risk perception in South Korea. Despite rapid economic growth and improvements in living standards, South Korea continues to report lower life satisfaction than the OECD average, largely due to recurring natural and man-made disasters that amplify social anxiety. This study distinguishes between natural and man-made disasters to analyze the factors influencing risk perception and to explore requirements for more effective safety systems. Using pooled cross-sectional data from four waves of Statistics Korea's Social Survey (2018-2024), the analysis applies a binary logistic model. The results show that coping knowledge reduces fear associated with risk perception, but its effect varies by health status, suggesting the need for risk education tailored to health conditions. In addition, differences by gender, education, income, and regional exposure indicate the necessity of prioritizing vulnerable groups in disaster management strategies. Furthermore, regional emergency response accessibility was found to mitigate perceived risk of natural disasters, highlighting the importance of improving accessibility to emergency services as a means of strengthening disaster response capacity.
There are few in-depth studies on urban collaborative innovation between subjects and cities. Based on the triple helix (TH) theory and innovation network theory, this study constructs the theoretical framework of the urban collaborative innovation system from the collaboration between innovation subjects and the spatial correlation between cities. By using the invention patent data of 30 innovative cities from 2014 to 2023, this paper empirically examined the rule characteristics, evolution trend, and synergetic degree of the urban innovation system in China. The results show that: (1) The innovation capacity of Chinese cities has been continuously enhanced, and the imbalance in innovation levels among cities is relatively prominent. Inter-city innovation cooperation has evolved from a “dual-core driven” network structure to a “multi-center driven” one. (2) The bilateral relationship of university-industry within a city is the closest. There are specific substitution and crowding-out effects between industry-university collaboration and industry-government collaboration. (3) In the trilateral relationship of university-industry-government, cities like Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian have relatively close tripartite collaboration, while cities like Shenzhen, Dongguan and Jiaxing have relatively loose tripartite relationships. (4) The inter-city correlation of urban agglomeration is prominently better than that of other regions, especially in clusters of the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. (5) The intercity tight-subject tight, encompassing 17 cities such as Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou, is the most important collaborative category. The research results provide theoretical sustenance and policy enlightenment for coordinating the relationship between different subjects and cities in collaborative innovation.
