Flourishing or Floundering? Policing the boundaries of economic geography

Abstract

The study of economic geography is thriving. After decades of arguing for the importance of understanding the spatialities of the economy, many economists have taken heed and tried to incorporate some geographic insights into their analyses. The once-radical assertion that space, place and flows shape economies is increasingly recognized, understood and valued, it seems, by governments, think-tanks and policy-makers of all stripes (Barnes, 2018; Martin, 2018). Across the university sector, the numbers of people interested in and undertaking research in economic geography appears to be growing; the 2018 Global Conference in Economic Geography in Köln had 772 participants from over 50 countries (up from just under 700 attendees at the same conference in Oxford in 2015). Economic geography journals appear to be thriving and well-read and cited (Rodriguez-Pose, 2018). Undergraduate students flock to economic geography courses. Within the discipline, urban, cultural, environmental and development geographers have embraced the economic and strengthened our insights and interactions with other parts of geography. These researchers may not identify as Economic Geographers, but they produce economic geographical scholarship, cross-fertilize the sub-discipline, attend economic geography conferences and publish in economic journals.