Economic geography is a broadly ranging sub-discipline where theoretical frameworks and empirical analyses creatively incorporate interdisciplinary elements. Economic geography studies the location of economic activity in different areas as well as the impact of the resulting spatial structures on the action of economic agents.
Location sets the preconditions for economic activity and influences economic practice. The environment of economic activity can be considered broadly, so as to incorporate dimensions of the economic, socio-cultural, built, and natural environment. The scale of analysis may vary from the local to the global.
Examples of questions considered during courses in Economic Geography at the Turku School of Economics:
- When do firms transfer production activities to low-cost countries?
- What happens in the areas receiving foreign direct investments?
- What kinds of firm can survive in Finland?
- Why do innovative industries cluster in space?
- Why are large retail centres built outside of city centres?
- Where do various socio-economic groups consume during the working week and in their leisure time?
- How does world politics influence the world economy?
- How does tourism influence tourism destinations?
- When is business responsible?