Related Variety and Regional Development

Harald Bathelt and Michael Storper

No 2214, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Evolutionary approaches have contributed substantially to the growing knowledge body about regional development processes and their underlying mechanisms. They have advanced our understanding particularly by going beyond case study methods, using empirical, mostly regression- based statistical analyses. One key concept that underlies evolutionary economic geography (EEG) is that of “related variety†. In EEG studies, regional industry structure is represented through its level of related variety, which in turn is found to be positively associated with favorable types of regional economic development. In this paper, we raise questions regarding the internal logic of the concept, its spatial expressions, measurement specifics, empirical regularities and biases, and the short- and long- term effects of related variety on regional development. Based on this examination, we make suggestions for future research.

Keywords: Economic geographies of places; evolutionary economic geography (EEG); regional development; regional specialization; related variety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L23 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-08, Revised 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-hme, nep-tid and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:2214

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