„GEOGRAPHISCHE“ EINFLUSSFAKTOREN IN AKTUELLEN MODELLEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSENTWICKLUNG : Literaturüberblick und Vorschlag eines Analyserahmens

‚GEOGRAPHICAL’ FACTORS IN CONTEMPORARY
MODELS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT :
Literature Review and Proposition of a Framework for Analysis

This paper aims at shedding new light on the interrelations between geographical issues and economic development. It is divided into two main parts.
Starting with some definitions and specifications of the scope of inquiry, the first part presents the findings of a literature review conducted in publications of all pertinent disciplines in order to assess the importance attached to ‘geographical’ factors in explaining economic development. The focus is put on answering two questions:
a) Of which kind are the ‘geographical’ factors considered in present-day studies as determinants or influencing factors of the economic development of nation states?
b) How big is the contribution or explanatory power ascribed to ‘geographical’ factors in comparison with all other possible factors influencing economic development?
In the second part, the literature findings are critically examined from the point of macro-economic and economic-geographical theories. Following this, a conceptual framework (or descriptive model) for analyses of the determinants of economic development is presented which includes geographical factors, among those population, as substantial dimensions.
The summary concludes with some propositions for research tasks of Economic Geography in explaining economic development.