Modelling economic landscapes: A geographical perspective

Contemporary research into the evolution of regional economies is characterized by a dualism of 'new' economic geographies based upon dominant ways of knowing in both economics and geography. This dualism of theoretical and methodological perspectives encompasses both qualitative versus quantitative ways of knowing, and cultural versus economic explanations of regional growth and change. In this paper I explore an alternative way of thinking about regions that is grounded in the theoretical suppositions of classical/Marxian political economy, and yet employs both mathematical and statistical reasoning. To facilitate my argument, I contrast this regional political economy with the theory and empirics of explanation claims derived from neoclassically oriented approaches to regional growth and change. I focus on how both space and time are conceptualized in each approach, and the implications for both theory construction and empirical testing. I conclude by outlining the challenges facing a genuinely geographical perspective that takes both space and time seriously.