Evolution and main approaches of economic geography.

As the geographer Horacio Capel pointed out, “before the 19th century, economic issues were
addressed by geographers within the framework of the description of countries,” highlighting “the
concern for the wealth of nations, their economic resources and production, their population and
their trade.” ” Starting this century, individualized economic geography was presented, which has
produced various innovations that transformed work models and thematic contents. Since its
appearance, three phases can be identified.

A. Commercial economic and statistical geography

This name was given in the commission that emerged at the International Congress of Geography
in 1875. characterized above all by its strong descriptive and enumerative load, the priority
attention given to activities most related to natural resources, influence of environmental
determinism and historicism in its explanations.

These characteristics focus mainly on carrying out inventories of resources and productions. They
identified the countries and regions where there is greater productivity and commercial
exchanges, a study that can be seen in the work of J. semionov in 1936 with the title “ the wealth
of the land.”

The relationship of physical-natural studies gives reason to agricultural and extractive activities
such as mining, fishing and forestry exploitation, which go hand in hand with the characteristics of
the climate and the soil. Due to the reiteration in which these links are insisted, authors such as
Huntington stated that economic geography cannot be separated from physical geography any
more than any other branch can, and says that its main problem is to investigate and respond to
how it influences The distribution of physical conditions influences how people satisfy their basic
or primary needs. On the other hand, Jones and Darkenwald considered that economic geography
deals with productive occupations and seeks to explain why some regions are based on the
production and export of their products and others emphasize production.

B. Graphic theory and location of economic theories

In this part of the history of geography, economics undergoes a change which is based on the
schools of spatial economics inherited from the German schools of economics existing in the first
third of the 19th century, appropriating regional growth theories, location theories. and urban
economy giving way to a substantive change in the relationship between economics and
geography.

The renewal of the thoughts and practices of geography of this period was synthesized in the
attempt to harmonize with other nomothetic sciences. There was a renewal of theories that
emerged in the economic territory aimed at reinterpreting phenomena of geographical interest,
especially the location of activities and regional development.

These new orientations were immediately reflected in the numerous books written in those years
dedicated to the theories that exemplified the new vision of economic geography, as presented by
Chisholm M. In his book on geography and economics where he set out the new objectives, he
relates economic concepts with the study of human aspects in geography, taking as a central
theme the exploration of the conceptual framework of economics and showing how his ideas are
relevant and important for geographical studies.

The appearance of these new economics books for geographers had several consequences, among
which was the appearance of geography in the curricula of several universities, which was
criticized by geographers. However, from then on this economic geography was enriched with the
incorporation of behavioral and neo-Marxite approaches that insisted on the influence of social
and political psychological factors on the organization of companies, their derivatives such as
poverty. Within this new economic geography, the main novelties were: the growing incorporation
of business geography, the analysis of the internal context of organizations, and greater attention
to service activities.

Ask

In what phase of the evolution of economic geography is it included in the university curricula?