Anglophone research in economic geography can be characterized by two separate, contested paradigms: Geographical economics (building on the work of the economists Krugman, Venables and Fujita), and geographical political economy (prevalent within geography). Elaborating on the latter, this paper explores what it means to think geographically about the (capitalist) economy. Focusing on geograph...

School texts on geography are an important but neglected repository of geographical knowledge and representations within the historiography of geography. During the period 1830-1918 geography school texts were influenced by European exploration, church sponsors of education, the mediation of religious and scientific explanation of the natural world, popular images of empire, and state education...

Teaching economic geography is not a matter of replicating textbook models. It requires engagement with the ever-changing global economy, which often puts the lie to existing theory. It demands that the teacher break down the economy into its major parts, in a way that students can grasp. This does not mean abandoning theory; on the contrary, it means getting beyond static exchange models to gr...

Introduction Voters make decisions on whether to vote and who to vote for in places. Places are crucial because they not only provide the context for interaction and social identification but they are the containers in which parties operate and seek representation by socialising and mobilising voters to support them. Longstanding theories of party choice stress how such places provide the space...

James A. Robinson is associate professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Recent publications include the co-authored articles “Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 118; “A Theory of Political Transitions,” American Economic Review 91; and “Inefficient Redistribution,...