Economic development and underdevelopment is one aspect of the uneven spatial distribution of economic activity. This paper reviews existing literature on geography and development, and argues that rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis is needed to increase understanding of the role of geography in development and to better design development policy. The analytical issues are: why does economic activity cluster in centers of activity? How do new centers develop? And what are the consequences of remoteness from existing centers? Empirical evidence comes both from the international context and from studies of internal economic geography and urbanization.

Abstract — Smallholder farmers face many challenges competing in the global marketplace. One major constraint is the lack of access to information and communications, which could be used to make decisions and reach new markets. In this paper, drawing from our experiences designing agricultural information systems in India and Central America, we provide a framework for understanding inter-stakeholder communications within agricultural value chains, focusing on the needs of small producers. First, we outline the major types of stakeholders — including farmers, consumers, intermediaries and various supporting organizations. Then, we survey the major categories of information systems supporting communication between stakeholders, focusing on those reaching small farmers. Based on this survey, we provide the following categorization of information flows within agricultural value chains: 1) link-to-link (L2L): those information flows required to coordinate the sale, movement, and distribution of produce along the value chain, 2) peer-to-peer (P2P): communications required to share knowledge and experiences between members of the same stakeholder group, and the expert community serving that stakeholder group and 3) end-toend (E2E): communications between producers and consumers, for example, to facilitate exchange of non-economic values to be used as external inputs to market pricing (e.g, certification). We outline some reasons why current information systems have had difficulty in reaching small producers, and highlight a few technology trends that could contribute to increasing the fidelity and accessibility of communications, both between producers and consumers, as well as within their respective stakeholder communities.

MMCP Discussion Paper No. 12 (Revised)

“making markets work for the poor ” (M4P)- Poverty reduction through value chain promotion--DRAFT-

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Carleton University organized a conference on the theme "Integrative Trade between Canada and the United States—Policy Implications". The discussion was structured around three main papers, which constitute the next three chapters of this volume: � Timothy Sturgeon, "Conceptualizing Integrative Trade: The Global Value Chains Framework", which provides an overview of the state of development of multi-disciplinary research on the evolution of global value chains; � Art Ridgeway, "Data Issues on Integrative Trade between Canada and the US: Measurement Issues for Supply Chains", which examines the issues posed for statistical agencies in grappling with the changing international industrial landscape; and � Michael Hart and William Dymond, "Trade Theory, Trade Policy, and Cross-Border Integration", which examined the implications of these developments for the trade policy community. This note sets out the background which motivated the organization of the conference and describes some of the concepts which shaped the discussions.

Abstract- The globalisation of the agri-food system and the growing variety of food products and technologies have made it increasingly difficult for nation-states to regulate food safety and quality practices, giving rise to a shift from public to private governance, essentially in the form of private standards and TPC. The paper suggests that the current shift from public to private intervention calls for a different approach to the analysis of food safety policy, on both descriptive and normative ground. Two different concepts of social capital, one of trust and the other of power, are used in order to assess the welfare effects of the newest trends in food safety policy. Through the lens of social capital it is clear that private standards and TPC are not merely an impartial technical tool able to foster food markets efficiency and safety. Rather they are the means by which powerful actors in the chain discipline people and things in order to accomplish their own objectives. Jel Classification: L.15, L.66, K.13 Paper presented at the Discussion forum “System dynamics and food network research”,

Does value addition at oilseed production and/or spreading the gain from export of oilseed products increase the income of primary producers? Volume 183

This paper analyses the issue of innovation in developing countries with reference to local production systems populated by small enterprises. In these contexts innovation may result from imitation and from spillovers from foreign direct investments; however, the literature shows that these opportunities frequently find serious obstacles and are less fruitful than expected; for this reason we suggest a third way that result from the adoption of a specific theoretical and policy approach. We identify three concepts that represent basic principles in the definition of this framework; clusters (as well as other territorial agglomerations and networks), innovation systems (national, regional and local) and learning (of codified and tacit knowledge through absorptive and adaptive capacity). We argue that these three kinds of concepts taken together may help creating the necessary dynamism to produce innovations in developing economies, thus raising their competitiveness. A section on policy implications is finally drafted to specify possible functional, horizontal and vertical programs that policy-makers may design to promote the innovation capacity of local production systems in developing countries.

Abstract not found