Courses master Economic Geography track: Regional Competitiveness and Trade

Are you interested in the role of international trade and globalization in regional economic development? Then follow the track of the master Economic Geography: Regional Competitiveness and Trade. You follow the basic programme of the Master Economic Geography, but as addition also three track courses at the Faculty of Economics and Business.

> Master Economic Geography

> Master track Economic Geography: Regional Competitiveness and Trade

> Master track Economic Geography: Sustainable Rural Futures

What will you learn?

The programme of the master track Economic Geography: Regional Competitiveness and Trade contains these courses. Click on the course title to go to the full course description, information about lecturers, literature and time period.

Sustainable Economic Development (5EC)

Why are some countries poor and some countries rich? This course will introduce you to the debate about strategies for sustained growth and development in today's world.

Economic Geography: theory and practice (5EC)

The course is set against the backdrop of ongoing economic globalization and its implications for local and regional economic development. The course will examine analytical concepts and theories, as well as empirical approaches to investigating economic geography. In this context, the course will introduce important current themes in economic geography, both from an academic point of view and from a societal stance.

Related SDG: 3 good health and wellbeing, 10 reduced inequalities, 11 sustainable cities and communities

Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development (5EC)

In this course we focus on the founding of firms and (individual) entrepreneurs. From the founding of the firm we follow the firm through the life course (growth, migration & dissolution) and how these events have an effect on regional development. Entrepreneurship (and firm dynamics in general) is an important mechanism in regional economic development. This field of study is interdisciplinary. Therefore, we pay attention to different disciplines: sociology, economics, business, demography and geography.

Related SDG: 10 reduced inequalities

Urban and Regional Economics (5EC)

The aim of the course is to develop students’ analytical understanding of the impacts of economics on geographical behaviour and the impacts of geography on economic behaviour. The course will be taught from the perspective of theories and analytical frameworks, which will then be extended to real-world examples and cases.

Related SDG: 3 good health and wellbeing

Economic Geography (5EC)

The geo-economic map of the world changes constantly. Globalization has led to a rapid increase of these changes in the location decisions of firms. This course aims to provide students with a better understanding of the resulting changes in the geo-economic patterns of FDI and international trade and the underlying strategic decision of firms to locate in (or offshore to) knowledge intensive clusters of economic activity. We discuss key theories and empirical evidence to understand these changes and, subsequently, discuss the firm level drivers of these changes.

Regional Labour Market Dynamics (5EC)

The labour market is by definition a regional market because of the limitation of the daily commuting distance. In the Regional Labour Market Analysis module, attention will be paid to regional differences in the functioning of the labour market with regard to unemployment, employment, wages, labour market participation, labour productivity and education.

Related SDG: 10 reduced inequalities

Spatial Econometrics (5EC)

This course is taught at the Faculty of Economics and Business.

Transport Geography (5EC)

Participants of this course will acquire a thorough understanding of the relationships between transport mobility (i.e., the demand for travel), the development of infrastructure (supply side) and the wider economic development of places and regions. They will be able to apply this understanding to specific examples of transport infrastructure development.

Related SDG: 9 industry, innovation and infrastructure, 10 reduced inequalities

Master Thesis (20EC)

The individual Master thesis concludes the Master degree programme and is worth 20 EC, i.e. one third of the study time. During the Master thesis, students will gain experience in scientific research as well as translate theoretical knowledge into concrete skills that are useful in conducting research.