Rethinking (New) Economic Geography Models: Taking Geography and History More Seriously

Abstract

Two aspects of New Economic Geography models are often singled out for criticism, especially by geographers: the treatment of geography, typically as a pre-given, fixed and highly idealized abstract geometric space; and the treatment of history, typically as 'logical' time (the movement to equilibrium in a model's solution space) rather than real history. In this paper we examine the basis for these criticisms, and explore how far and in what ways NEG models might be made more credible with respect to their representation of geography and history, and particularly whether and to what extent the work of geographers themselves provides some insights in this regard. We argue that the conceptualization of space and time is in fact a challenge for both NEG theorists and economic geographers, and that, notwithstanding their ontological and epistemological differences, both groups would benefit from an interchange of ideas on this front.Réinventer les (nouveaux) modèles de géographie économique: comment prendre la géographie et l'histoire plus au sérieux RÉSUMÉ Deux aspects particuliers des mode`les de la nouvelle ge´ographie e´conomique sont souvent l'objet de critiques, notamment de la part des ge´ographes, a`savoir: le traitement de la ge´ographie, ge´ne´ralement comme un espace ge´ome´trique abstrait pre´de´termine´, fixe et extrêmement ide´alise´, et le traitement de l'histoire, ge´ne´ralement comme un cre´neau 'logique' (un mouvement vers l'e´quilibre dans un espace a`solution du modèle) et non pas comme l'histoire re´elle. Dans la pre´sente communication, nous nous penchons sur le fondement de ces critiques, et nous examinons dans quelle mesure les modèles de la NEG pourraient devenir plus plausibles sur le plan de la façon dont ils repre´sentent la ge´ographie et l'histoire, notamment si le travail des ge´ographes apporte de nouveaux e´le´ments sur cette question, et dans quelle mesure. Nous soutenons que la conceptualisation de l'espace et du temps constitue, en fait, un de´fi tant pour les the´oriciens de la NEG que pour les ge´ographes e´conomiques, et qu'au-delà de leurs diffe´rences ontologiques et e´piste´mologiques, un e´change d'ide´es sur ce sujet serait be´ne´fique pour ces deux groupes. Spatial Economic Analysis, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 2010Reconsideració n de modelos de (Nueva) Geografía Econó mica: Tomando más en serio la geografía y la historia EXTRACTO A menudo, existen dos aspectos particulares de los modelos de Nueva Geografía Econo´mica que reciben críticas, especialmente por parte de los geo´grafos: el tratamiento de la geografía, típicamente como un espacio geome´trico abstracto altamente idealizado, fijo y predeterminado; y, el tratamiento de la historia, típicamente como un tiempo 'lo´gico' (el movimiento hacia el equilibrio en el espacio de solucio´n de un modelo), en lugar de como historia real. En este estudio examinamos la base de estas críticas y exploramos hasta que´punto y de que´formas, los modelos NEG podrían hacerse ma´s creíbles con respecto a su representacio´n de la geogr...

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