The evolutionary economic geography of climate change is concerned with the processes by which the landscapes of greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change are transformed from within over time. Unlike neoclassical economics, evolutionary economic geography is interested in how economic change is driven by innovation and shaped by structural, historical, and contextual factors at different scales. This thesis articulates an evolutionary economic geography perspective on three debates: (1) What factors influence human systems’ capacity to adapt to climate change, and how can these factors be assessed? (2) What forces drive and inhibit economic change towards low-carbon economies, and how should governments induce and manage such shifts? (3) What role should climate finance play in promoting developing countries’ shifts to low-emitting and climate-resilient economies, and how should it be managed? The thesis includes five academic papers. The first reviews the literature on vulnerability and adaptation. It argues that the adaptive capacity of human systems is constrained by structural and historical factors, and that the rich data necessary to identify these factors can only be obtained through qualitative research methods. The next two papers offer case studies from the Global Islands’ Vulnerability Research Adaptation and Policy Development project, which assess the adaptive capacity of Soufriere, Saint Lucia and Whitehouse, Jamaica, respectively. The fourth paper examines the mechanics of three low-carbon shifts in Brazil: the diffusion of no-till agriculture, the decrease in the deforestation rate in the Amazon, and the growth of the ethanol biofuel industry. It found that the driving forces behind each of the shifts were far more varied and complex than the price-based market dynamics analysed in neoclassical economics. The final paper argues that climate finance will need to perform a variety of functions beyond attracting low-carbon private investment. It concludes that the institutional architecture governing climate finance should enable direct access to national governments to incentivise them to implement sustainable innovation policy regimes.

In this collection of essays, I explore three topics where space and distance plays a fundamental role in international economics. Not only do spatial considerations affect the pattern of trade, the frictions that arise from distance also determine where and how goods are produced and where people live. In Chapter 1, I show that human made locational characteristics can determine the spatial allocation of economic activity. I take the standard core-periphery model and add endogenous housing to its forward-looking dynamic adjustment process. By introducing a model of adjustment with an extra state variable, which I interpret as housing, I show that the distribution of housing allows the model to converge to a unique spatial equilibrium. This explains the observed persistence and robustness of economic agglomerations in the data. Chapter 2 is a theory of task assignment in the production of final goods and across countries. By allowing for tasks to differ in their suitability of being used in the production of multiple goods, my model endogenizes the allocation of tasks in the production of goods that use them. The resulting equilibrium task allocation defines the pattern of off-shoring. Tasks that are used in only one good concentrate in the country with a specialization in production of that good. Tasks used in many goods are allocated across countries, with the more substitutable tasks located in the country with the larger overall output. Gains from off-shoring are derived from a better mix of allocation of tasks into goods as well as larger scale of production. Finally in Chapter 3, I study how real exchange rate fluctuations determine the size and composition of the export sector. Using the methodology set out in Dixit and Pindyck (1994) in a heterogeneous firms model, I determine the set of trigger real exchange rates for entry and exit into exporting. My primary result of this chapter is that exchange rate uncertainty coupled with sunk cost of entry causes hysteresis in the number and productivity of exporting firms. I then extend the model to allow free entry of firms. This explains the stylized fact of the existence of non-exporting firms with higher productivity than some exporting firms.

Tourism has become a major part of today's society and has been seen as a human privilege. The expansion of tourism makes travel more accessible to more people. Still, people with a disability can face difficulties when traveling for the purpose of tourism. Information becomes important to accomplish accessible tourism for everyone, but the problem in various tourism disciplines occurs with the lack of knowledge about people with disabilities.  Tourism has different disciplines. Transportation is one of the basics of making tourism accessible around the world. Transportation has a major impact on tourism development but also in tourist experiences. If the transportation mode is not accessible, it can be a negative experience for people with a disability and can affect the entire journey and their willingness to attempt further trips. Disability is a broad definition and it is important to understand that different disabilities require different needs and that everyone is individual. This study analyzes how hearing loss affects travelers and the understanding of; (1) What may be needed to assist people with hearing impairments when traveling; (2) How does traveling affect people with hearing impairment when they do not have accessibility? The method is a qualitative method with in-depth interviews because this study wants to understand and reflect participants’ experiences when traveling with a hearing impairment.

The purpose of the study is to highlight and investigate lack of basic services on city tourism in Bamenda from a national and an international stakeholders’ perspective. The study also aims to explore potential solutions and suggest improvements that can make Bamenda more competitive as a tourist destination. Basic services focused on has been insecurity, infrastructure shortage and unskilled personnel on tourism sub industries, electricity outages and unstable internet supply. To understand the scope of, the problem, a qualitative method approach was used whereby thirty-seven persons were interviewed. The respondents were adult males and females between the age range 38- 50 who have years of working experience and academic background that ranged from bachelor’s degree to Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D). The study identified government negligence in providing needed infrastructure and services as some of the biggest setbacks to the smooth functioning of the tourism industry in Bamenda. It was surprisingly realized that Bamenda has a diverse culture capable of attracting many international tourists as well as a very dynamic population. Additionally, it was noted that there is a devastating crisis of identity in the Cameroons that has brought tourism to near zero.

The tourism industry is today the most powerful driver of economic growth and development. Globalization plays a big role in diminishing traveling barriers across the globe, which has led to increased competition between destinations to identify themselves and delineate how they want to be perceived by tourists. In this case, developing a clear destination brand identity is paramount for success. Tourism destinations are complex; they are multidimensional and so are their consumer needs and stakeholders interests. The focal point of this research was on destination branding; it is crucial to have all the stakeholders on board. Consequently, a destination brand has to reflect the authentic identity of the destination hence differentiating it from its competitors. The purpose of the research was to explore stakeholders’ practices in destination branding, their attitude, experiences and expectations of branding Mombasa. The research was based on qualitative method where primary data was gathered through face to face interviews with the tourism stakeholders in Mombasa, and data collected was analysed using content analysis. The key findings include; lack of unity among stakeholders, Mombasa has not been branded, inadequate funds for branding Mombasa, and need for product diversification. The research concludes by suggesting step by step approach for branding the destination.

Trend of Sustainability is applied to city planning and try to achieve the sustainable development of a city and a town that is generous to people, environment and vitalise the economy at the same time. Initiatives for sustainable city planning in Japan is organized by the national Government, so called, FutureCity Initiative. This initiative enables to local city and representative to participate and act for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) within a city and aim sustainable development. Chiyoda city is one of the cities elected as an Eco-Model City’s FutureCity project. One of their approaches is to cooperate with local businesses group in Otemachi, Marunouchi, Yurakucho district (OMY district) to solve the environmental and social issues and contribute for their city to be sustainable. This thesis focuses on this OMY district that support a huge part of Japanese economy and aim to be the world most sustainable urban city to lead a sustainable earth in the future. When business leaders become main actors of sustainable city making, their business and economic knowledge and the interest to sustainability would be combined and influence the definition and understanding of ‘sustainability.’ It is important to acknowledge that the process of meaning making for sustainability, from a business perspective in capitalism and neoliberal society, has been influenced by historical factors that human beings has been prioritising economic growth and ideology of capitalism and affect the environment and vice versa. This also have impact on the structure of Tokyo including infrastructure, transportation, lifestyle, human behaviour in the future. In this circumstance, will it actually make the city sustainable for its environment, society and economy?

O estado de Mato Grosso do Sul possui, historicamente, uma produção agrícola que se solidificou com base na estrutura fundiária de propriedades agrícolas de grandes extensões, e que estabeleceu uma agricultura de alta produtividade, apresentando relevante participação no PIB agrícola brasileiro. A situação hipotética delineada na pesquisa tem como premissa a modificação do binômio econômico soja-boi, para o quadrinômio econômico soja-boi-eucalipto-cana-de-açúcar e sua relevância para o crescimento e desenvolvimento econômico do estado do Mato Grosso do Sul. O principal objetivo pesquisado correlaciona a dimensão agroindustrial nas microrregiões de Dourados e Três Lagoas aos aspectos socioeconômicos face ao crescimento dos setores primário agrícola e secundário industrial do agronegócio no período 2005-2015. A pesquisa qualitativa foi desenvolvida com base em dados primários e secundários utilizando entrevistas semiestruturadas e bibliografia. As microrregiões analisadas foram estudadas separadamente como estudos de caso. Os dados socioeconômicos utilizados foram demográficos e econômicos da produção agrícola e agroindustrial. A microrregião de Dourados possui diversificação de setores agroindustriais tornando-se um município que se consolidou em períodos recessivos economicamente. A microrregião de Três Lagoas possui uma economia alicerçada em poucas áreas do agronegócio e que possui vazios demográficos. Compreende-se, na busca pelo entendimento do processo de geração de riqueza e melhoria de qualidade de vida, o papel dos gestores públicos para executar um planejamento adequado, considerando a geração de riqueza e consequente melhoria de qualidade de vida da população investigada. / Historically, the state of Mato Grosso do Sul has an agricultural production that has solidified on the basis of the agricultural land structure of large extensions, and that established a high productivity agriculture, presenting a relevant participation in the Brazilian agricultural GDP. The hypothetical situation outlined in the research is premised on the modification of the \"soy-cattle\" economic binomial, for the economic \"soy-cattle-eucalyptus-sugarcane\" economic quadruom and its relevance for the economic growth and development of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. The main objective of this study correlates the agroindustrial dimension in the microregions of Dourados and Três Lagoas with the socioeconomic aspects in relation to the growth of the agribusiness primary and agribusiness sectors in 2005-2015. Qualitative research was developed based on primary and secondary data using semi-structured interviews and bibliography. The microregions analyzed were studied separately as case studies. The socioeconomic data used were demographic and economic of agricultural and agroindustrial production. The Dourados microregion has diversified agroindustrial sectors, becoming a municipality that has consolidated in economically recessive periods. The Três Lagoas microregion has an economy based on few agribusiness areas that has demographic vacuums. It is understood, in the search for the understanding of the process of wealth generation and improvement of quality of life, the role of the public managers to carry out an adequate planning, considering the generation of wealth and consequent improvement of quality of life of the investigated population.

We analyse in a Footloose Capital productive public services provided by a central government aiming at reducing regional disparities. Two countervailing effects occur - one upon productivity and another upon local demand - the relative strength of which depends upon the financing scheme. Only if the "rich" region contributes sufficiently to the financing of the public services in the "poor" region, the poor region will actually gain. In studying these questions we pay particular attention to the dynamic adjustment processes and to the role of trade freeness. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Este trabalho realiza uma revisão da literatura pertinente à aglomeração urbana e sua explicação pela teoria econômica. Nele resgatamos os resultados teóricos que estabelecem a limitação dos pressupostos neoclássicos em entender o fenômeno econômico no espaço, concluindo pela viabilidade da inclusão de imperfeições de mercado para dar conta desses problemas. Um modelo de economia com dois setores é proposto com base nos modelos da New Economic Geography. A diferença desse modelo para o ora aqui desenvolvido está na modelagem de um setor com retornos crescentes à escala e outro setor com retornos decrescentes à escala. Uma determinada combinação desses setores pode ser responsável pelo resultado empírico de retornos constantes para o agregado da economia. Os coeficientes de escala dos setores estariam na base das forças de aglomeração de desaglomeração urbanas. Para verificar a validade desse modelo, testes empíricos são realizados, valendo-se de dados do Censo Demográfico para os municípios paulistas dos anos de 1980, 1991 e 2000 e onze setores que agregam as atividades econômicas. Testes para os dados médios também são incluídos. Dada a natureza dos dados utilizados, controles espaciais são realizados. Para isso, construímos modelos de regressão espacial para dados de painel com efeito fixo. Nossos resultados sugerem que os setores da indústria, construção civil, outras indústrias, transporte e comunicação, serviços técnicos e auxiliares da atividade econômica, social e outras atividades apresentam retornos crescentes à escala, sendo responsáveis pela força de aglomeração urbana, enquanto que os setores da agropecuária, prestação de serviços e administração pública são responsáveis pela força de desaglomeração urbana, pois apresentam deseconomias de escala. O setor do comércio apresentou retornos constantes à escala. No agregado, verificou-se um predomínio das forças de desaglomeração. Concluímos que o modelo proposto é corroborado pelas evidências aqui levantadas e sugerimos, ao final, possibilidades de estudos futuros. / This work provides a revision of the literature pertinent to the phenomenon of urban agglomeration and its explanation by the economic theory. We review the theoretical results that establish the limits of the mainstream assumptions in understanding the economic phenomenon in the space and conclude for the viability of market imperfections to account for these problems. We consider an economic model with two sectors based in the models of the New Economic Geography. The difference between these models and ours is that the latter deals with a sector with increasing returns to scale and another sector with decreasing returns to scale. A determined combination of these sectors can be responsible for the empirical result of constant returns for the aggregate of the economy. The sectors coefficients of scale would be in the base of the urban agglomerations forces and the urban dispersions forces. To verify the validity of this model, empirical tests are carried through, using data of the demographic Census for the cities of state of São Paulo for the years of 1980, 1991 and 2000, taking into account the economic activities aggregated in eleven sectors. Tests for the average data also are enclosed. Given the nature of the data, space controls are carried through. In order to do this, we construct space regressions models for panel data with fixed effect. Our results suggest that the sectors of industry, civil construction, other industries, transport and communication, technical and auxiliary of the economic activity services, social and other activities present increasing returns to scale, being responsible for the urban agglomerations force; while the sectors of farming one, rendering of services and public administration are responsible for the urban dispersions force, therefore they present diseconomies to scale. The sector of commerce presented constant returns to scale. In the aggregate, a predominance of the dispersions forces was verified. We conclude that the considered model is corroborated by the evidences raised here and suggests possibilities of future studies.

La thèse s’intéresse au rôle des pollutions industrielles sur les mécanismes de l’agglomération et de la croissance. Elle s’inscrit dans le corpus d’Economie Géographique et propose à la fois un travail de modélisation et une étude empirique. La localisation des activités industrielles polluantes représente un enjeu majeur pour les régions. Le gouvernement souhaite maintenir des activités économiques et une forte attractivité, tout en limitant les effets néfastes des dégradations environnementales issues des industries polluantes. En même temps, les pollutions industrielles affectent les autres secteurs et les ménages. Nous avons, tout d'abord, discuté les enjeux théoriques de la littérature concernant l’impact de l’agglomération sur la croissance et sur les émissions industrielles polluantes. Cela permet de mettre en évidence des limites des travaux de Nouvelle Economie Géographique et Croissance endogène (NEGG) sur la question, telle que la faible considération des dommages environnementaux. Ensuite, nous avons introduit une régulation environnementale dans un modèle de NEGG. Lorsque la taxe est différenciée entre les régions, elle a tendance à rendre l’équilibre de localisation plus dispersé. Enfin, nous montrons dans une étude empirique que les firmes des secteurs polluants bénéficient moins des économies d’agglomération. / The thesis focuses on the role of industrial emissions on economic mechanisms linking agglomeration and growth. This PhD thesis is settled in Economic Geography literature and display both theoretical and empirical studies. Location of polluting activities, mainly industrial ones, represents a sensitive issue for local governments. They want to maintain economic dynamism while preserving regional environmental capital. One needs to better understand the role of environmental issues in the arbitrage between growth and spatial equity. Indeed, industrial agglomeration impacts others sectors and household welfare through air pollution. Our review of literature shows that the effects of agglomeration on growth are well established. However, studies considering industrial pollution as a dispersion force are rare. We first build a model of NEGG with pollution regulation toward industrial firms. Then, an empirical study is conducted where we show that industrial firms benefit less from agglomeration economies.