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"Why do some cities grow economically while others decline? Why do some show sustained economic performance while others cycle up and down? In Keys to the City, Michael Storper, one of the world's leading economic geographers, looks at why we should consider economic development issues within a regional context -- at the level of the city-region -- and why urban economies develop unequally. Storper identifies four contexts that shape urban economic development: economic, institutional, innovational and interactional, and political. The book explores how these contexts operate and how they interact, leading to developmental success in some regions and failure in others. Demonstrating that the global economy is increasingly driven by its major cities, the keys to the city are the keys to global development. In his conclusion, Storper specifies eight rules of economic development targeted at policymakers. Keys to the City explains why economists, sociologists, and political scientists should take geography seriously."--Provided by publisher

enth.

Studies of economic development & economic history have long been concerned with the relationship between the transparent & supposedly anonymous forces of markets, rules, & bureaucracies, on the one hand, & membership in groups, such as local communities, associations, or networks on the other. Economists are quite divided about these latter forces: for some, they are necessary underpinnings for the market, providing trust & social capital which in turn reduce transaction costs & moral hazards & hence promote development; for most, they are seen as archaic, leading to nepotism, rent seeking, & institutional rigidity. Indeed, throughout the social sciences, there is an opposition between the roles assigned to what may be called the "societal" & the "communitarian" bases of social & economic development. But each position in this theoretical standoff underestimates the contributions of either society or community to economic development. This is because both society & community have potentially positive & negative effects; together, however, they can act as mutual checks & balances on their potentially negative effects, while reinforcing the positive contributions of each to economic efficiency. Different levels & types of society & community, in interaction, define complex contexts of choice & incentives in economic development, & allow us to see more clearly the basis of different institutional configurations in relationship to development. 2 Figures, 97 References. Adapted from the source document.