IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/zbw/eschap/281119.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Cumulative Causation

In: International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2nd edn

Author

Listed:
  • Jackson, William A.

Abstract

Cumulative causation arises when a process is self-reinforcing and grows ever stronger, so that it does not equilibrate. It will continue indefinitely unless it is checked by outside intervention or leads to a crisis and systemic breakdown. Ideas of cumulative causation have numerous applications in economics and other social sciences, investigated by authors such as Nicholas Kaldor, Gunnar Myrdal and Albert Hirschman. In human geography, cumulative processes have particular relevance for inequalities between rich and poor regions, implying that without intervention the gaps will widen. This article discusses the nature of cumulative causation, examines its general features, and assesses its geographical consequences at national and global levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackson, William A., 2020. "Cumulative Causation," EconStor Open Access Book Chapters, in: International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2nd edn, pages 131-134, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:eschap:281119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/281119/1/Cumulative%20Causation.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    increasing returns; vicious and virtuous circles; disequilibrium; Matthew effect; unequal development; regional policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:eschap:281119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.