Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia

In this article, we outline how evolutionary economic geography (EEG) explains peripheral economic development by comparing two peripheries over extended time periods. This comparison involves critically appraising EEG’s capacity to account for peripheral evolution. For geographical, historical, and...

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Main Authors: Barratt, T., Klarin, Anton
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2021
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86854
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author Barratt, T.
Klarin, Anton
author_facet Barratt, T.
Klarin, Anton
author_sort Barratt, T.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In this article, we outline how evolutionary economic geography (EEG) explains peripheral economic development by comparing two peripheries over extended time periods. This comparison involves critically appraising EEG’s capacity to account for peripheral evolution. For geographical, historical, and political reasons, peripheries lack resources that lead to path creation and renewal. The hyper-peripheral regions of the Pilbara in north-west Australia and of Buryatia in south-east Russia provide excellent comparative case studies for understanding how peripheral regional development evolves in ways contingent upon time, state institutions, natural resource endowments, and region/firm dynamics. Our analysis shows that EEG is well equipped to deal with historical factors and capitalist economies but it struggles to reconcile these regions’ resilience and ability to sustain both Indigenous and non-Indigenous socio-economies. Development in these regions over extended periods of time invites questions about whether it is appropriate to apply EEG and its constituent parts: path creation, renewal, and exhaustion; regional resilience; and institutional thinness and thickness. In addressing those questions, we show that EEG can incorporate temporal development, stretching over long periods and economic analysis. We also critique the extent to which EEG can be used to consider how state activities influence path creation and renewal, the importance of extra-regional contexts, and heterodox and Indigenous perspectives.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-868542022-01-06T00:39:38Z Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia Barratt, T. Klarin, Anton In this article, we outline how evolutionary economic geography (EEG) explains peripheral economic development by comparing two peripheries over extended time periods. This comparison involves critically appraising EEG’s capacity to account for peripheral evolution. For geographical, historical, and political reasons, peripheries lack resources that lead to path creation and renewal. The hyper-peripheral regions of the Pilbara in north-west Australia and of Buryatia in south-east Russia provide excellent comparative case studies for understanding how peripheral regional development evolves in ways contingent upon time, state institutions, natural resource endowments, and region/firm dynamics. Our analysis shows that EEG is well equipped to deal with historical factors and capitalist economies but it struggles to reconcile these regions’ resilience and ability to sustain both Indigenous and non-Indigenous socio-economies. Development in these regions over extended periods of time invites questions about whether it is appropriate to apply EEG and its constituent parts: path creation, renewal, and exhaustion; regional resilience; and institutional thinness and thickness. In addressing those questions, we show that EEG can incorporate temporal development, stretching over long periods and economic analysis. We also critique the extent to which EEG can be used to consider how state activities influence path creation and renewal, the importance of extra-regional contexts, and heterodox and Indigenous perspectives. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86854 10.1111/1745-5871.12517 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle Barratt, T.
Klarin, Anton
Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title_full Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title_fullStr Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title_full_unstemmed Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title_short Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia
title_sort hyper-peripheral regional evolution: the “long histories” of the pilbara and buryatia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86854