ABSTRACT
Economic geography has a long history, with its own historians of thought (Scott 2000, 2004). At the same time, it is a field constantly evolving seeking to incorporate the realities of modern capitalism into the scope of its responsibilities (Dicken 2003). One of its advantages over other fields of inquiry is its fluidity. On the other hand, one of its disadvantages is its attachment to iconic theoretical representations of what the world ought to be. So, for example, graphical and mathematical models of optimal land use and location dominated the education of one generation of economic geographers to be replaced by theories of political economy that foretold the crisis of capitalism and, in particular, the ruinous consequences of global financial markets. From nineteenth century theories of land use and location came a preoccupation with the production of commodities and the distribution of those activities across the landscape – a preoccupation that remains evident today (given that the boundaries containing production have increased in scale from the region to the nation and now the globe, Swyngedouw 2000).
