经济地理学的九大原理

经济地理学的理论通常针对其具体的研究对象,本文试图从这些理论中提炼出指导经济地理学家思考和分析,以及重复出现在这个学科中的要点。这些要点是最基本的,在经典的和现代的经济地理研究中具有普遍意义,而不仅仅是在当前或某些时段。本文称这些要点为原理,将它们归纳成包括区位选择与空间差异性、空间分析和区域政策等三个范畴共九大条。这些原理试图回答人们为什么、如何做区位选择以及它们之间的相互依存关系,概括关于空间经济的分析视角和途径,以及制定区域政策的经济地理学基础。认为这些原理的精炼在经济地理学的学术研究上有助于营造共同的语言,建立和提升大家比较认同的一般理论。在其应用研究上,有助于寻找和筛选重要的经济地理变量,建立分析框架和进行模型设计。

Nine principles in economic geography

Whether some basic principles exist or not that could guide those who are engaged in studying economic geography is a major concern. The author of the paper holds a positive attitude and tries to conclude them as follows. The first is that people would be faced with making location choices, which implies that economic geographers must design possible selected places to reflect the cost of location decision-making. The second is that making location choices is spatial optimizations and competitions for space, which shows basic behavioral criterion of economic actor. Why would people like to select locations? The third gives an answer,that is, there are differences in space, which come from both the nature and the social-economic system. And the impacts of the latter may strengthen or weaken difference from the former. Two principles followed are that economic factors have different sensitivities to distance, and that economic systems have the substituting functions to adjust inputs for distance and for others, which voice the key points about effects of distance. The spatial market principle and spatial critical point principle, the sixth and the seventh, are related to the analytic methods in economic geography. The eighth is that local or regional competitiveness depends on its advantages of production and service cost and location advantage. The last is the location policy principle, which shows why and how to formulate regional policies. The author deems that the conclusion of nine principles helps the teachers and students to get a better understanding of the key points in economic geography for the teachers and students. And it is also in favor of establishing common language and building common acknowledged theories in the area of academic research of economic geography. In addition, in the area of applied research of economic geography, it is beneficial for researchers to find and choose important and essential economic geography variables.