World City Network Integration in the Eurasian Realm

A team of authors from the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network explores the main empirical features of the global economic integration of Eurasia through an analysis of the (shifting) position of that macroregion's key cities. More specifically, they examine the gateway roles played by key cities in four major subregions-China, the former Eastern Bloc (FEB, i.e., Central and Eastern Europe), former Soviet Union (FSU), and India-in the channeling of transnational flows of capital, goods, knowledge, and people in 2000-2008, focusing on the globalization of firms in the financial and business service sectors. Although cities in the four subregions share a common recent history of transition from closed and state-centered to open and market-based economies, the study reveals the persistence of distinctive geographical idiosyncrasies in their connections across the globe. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F020, F200, O180, P300. 4 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix, 39 references.