Introduction

This book draws its inspiration from five sessions on economic geography organized by the editors at the Centennial Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) in Philadelphia in 2004. In the sessions, titled ‘Economic Geography: Then, Now and the Future’, through a discussion of their own research histories, the panelists were asked to reflect upon the progress in theory and practice of economic geography. The panels were motivated by the recent discourses in economic geography – this reveals that geography students need exposure to various perspectives in order to understand the interconnection among all forces that trigger societal change, namely the ever-changing capitalist system whether North American, European or Asian.