Harald Bathelt

I am Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography & Planning and Zijiang Visiting Chair at East China Normal University in Shanghai. My research and teaching interests are in the areas of economic geography, political economy and methodology, specifically in the analysis of (1) industrial clustering, (2) knowledge generation/innovation over distance, (3) regional impacts of national/international investments, and (4) regional impacts of industrial/institutional change. Recent book publications include “The Elgar Companion to Innovation and Knowledge Creation” (Edward Elgar 2017, co-edited with Patrick Cohendet, Sebastian Henn and Laurent Simon), “Trade Shows in the Globalizing Knowledge Economy” (OUP 2014, with Francesca Golfetto and Diego Rinallo) and “The Relational Economy” (OUP 2011, with Johannes Glückler). I have published many conceptual and empirical articles in leading academic journals and am Editor of ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography. I have received over 20,000 Google Scholar citations (January 2024) with an h-index of 52.

I welcome students that are interested to work in areas related to economic geography, such as the following: I. Interregional Inequality and Regional Development: Increasing interregional inequality is a driver of populist movements around the world, causing concern among social scientists. This research is based on the assumption that regional development depends on the ability to mobilize resources and networks at different spatial scales to stimulate collective engagement. II. Knowledge Generation over Distance: This stream of research is based on the assumption that the competitiveness of firms depends on their ability to engage in creating and circulating knowledge both within and beyond their regional environment. III. Cluster Evolution and Institutional Change: Regional development can be triggered by the establishment and growth of regional industry clusters. Related research focuses on (i) processes of how clusters emerge, (ii) the consequences of institutional change for cluster dynamics, (iii) the impact of cross-cluster networks.

Publications

• Bathelt, H., Buchholz, M., Storper, M. (2024) The nature, causes and consequences of inter-regional inequality. Journal of Economic Geography, 24: 353-374.
• Bathelt, H., Li, P. (2020): Processes of building cross-border knowledge pipelines. Research Policy, 49: # 103928.
• Li, P., Bathelt, H. (2018) Location strategy in cluster networks. Journal of International Business Studies, 48: 967-989.
• Bathelt, H., Li, P. and Zhu, Y.-W. (2017) Geographies of temporary markets: An anatomy of the Canton Fair. European Planning Studies, 25: 1497-1515.
• Bathelt, H., Gibson, R. (2015) Learning in “organized anarchies”: The nature of technological search processes and knowledge flows at international trade fairs. Regional Studies, 49: 985-1002.
• Bathelt, H., Glückler, J. (2014) Institutional change in economic geography. Progress in Human Geography, 38: 340-363.
• Bathelt, H., Malmberg, A., Maskell, P. (2004): Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Progress in Human Geography, 28: 31-56.