ABSTRACT
The economic geography described so far in our book has been based on a particular set of assumptions, derived from neoclassical economics, about the way the world works. These assumptions include the idea of the ‘rational economic man’ seeking to maximize his utility as well as the operation of free and competitive markets. The man in rational economic man denotes a universalizing but gendered view of economic life but it also suggests something else – that economic geographies are primarily the result of the motives, decisions and actions of individuals. This sovereignty of the individual is one of the hallmarks of the traditional approach to economics and economic geography described in Part I of our book.
