How "economic" is spatial economics: regional science, economic geography and geographical economics

Abstract

This paper presents an eclectic summary of the debate between the proponents of New Economic Geography (a.k.a. Geographical Economics) and the defenders of modern Economic Geography (the type of "Cultural Turn"). New Economic Geography's (NOG)
innovative analysis has used models of imperfect competition that lead to multiple equilibria, and a renewed interest in the dimension of space to the economic analysis. This has been castigated, however, by economic geographers. This paper argues that one of the basic problems that hinders the dialogue between the two parts is the fact that NOG and Economic Geography have different methodologies and theoretical concepts. It is also argued, however, that despite its limitations, NOG is an economic type of analysis, whereas Economic Geography of the "Cultural Turn" type does not always constitute a coherent body of theory.