Reposted from the official WeChat Account: Empirical Economic Geography
As part of the Economic Geography book series published by Springer, Environmental Economic Geography in China has recently been released, following the publication of Evolutionary Economic Geography in China back in 2019. This article introduces the two monographs.
The series explores theories, methodologies, new perspectives and cutting-edge advances in economic geography and its sub-disciplines. It focuses on economic systems and spatial geography, geography of transnational investment and trade, globalization, urban economic geography, development geography, climate and environmental economic geography, as well as other forms of spatial organization and economic activities, building a comprehensive platform for research in economic geography.
Environmental Economic Geography in China, authored by the research team led by Professor Canfei He, Dean of the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, has been officially published by Springer. The book first elaborates on the theoretical framework of environmental economic geography. From a global-local perspective, it further discusses China’s economic development, the cross-border transfer of global environmental burdens, and their impacts on the environment across different regions of China.
Environmental Economic Geography in ChinaAuthor: Canfei He, Xiyan Mao
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 978-981-15-8990-4
China’s economic transformation has attracted worldwide attention. Nevertheless, rapid development has given rise to a host of severe economic, social and environmental issues. The concentration of massive economic activities within limited spaces lies at the root of China’s environmental problems. The book argues that achieving sustainable development through emission reduction and rational utilization of energy and natural resources holds the key to addressing these challenges.
Key Highlights
Phenomenon AnalysisThe book examines the spatio-temporal evolution of pollution-intensive industries and environmental pollution in China, as well as the correlation between the two.
Mechanism Exploration
Local scale: Regional economic activities are deeply embedded in social contexts. Local institutional factors affect the environment by shaping corporate behaviors. The book investigates how environmental regulation influences air quality and sulfur dioxide emissions, and how economic transformation impacts air pollution.
Global scale: While globalization has brought China the dividends of comparative advantages, it has also led to the implicit transfer of industrial pollution. The book analyzes the effects of trade and regional division of labor on industrial pollution, and how export upgrading helps improve environmental quality.
Evolutionary Economic Geography in China, another work by Professor Canfei He’s team, was published by Springer in 2019. Applying the theories of evolutionary economic geography to analyze China’s industrial development, this book charts new directions for the advancement of evolutionary economic geography and serves as a valuable reference for scholars in this field.
Evolutionary Economic Geography in ChinaAuthor: Canfei He, Shengjun Zhu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 978-981-13-3446-7
Key Highlights
Drawing on core evolutionary economic geography concepts including path dependence, proximity, product space, and related/unrelated variety, the book conducts extensive empirical studies centered on the interactions among firm dynamics, industrial changes and regional evolution. It verifies that path dependence is prominent across many regions of China, similar to the situation in Europe and America.
The book expands the research scope of evolutionary economic geography by exploring understudied topics such as environmental issues and inequality. Environmental sustainability and socio-economic disparity are major challenges facing China and the world, and will remain core themes for future academic research and policy formulation. This book explores these critical issues from an evolutionary perspective.
It delves into the role of institutions and governments at multiple spatial scales, featuring distinct Chinese characteristics. National policies exert positive effects in diverse forms across different spatial levels, fostering favorable conditions for industrial and regional development.
About the Authors
Canfei He
Professor and Dean of the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University. He earned his PhD from the Department of Geography, Arizona State University. His research interests cover industrial location and geography, foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, evolutionary economic geography, environmental economic geography, as well as urban and regional economic development.
Shengjun Zhu
Research Fellow at the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University. He obtained his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on industrial upgrading, globalization, regional development, global production networks and global value chains, as well as industrial relocation.
Xiyan Mao
Assistant Researcher at the School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University. She holds a PhD in Human Geography from Peking University. Her research direction includes globalization and regional sustainable development.
Series of Economic Geography Works by Canfei He’s Research Team
He, Canfei & Zhou, Yi. (2016). Research on Environmental Economic Geography. Science Press.
He, Canfei. (2017). Research on Transitional Economic Geography. Economic Science Press.
He, Canfei. (2018). Research on Evolutionary Economic Geography. Economic Science Press.
He, C. & Zhu, S. J. (2019). Evolutionary Economic Geography in China. Springer.
He, Canfei & Yang, Rudai. (2020). Research on Trade Economic Geography. Economic Science Press.
He, C. & Mao, X. Y. (2020). Environmental Economic Geography in China. Springer.
He, Canfei. (2021). Advanced Economic Geography. The Commercial Press (forthcoming).
