ABSTRACT
The history of capitalism is the history of uneven development, a dynamic process of ‘catching up, forging ahead and falling behind’ that enthrals or appals, depending on whether we focus on the benefits of success or the costs of failure (Abramovitz 1986). The history of capitalism is also a process of continuity-in-change. Despite the post-modern obsession with flux and fluidity, the geographical landscape of capitalism exhibits some remarkable continuities, like the capital city-regions of the global north, where economic success has been the norm for more than a century, thanks to a powerful set of agglomerative forces. And yet the changes are just as dramatic as the continuities, especially at the international level, where the emergence of the BRIC economies is the most compelling example today.
