Economic Geography

Global Transformations, Local Impacts
The world is changing at a rapid pace and the consequences affect regions and people unevenly. Technological changes, such as digitalization and automation, affect the way jobs are organized and how the economy is structured. Climate change increases the risk of food shortages, water scarcity, and the occurrence of natural disasters. These, in turn, affect people’s wellbeing and businesses’ production decisions and possibilities. In many places, demographic changes, such as ageing and migration, challenge the provision of services and call for a new organization of the society. The effects of these global megatrends are not symmetric, some people benefit some do not, some place benefits some do not.Economic Geography in Groningen is about understanding these inequalities across space and people: regional differences in economic structure and performance as well as in socio-economic outcomes in a broad sense. Our starting point in understanding these inequalities between places and people are the actions of three main economic actors: Firms, People, and the Government. Understanding their behaviour (e.g., migration, firm location, policies) is an important pillar of the programme.The master in Economic Geography develops your academic research and professional skills so that you can analyze such regional developments and formulate pol