IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v36y2004i10p1737-1753.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geographical Economics versus Economic Geography: Towards a Clarification of the Dispute

Author

Listed:
  • Caterina Marchionni

    (Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Geographical economics is a recent approach in economics aiming at introducing the ‘role of space’ into the mainstream of the discipline. Though interested in similar issues, economic geographers strongly criticise geographical economics. This paper puts such criticisms under scrutiny, taking Ron Martin's 1999 influential contribution as representative. A philosophically informed analysis of these criticisms brings forth possible misunderstandings in the dispute and hence assists both parties by making criticism and responses more incisive. If, as it seems at least in some geographers’ view, economic geographers are concerned with mechanisms and processes different from the abstract general economic mechanisms analysed by geographical economists, then complementarity between the two approaches turns out to be a possibility. This challenges both economic geographers and geographical economists because it asks them to go beyond methodological differences and establish whether the general and abstract mechanisms identified by the latter are compatible with those identified by the former. If so, further investigation on how they combine as to bring about real-world agglomeration is needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Caterina Marchionni, 2004. "Geographical Economics versus Economic Geography: Towards a Clarification of the Dispute," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1737-1753, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:36:y:2004:i:10:p:1737-1753
    DOI: 10.1068/a36305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a36305
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a36305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 1996. "Paul Krugman's Geographical Economics and Its Implications for Regional Development Theory: A Critical Assessment," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 259-292, July.
    2. Eric Sheppard, 2001. "How `economists' think: about geography, for example," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 131-136, January.
    3. Uskali Mäki, 2004. "Realism and the Nature of Theory: A Lesson from J H von Thünen for Economists and Geographers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1719-1736, October.
    4. Uskali Mäki & Päivi Oinas, 2004. "The Narrow Notion of Realism in Human Geography," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1755-1776, October.
    5. Baldwin, Richard E & Forslid, Rikard, 2000. "The Core-Periphery Model and Endogenous Growth: Stabilizing and Destabilizing Integration," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 67(267), pages 307-324, August.
    6. Ann Markusen, 2003. "Fuzzy Concepts, Scanty Evidence, Policy Distance: The Case for Rigour and Policy Relevance in Critical Regional Studies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 701-717.
    7. Venables, Anthony J, 1996. "Equilibrium Locations of Vertically Linked Industries," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 341-359, May.
    8. Stephen J. Meardon, 2002. "On the new economic geography and the progress of geographical economics," Chapters, in: Stephan Boehm & Christian Gehrke & Heinz D. Kurz & Richard Sturn (ed.), Is There Progress in Economics?, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2003. "Deconstructing clusters: chaotic concept or policy panacea?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 5-35, January.
    10. Stephan Boehm & Christian Gehrke & Heinz D. Kurz & Richard Sturn (ed.), 2002. "Is There Progress in Economics?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2403, December.
    11. Peter Sunley, 2001. "What's behind the models? A review of The Spatial Economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 136-139, January.
    12. Paul Plummer, 2003. "Modelling Economic Landscapes: A Geographical Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 687-695.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ron A. Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2006. "Why is economic geography not an evolutionary science? Towards an evolutionary economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 273-302, June.
    2. Rahman, Jasmeen & Dimand, Robert W., 2021. "The Emergence Of Geographical Economics: At The Contested Boundaries Of Economics, Geography, And Regional Science," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 241-261, June.
    3. Uskali Mäki & Päivi Oinas, 2004. "The Narrow Notion of Realism in Human Geography," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1755-1776, October.
    4. Caterina Marchionni, 2006. "Contrastive explanation and unrealistic models: The case of the new economic geography," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 425-446.
    5. Uskali Mäki, 2004. "Realism and the Nature of Theory: A Lesson from J H von Thünen for Economists and Geographers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1719-1736, October.
    6. Juste Raimbault, 2020. "Indirect evidence of network effects in a system of cities," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(1), pages 138-155, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Henry G. Overman, 2004. "Can we learn anything from economic geography proper?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(5), pages 501-516, November.
    2. Martin Korpi, 2008. "Does size of local labour markets affect wage inequality? a rank-size rule of income distribution," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 211-237, March.
    3. Kadokawa, Kazuo, 2011. "Applicability of Marshall’s Agglomeration Theory to Indus-trial Clustering in the Japanese Manufacturing Sector: An Exploratory Factor Analysis Approach," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 41(2), pages 1-18.
    4. Aspers, Patrik & Kohl, Sebastian & Power, Dominic, 2008. "Economic sociology discovering economic geography," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 9(3), pages 3-16.
    5. Ron Boschma & Ron Martin, 2010. "The Aims and Scope of Evolutionary Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Boiscuvier, Éléonore, 2001. "Innovation, intégration et développement régional," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(2), pages 255-280, juin.
    7. Theodore Tsekeris & Klimis Vogiatzoglou, 2014. "Public infrastructure investments and regional specialization: empirical evidence from Greece," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 265-289, August.
    8. Kim, Ho Yeon, 2012. "Shrinking population and the urban hierarchy," IDE Discussion Papers 360, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    9. Heike Mayer, 2013. "Spinoff regions: entrepreneurial emergence and regional development in second-tier high-technology regions – observations from the Oregon and Idaho electronics sectors," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 8, pages 207-229, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Do Large Agglomerations Lead To Economic Growth? Evidence From Urban India," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 176-200, November.
    11. Ronald W. Jones & Henryk Kierzkowski, 2018. "International Trade and Agglomeration: An Alternative Framework," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade Theory and Competitive Models Features, Values, and Criticisms, chapter 16, pages 263-279, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Alex Burfitt & Stewart Macneill, 2008. "The Challenges of Pursuing Cluster Policy in the Congested State," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 492-505, June.
    13. Fabien Candau, 2008. "Entrepreneurs' Location Choice And Public Policies: A Survey Of The New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 909-952, December.
    14. Tello, Mario D., 2010. "From national to local economic development: theoretical issues," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    15. Robert M Buckley & Thomas D Buckley, 2009. "Discontent with the World Bank's Excursion into Economic Geography: Lions and Butterflies Once More?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(12), pages 2806-2815, December.
    16. José M. Gaspar, 2018. "A prospective review on New Economic Geography," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 61(2), pages 237-272, September.
    17. George Chorafakis, 2013. "The Knowledge Plexus [Paperback edition]," Vernon Press Titles in Economics, Vernon Art and Science Inc, edition 1, number 2.
    18. Serafeim Polyzos & Spyros Sofios, 2008. "Regional Multipliers, Inequalities and Planning in Greece," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 6(1), pages 53-77.
    19. Maria Florencia Granato, 2011. "REGIONAL NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY (refereed paper)," ERSA conference papers ersa10p747, European Regional Science Association.
    20. James R Faulconbridge, 2007. "Exploring the Role of Professional Associations in Collective Learning in London and New York's Advertising and Law Professional-Service-Firm Clusters," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(4), pages 965-984, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:36:y:2004:i:10:p:1737-1753. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.