Christoph Scheuplein
Small models und die Methodologie der Wirtschaftsgeographie
Beispieltext
Pages 264 – 275

Small models and the methodology of economic geography. Almost twenty years after the beginning
of Geographical Economics established by Paul Krugman, its role in economic geography is still controversial. Supporters of Geographical Economics consider their mathematical formalism as a conceptual proposal that creates an authoritative context for the development of a theory of economic geography. In contrast, in this paper, it is shown that with the methodological innovations, more convincing explanations are made and relevant formulation of the questions is indeed taken up. However, it limits the logical consistency and extent of validity considerably. The claim of an exact science, as it still prevailed in the old neoclassical regional economic theory, is omitted in the practice of the Geographical Economics. The results of mathematical modelling can be, however, meaningfully classified in today’s mainstream economic geography, the methodology of which aims at the explanation of dynamic, socially integrated and historically developing capitalism. Keywords: geographical economics, increasing returns, spatial science, economic geography 

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