290406 SE (Green) Socio-Economic Transformation in Space (2025W)

This seminar explores Global Production Networks (GPNs) with a focus on the extractive sector, the energy transition, and the role of states and institutions in shaping development outcomes. The course is organised into qualitative and quantitative sessions, combining conceptual debates in economic geography with applied empirical research.

The qualitative sessions introduce students to the GPN framework, tracing its development in the literature and addressing its engagement with extractive industries and environmental concerns. Through discussions of strategic coupling, state strategies, and geopolitical dynamics, the seminar aims at introducing students to examining how minerals, energy technologies, and raw material policies are embedded in global production networks. Case studies from Asia, Australia, the EU, Latin America, the UK and the USA provide empirical grounding, illustrating the interplay between firms, states, and territories.

The quantitative sessions focus on quasi-experimental methods for analysing the territorial impacts of extraction. Students are introduced to three econometric strategies—instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, and geographic regression discontinuity—and their applications to the study of mining, resource dependence, and institutional development.

By integrating theory, policy debates, and advanced empirical strategies, the course equips students with the tools to critically analyse how global production networks intersect with natural resources, territorial development, and socio-political transformation. The seminar objective is for students to gain both a conceptual understanding of GPNs and hands-on methodological skills to evaluate the socio-economic and institutional conditions and impacts of resource extraction and the energy transition across different regional and historical contexts.