Perspectives on Regional Change: A Review Essay on Handbook of Regional Growth and Development Theories.

Handbook of Regional Growth and Development Theories, edited by Roberta Capello and Peter Nijkamp, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2009 (xi and 529 pp., £135, $250). This paper reviews the contributions in The Handbook of Regional Growth and Development Theories, edited by Roberta Capello and Peter Nijkamp. The book's coverage is comprehensive in a conventional way. It emphasizes the significance of recent developments in theoretical and empirical regional analysis that have occurred in both neoclassical (convergence) and new economic geography (concentration) contexts. The role of knowledge spillovers in regional growth receives special attention. Given the recent advances in the field, and renewed interest in regional issues, it is time to expand the focus of analysis from relatively narrow production and distribution concerns, to broader ones that incorporate the effects of structural/sectoral, demographic, and environmental change on the future prospects of regional economies. Such an expansion would not only contribute to the theoretical richness of regional growth and development analysis, it would also do much to expand its utility in guiding public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]