About this series

Urban and geographical economics is an important sub-discipline within economics that presents distinctive intellectual challenges. It raises and answers unique and complex questions in terms of economic analysis and policy making. Cambridge Elements in Urban and Geographical Economics analyses and reviews the theoretical and empirical consequences of locational decisions and policies, both within and between cities and in the context of their national and international environments. Elements in the series not only review the foundations of the field, but also showcase exciting new developments and interactions between urban and geographical economics and related areas, such as international trade, economic geography, regional science, planning, and public policy. 

About the Editors

Steven Brakman is Professor of International Economics at the University of Groningen. His main research areas are international economics and regional economics. He is a research fellow of the CESifo institute in Munich, and a co-editor of the Journal of Regional Science. He is also academic partner of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

Harry Garretsen is currently Professor of International Economics & Business at the University of Groningen.  His research interests focus on international, regional and urban economics and in particular the link between the economy and the relevance of geography. For several years now, his research has also focused on the interface between the economy, leadership, and management. 

Charles van Marrewijk is Professor of International Macroeconomics at Utrecht University School of Economics (USE). He specialises in international trade, demography, regional science, economic growth, geographical economics, economic development, and agglomeration.  He is currently Dean of USE.

Rachel Meltzer is the Plimpton Associate Professor of Planning and Urban Economics at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Her research is broadly concerned with urban economics and how market and policy forces can shape disparate outcomes across neighbourhoods. She focuses on issues related to economic development, housing, land use, and local public finance.

Contact details

Steven Brakman: s.brakman@rug.nl
Harry Garretsen: j.h.garretsen@rug.nl
Charles van Marrewijk: J.G.M.vanMarrewijk@uu.nl
Rachel Melzer: rmeltzer@gsd.harvard.edu

Areas of interest include

• Empirical Methods:
  Measuring regional inequality
  Empirics of agglomeration economics
  The spatial organization of economic activity

• International linkages and urban economics:
  Trade and geography
  The comparative advantage of cities
  The relevance of psychology for regional and urban development 
  Evolutionary economic geography

• Urban Structure:
   Power laws
   Land use models: the monocentric model / Polycentric city models
   Migrants and cities; rural-urban divide
   Innovation and the psychology of places
   Slums and city development in developing countries
   Urban crime
   Relevance of climate change for cities

• Housing:
  Poverty traps and the supply of housing
  Decline and recovery of the industrial belt: the case of Detroit

• Policy:
  Place and people based regional policies