To mark the 20th special issue in this series, we are delighted to present 20 years of Spatial Economic Analysis: evolution, achievements and perspectives on the field. The articles are now available to download until the end of August 2026.
This anniversary issue brings together an exceptional line-up of contributors to reflect on two decades of the journal and to chart the field’s future direction. The editorial, authored by Ugo Fratesi and a wide group of collaborators, offers a comprehensive retrospective on the journal’s evolution and achievements, alongside a forward-looking perspective on where spatial economic analysis is heading.
20 years of Spatial Economic Analysis: evolution, achievements and perspectives on the field
Editorial
20 years of Spatial Economic Analysis: evolution, achievements and perspectives on the field
Ugo Fratesi, Maria Abreu, Steven Bond-Smith, Luisa Corrado, Jan Ditzen, Daniel Felsenstein, Franz Fuerst, Carolin Ioramashvili, Orsa Kekezi, Katarzyna Kopczewska, Vassilis Monastiriotis, Gianfranco Piras, Francesco Quatraro, Francesco Ravazzolo, Shuai Shi, Emmanouil Tranos, Dimitrios Tsiotas, Danlin Yu & Jihai Yu
Published online: 22 Apr 2026
Articles
Why size really doesn’t matter: from megacity myths to place-sensitive prosperity
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
Published online: 07 Jan 2026
Exploring the deep roots of interregional inequality: spatial income distribution in the European regions
André Carrascal-Incera & Geoffrey J. D. Hewings
Published online: 09 Mar 2026
Mind the gap and the map: measuring distributional and spatial income polarisation
Sergio J. Rey
Published online: 08 Jan 2026
Chasing opportunity: spillovers and drivers of US state population growth
Sebastian Kripfganz & Vasilis Sarafidis
Published online: 02 Mar 2026
Technological change, knowledge diffusion and the growth of cities and regions: analytical, empirical and policy-making challenges
Philip McCann & Raquel Ortega-Argilés
Published online: 09 Feb 2026
Old, new, borrowed and BLUE: the twenty-first century spatial economic analysis toolkit
Rachel Franklin, Devika Jain & Zifu Wang
Published online: 05 Feb 2026
Causality in spatial economic analysis: with reference to the London Green Belt and house prices
Bernard Fingleton
Published online: 13 Jan 2026
Mathematical modelling of urban sprawl
Marc Barthelemy & Ulysse Marquis
Published online: 07 Jan 2026
Reshoring in a regional perspective: a research agenda
Roberta Capello
Published online: 30 Jan 2026
Digital network centrality and the structure of goods trade
Gianmarco Ottaviano
Published online: 11 Mar 2026
The contributions offer both a considered account of how far spatial economic analysis has come over the past 20 years, and a rich sense of the questions that will shape its next chapter. We are grateful to the guest editors, authors and reviewers for their contributions to this special milestone issue, and to our readers for their continued engagement with the journal.