This volume in the celebratedCritical Introductions to Geography series introduces readers to the vibrant discipline of economic geography. The authors provide an original definition of the discipline, and they make a strong case for its vital importance in understanding the dynamic interconnections, movements, and emerging trends shaping our globalized world.

Economic Geography addresses the key theories and methods that form the basis of the discipline, and describes its communities of practice and relations to related fields including economics and sociology. Numerous illustrative examples explore how economic geographers examine the world and how and why the discipline takes the forms it does, demonstrating the critical value of economic geography to making sense of globalization, uneven development, money and finance, urbanization, environmental change, and industrial and technological transformation.

Engaging and thought-provoking,Economic Geography: A Critical Introduction is the ideal resource for students studying across a range of subject areas, as well as the general reader with an interest in world affairs and economics.

Trevor J. Barnes is Professor of Geography and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of more than a 150 journal articles and edited chapters, and the author or editor of a dozen books.

Brett Christophers is Professor of Geography at Uppsala University and the author of four previous books includingThe Great Leveler: Capitalism and Competition in the Court of Law (2016) andBanking Across Boundaries: Placing Finance in Capitalism (2013).

Acknowledgments vi

List of Figures vii

1 Why Economic Geography Is Good For You 1

Part I Thinking Critically about Economic Geography 23

2 What Is Economic Geography? 25

3 Inventing Economic Geography: Histories of a Discipline 50

4 Economic Geography and its Border Country 76

5 Theory and Theories in Economic Geography 107

6 Method and Methodology in Economic Geography 132

7 Unboxing Economic Geography 156

Part II Doing Critical Economic Geography 185

8 Globalization and Uneven Development 187

9 Money and Finance 211

10 Cities and Urbanization 235

11 Nature and the Environment 261

12 Industrial and Technological Change 282

13 Conclusion 304

Index 314