Geography matters: agency, structures and dynamics at the intersection of economics and geography

doi:10.1093/jeg/lbl005

Journal of Economic Geography Advance Access published online on April 11, 2006
Journal of Economic Geography, doi:10.1093/jeg/lbl005

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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received June 26, 2005
Accepted March 14, 2006

Article

Geography matters: agency, structures and dynamics at the intersection of economics and geography

Paul Plummer ¹ ^* and Eric Sheppard ²

¹ School of Geographical Sciences, Bristol University, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK
² Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Paul Plummer, E-mail: paul.plummer{at}bristol.ac.uk

Abstract

Contemporary debates in economic geography are characterizedby a lack of agreement with respect to both those aspects ofthe evolving economic landscape that call for explanation andwhat constitutes an adequate explanation of geographical reality.We articulate a distinctively geographical approach to modelingprocesses of regional growth and change. The evolving economiclandscape is conceptualized as a ‘going concern’,characterized by complex dynamic interdependencies between theagents and structures that constitute spatial economic systems.At any moment in time, interdependencies between agents areconstrained by social and spatial structure, but over time structureand agency are mutually constituted: a socio-spatial dialectic.We contend that the complex interdependence between agents,structures and dynamics increases the likelihood of persistentnon-equilibrium space-time trajectories. We conclude that questionsof conceptual and epistemological adequacy in economic geographycannot be resolved in favor of any single ‘best’ approach,and argue that debates should move away from competing monistaccounts, towards critically engaged pluralism.

Keywords: regional political economy; complexity; space-time dynamics; pluralism.

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