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According to some economic geographers, modern economic geography has been increasingly fragmented over the last twenty years, concerning both its themes and its paradigms. However, so far, no bibliometric analysis has been carried out to quantitatively measure the degree of fragmentation in economic geography concerning paradigms. In this paper, we therefore aim to analyze the state of the art in economic geography concerning paradigms and perspectives based on a combination of a bibliometric and qualitative analysis. We conclude that fragmented pluralism is less of a problem than stated in scholars' qualitative judgments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is as an invitation to rethink social studies of economization and geographies of marketization at a time when the heydays of neoliberal marketization seem to be over. After briefly summarizing the thrust of the economization/marketization approach, we make two suggestions to develop the perspective further. The first is to make use of economic geography's heterodox tradition and contribute to the ongoing "provincialization" of the neoclassical market. Second, theorizing actually existing market arrangements as necessarily involving struggles between competing logics and rationalities, we open social studies of economization and geographies of marketization for questions of social inequality, marginalization and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is much interest in economic citizenship schemes, yet little attention has been paid to the quotidian impacts of such schemes on local communities, environments and notions of citizenship. This paper responds to this lacuna by reviewing the existing literature on economic citizenship and considering what an 'everyday geographical' lens would add to existing theorisations. 'Everyday geographies' are integral to thinking about how economic citizenship regimes shape local economies, societies and environs, providing insights into the ways in which the lives of 'ordinary citizens' intersect with flows of capital, the growth of an (im)mobile super-rich and shifts in migration management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the integration of the human-environment system has been an important part of Chinese human geography for over a century, constituting the distinctive academic nature of the field. Human geography has been established as an interdiscipline of natural science and social science, highlighting the combination of academic inquiry and decision application, and exploring the interaction mechanisms and sustainable development model between the human sphere and natural sphere at different spatial scales. The development of the discipline is in line with the basic concepts advocated by the global research platform "Future Earth", which has promoted the strong development of human geography in China, and has produced important societal influences. By selecting some of the most influential academic achievements, this paper briefly describes theoretical methods and social contributions to reflect the development process of human geography in the study of integrated human and environment systems in different stages in China. It also demonstrates the influence of the following elements on the adherence of Chinese human geography to the integration of human and environment systems: classical Chinese philosophical thinking on harmony between people and land, western theories of the human-environment relationship, Soviet economic geography research methods, the science of sustainability, the social demands of the construction of contemporary Chinese ecological civilization, ever-improving mathematical models and big data methods for studying enormous and complex systems, and management system reform and special scientific research system and background in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of regional growth paths is a key theme in economic geography and of elemental interest for regional development. This paper addresses the interplay between path-dependent, structural forces and the construction and utilization of opportunities through agentic processes. Extending the evolutionary framework, it is argued that not only history but also perceived futures influence agentic processes in the present and thus shape regional development paths. The paper discusses the relevance and interdependencies of three types of agency with distinct theoretical roots, namely Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship and place-based leadership, as main drivers of regional structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the global value chains framework has a problematic approach to examining the impact of value chains on workforce development systems (WDSs), given how it is based on market relations and a firm-centric view. The paper develops an alternative approach to examine value chains' impact on WDSs as territorially and institutionally regulated, and as part of broader dynamics of accumulation and uneven development. A research agenda is suggested, which emphasizes the "dark side" of value chains' impact on WDSs. This article contributes to the economic geography literature concerned with value chains, including the Global Production Networks approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we identify the ways in which the existing literature has examined financial technology (FinTech). Using the frame of the 'FinTech Cube', we examine how FinTech unfolds through the intersections of key actors, technologies and institutions. We demonstrate the relevance of FinTech for two areas of geographical enquiry: i) the reshaping of global production and financial networks, and ii) financial inclusion and poverty reduction in poorer countries. In doing so, we accord particular attention to the significance of FinTech for theoretical and empirical research in economic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the transformative travels of the metaphor of the 'fix' across the unbounded terrain of geographical political economy. It argues for taking the fix seriously as a root metaphor of the field, a signifier of its history and theory-cultures. Critically excavating the entwined genealogies of the metaphor and the field, it illuminates several historically successive and thematic moments of 'fix thinking', including: the spatial fix (1980s); institutional and spatio-temporal fixes of regulationist-theoretical approaches (1990s); and the scalar fix of state rescaling theory (2000s). It reviews these stages and their broader intellectual and political implications for critical geographical scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the movement of negative lessons and worst practice in public policy. It focuses on a relatively new branch of scholarship – policy mobilities – which explores the global movement of policies. Within policy mobilities research there is concern about an empirical bias towards successful policies: there has been insufficient attention to whether policy failures might also be mobile. Ideas and concepts about policy failure from political science, economic geography, and science and technology studies are used to illuminate what is missing from policy mobilities scholarship, why it might be important, and to offer some ways forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic geographers have recently taken up the study of markets after a long period of inattention. This growing literature has highlighted the diverse spaces, scales, and fields where markets are present, as well as the ways in which markets vary in form. However, the study of markets in economic geography still exists in tension between neoclassical and Marxist conceptions of markets as predictable and approaches like the social studies of economization/marketization which emphasize their contingency. This paper argues that work of Polyani and Gramsci can provide a way forward for the subfield through conceptualizing markets as sites of social struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship of actor-network theory (ANT) and economic geography, arguing that there has been a rather restrictive, sometimes ambiguous reading of ANT literature. It reviews three major lines of reception in economic geography around the themes of topological space, translation and performativity. Subsequently, the paper problematizes conflicting interpretations of ‘network’ and ‘power’ as central ANT terms. In an attempt to open up new avenues of engagement with ANT, it finally sketches an agenda around three themes that are of relevance both for economic geography and for human geography more broadly: hybridity, desire and fluidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some time now, calls have been made for a more adequate theorization of the state and institutional frameworks in work on global production networks (GPNs) and global value chains (GVCs). However, despite claims in GPN research that institutional contexts matter, there remains an absence of theoretical frameworks on the state in GPNs. Consequently, understanding of the relations between state action and the changing geographies of production networks remains in its infancy. This paper explores a strategic-relational understanding of the state and the rearticulation of scales of state formation to understand the dynamics of global production networks in macro-regional spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In view of persisting and multiple ‘crises’, coming to grips with sociospatial change is one of the key tasks in geographical political economy today. However, to date, philosophical misunderstandings and the related lack of productive scholarly exchange has prevented this task from being satisfyingly addressed. In this paper I discuss the Cultural Political Economy approach and discourse theory in order to expose some key misunderstandings and to argue in favour of more philosophical awareness. By setting up a dialogue between the two approaches I aim to demonstrate the benefits of a constructive engagement between perspectives rooted in ontologically different positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]