Development, Geography, and Economic Theory

Development, Geography, and Economic Theory examines the course of economic geography and development theory to shed light on the nature of economic inquiry. It traces how development theory lost its huge initial influence and virtually disappeared from economic discourse after it became clear that many of the theory's main insights could not be clearly modeled. This book is not a call to abandon economic modeling. It concludes with a reminder of why insisting on the use of models may be right, even when these sometimes lead economists to overlook good ideas. Development, Geography, and Economic Theory also recaps the discussion of development and economic geography with a commentary on recent developments in those fields and areas where further inquiry looks most promising.