Rethinking evolutionary economic geography through a gender lens

2025/11/04 by Barbara Martini · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Economic Growth and Productivity #Economic and Technological Innovation #Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

paper · doi:10.1093/jeg/lbaf053

openalex publication_date 2025/11/04 · openalex created_date 2025/12/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07

Abstract

Abstract Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) explores how industries cluster, networks evolve, and regions grow, yet often overlooks gender. This study introduces a gender-sensitive framework, extending Related and Unrelated Variety (RV and UV) measures through a three-stage entropy decomposition. Findings reveal that RV and UV respond differently as women’s employment share increases, showing increasing returns when women are underrepresented. Thus, promoting women’s participation in male-dominated industries can more effectively enhance labor market dynamics than concentrating them in already female-dominated sectors. This underscores the importance of not only encouraging women’s labor market participation but also considering the sectors in which they are employed.

Citations

• Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy
• An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners in the United States
• Microfoundations of Routines and Capabilities: Individuals, Processes, and Structure
• Co-evolution of Firms, Industries and Networks in Space
• Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment
• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• Bartik Instruments: What, When, Why, and How
• The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations
• Is income inequality converging at the regional level? Evidence from LIS data

Discussions

• Economic geography has long obsessed over industrial variety while ignoring #demography. In the Journal of Economic Geography, Barbara Martini proves that the "what" of regional growth matters less th [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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