Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Winter 2020
  • Article
  • Journal of Economic Perspectives

The Economics of Maps

By: Abhishek Nagaraj and Scott Stern
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

For centuries, maps have codified the extent of human geographic knowledge and shaped discovery and economic decision-making. Economists across many fields, including urban economics, public finance, political economy, and economic geography, have long employed maps, yet have largely abstracted away from exploring the economic determinants and consequences of maps as a subject of independent study. In this essay, we first review and unify recent literature in a variety of different fields that highlights the economic and social consequences of maps, along with an overview of the modern geospatial industry. We then outline our economic framework in which a given map is the result of economic choices around map data and designs, resulting in variations in private and social returns to mapmaking. We highlight five important economic and institutional factors shaping mapmakers' data and design choices. Our essay ends by proposing that economists pay more attention to the endogeneity of mapmaking and the resulting consequences for economic and social welfare.

Keywords

Maps; Economic Geography; Geography; Economics; History

Citation

Nagaraj, Abhishek, and Scott Stern. "The Economics of Maps." Journal of Economic Perspectives 34, no. 1 (Winter 2020): 196–221.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Abhishek Nagaraj

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2021
    • Faculty Research

    SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service

    By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Social Influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Establishments’ Closure Decisions Follow Those of Nearby Chain Establishments

    By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan, Saqib Mumtaz and Sameer Srivastava
    • September 22, 2020
    • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

    Improving Data Access Democratizes and Diversifies Science

    By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan and Esther Shears
More from the Authors
  • SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover
  • Social Influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Establishments’ Closure Decisions Follow Those of Nearby Chain Establishments By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan, Saqib Mumtaz and Sameer Srivastava
  • Improving Data Access Democratizes and Diversifies Science By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan and Esther Shears
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College