ABSTRACT
Theories of spatial concentration and diffusion examine economic growth as a process that involves changing industrial structure and spatial structure, both between and within labor market areas. The theories portray the economic growth process as more complex and dynamic than economic base or neoclassical growth theories. Firms, industries, or sectors as growth poles effectively dominate other economic actors through linkages based on commodity and information flows. Growth experienced by the propulsive sector spreads to other industries via input-output multipliers. Gunnar Myrdal describes a vicious cycle of development in the context of his principle of circular and cumulative causation: economic changes cause related and supporting social changes in a process that continues in one direction. Raymond Vernon first developed product cycle theory as a way to explain the “Leontief paradox” that contradicted the expected outcomes of trade theory. Growth center policies essentially represent attempts to affect the urban hierarchy as a way to overcome disparities among regions within one nation.
