Discourse on Economic Geography

A. From the flood of textbooks in the field of economic geography it would seem that this branch is at present riding the crest of popularity. Look at that two-foot shelf of books standing there! B. You are making a collection? A. It so happens that, in an unguarded moment, I agreed to review the recent publications in the field. C. I don't envy you. It is a thankless task. Whether you damn with faint praise or reverse the process, so to say, you will lose friends and antagonize people. A. Too true. And yet, a survey of these books gives one an opportunity for comparing the various viewpoints and testing one's own experience and attitude. B. Have you discovered any characteristics common to all or any general trends as compared with earlier publications? A. That is hard to say. Some of these books were written for high-school use, others for the more mature student. A few are limited to North America or even the United States, but most of them have the whole world as their oyster. There are authors who follow the regional approach and others who prefer the topical treatment, not to mention those who have devised a kind of amphibian vehicle for their thoughts. As to a general trend, I should say that the simple faith in the determining influence of the natural environment has almost disappeared. Not more than two books among this group can be classed as essentially environmentalistic. In the others there is a realization of the importance of social and economic factors. However, the extent to which these factors are actually employed in the interpretation varies widely. In several cases I had the impression that, although the authors

Economic geography · Geography · Human geography · Economic Growth and Productivity · Economic theories and models