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Topic · Economics and Econometrics

Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis is a research topic within Economics and Econometrics. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the spatial economics and agglomeration theory, focusing on topics such as agglomeration economies, urbanization, economic geography, regional development, transportation, city size distribution, human capital externalities, polycentric urban regions, and industrial clusters.

  • Agglomeration Economies
  • Urbanization
  • Economic Geography
  • Spatial Structure
  • Regional Development
  • Transportation
  • City Size Distribution
  • Human Capital Externalities
  • Polycentric Urban Regions
  • Industrial Clusters
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
49% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

Which countries lead Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.1k and 429 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.1k works
  2. 2 United States 429 works
  3. 3 Italy 172 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 129 works
  5. 5 Russia 97 works
  6. 6 Japan 96 works
  7. 7 Germany 91 works
  8. 8 Spain 74 works
  9. 9 France 66 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 54 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 48.7%United States: 18.2%Italy: 7.3%United Kingdom: 5.5%6 others listed: 20.3%49%largest
China1,146 · 48.7%United States429 · 18.2%Italy172 · 7.3%United Kingdom129 · 5.5%6 others listed478 · 20.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research, followed by Peking University and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 36 works
  2. 2 Peking UniversityChina 29 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 25 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 20 works
  5. 5 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 19 works
  6. 6 East China Normal UniversityChina 18 works
  7. 7 Renmin University of ChinaChina 17 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang UniversityChina 16 works
  9. 9 Wuhan UniversityChina 15 works
  10. 10 Shanghai University of Finance and EconomicsChina 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis include Ronald C. Kessler, Andrei Shleifer and Harry Eugene Stanley.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  3. 3 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  4. 4 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  5. 5 Michael E. Porter United States 165k citations
  6. 6 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  7. 7 M. Hashem Pesaran United States 150k citations
  8. 8 Robert F. Engle United States 139k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis?

The most cited paper in Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis is "Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA" (Luc Anselin, 1995), with 13,022 citations. Next come "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation with Spatially Dependent Panel Data" (6,735) and "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment" (6,049).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA Luc Anselin · Geographical Analysis Open access Apr 1995 13,022
2 Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation with Spatially Dependent Panel Data John C. Driscoll, Aart Kraay · The Review of Economics and Statistics Nov 1998 6,735
3 Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment Ron A. Boschma · Regional Studies 14 Jan 2005 6,049
4 Technology, Geography, and Trade Jonathan Eaton, Samuel S. Kortum · Econometrica Sep 2002 4,512
5 The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market David Autor, David A. Dorn · American Economic Review Open access Aug 2013 3,871
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Milan.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 225 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 93 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 81 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 61 works
  5. 5 GuangzhouChina 58 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 53 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 41 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 37 works
  9. 9 Xi'anChina 32 works
  10. 10 RomeItaly 31 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MilanIT · 30.8 works3.5×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis than the world average.

See Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, Peking University, Politecnico di Milano and Xiamen University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 20.42%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Xiamen UniversityRenmin University of…Peking UniversityPolitecnico di Milano
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Peking UniversityChina 70.719.1%5.3×29 +3.0%
2Politecnico di MilanoItaly 67.412.3%10.1×19 +32.5%
3Xiamen UniversityChina 65.430.1%5.0×12 +145.2%
4Renmin University of ChinaChina 64.622.4%19.0×16 +68.6%
5East China Normal UniversityChina 62.415.2%14.0×18 +34.8%
6Wuhan UniversityChina 62.322.0%3.9×15 +79.9%
7London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 56.520.2%16.6×10 -56.6%
8Chongqing UniversityChina 55.225.9%2.9×8 +70.5%
9Zhongnan University of Economics and LawChina 50.020.1%33.2×9 +158.1%
10Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 49.216.9%33.0×12 +149.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis, country by country

Is Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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