Economic Geography : A Contemporary Introduction

The 2nd edition of Coe's Economic Geography is modified to provide a more information and resources for users including several new and enhanced chapters and images. For example, a Conceptual Foundations section introduces the basic building blocks of geographical analysis and understanding of the economy. These are also brought together in a geographical understanding of the dynamics of the capitalist system. Making the Spatial Economy introduces the inputs and actors, besides capitalists, who make the system work: the state, nature, labour and finance capital. Furthermore, Organizing Economic Space explores the ways in which economic relationships across space are established and maintained. The commodity chain provides the overall framework, but we then examine the role of space-shrinking technologies, the organization strategies of the transnational corporation, and finally the processes of selling economic goods and services. And lastly, People, Identities and Economic Life explores the blurred line between economic processes and the social and cultural contexts in which they are embedded. These chapters explore the role of social interaction in forming economic clusters, the role of gender and ethnicity in shaping economic processes, and finally the ways in which consumption processes are implicated in the identities of places and people.