Here's what caught my eye in research over the past week:
- Greenaway-McGrevy (open access) evaluates the impact of this widespread zoning reform in Auckland on housing starts, and finds that upzoning approximately doubled new dwelling permits per capita within five years
In an otherwise quiet week I have some exciting news. The latest issue of Australasian Journal of Regional Studies (AJRS) has just been published (backdated to December 2025). This issue has four papers (all open access), as well as the editorial:
- Duong et al. examine output divergence and club convergence across 63 provinces in Vietnam during the study period 2010–2023. The question of whether subnational regions move along a single common development path is important because it can help us to understand spatial inequality. In the case of Vietnam, this paper demonstrates that Vietnamese provinces are sorting into convergence clubs, suggesting that subnational growth in Vietnam is shaped by location, investment, and proximity to major economic centres rather than by uniform national catch-up (this paper won the John Dickinson Memorial Award for the best paper published in AJRS in 2025)
- Kanthilanka and Kingwell explore the export grain supply chain across Australian states. They find that grain producers in Australia benefitted from an increase in the velocity of Australia’s export grain supply chains. However, this presents a risk of higher food inflation if a prolonged drought were to strike eastern Australia, unless there is greater investment in grain storage and increased grain production
- Dutta explores the rural urbanisation process and the development of rural non-agricultural activities in West Bengal, India, an area of substantial urban growth. They find that districts with better infrastructure have higher percentages of non-agricultural enterprises employing hired workers, reinforcing the link between infrastructure and non-agricultural activity growth
- Leutwiler examines economic development planning for the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia from 2014 to 2021 and contrasts this with a place-based development approach. This analysis highlights that formal economic strategies in the Katherin region are focused primarily on industries and projects that increase revenue for higher levels of government and large corporations, rather than creating local employment. This paper is important, as it provides justification for place-based development that prioritises local employment, diversification, and more sustainable regional outcomes
