Çağdaş Ekonomik Coğrafyanın Kuramsal Gelişim Tarihi

The new economic geography literature has recently developed a significant framework for integrating space to economic analysis and became a popular research field. However, the history of economic geography could not be limited to this recent progress. Economic geography is a broad discipline which used many different methodologies over time. The literature on economic geography builds on diverse intellectual traditions. It imported theoretical and methodological frameworks and tools from both economy and geography. This paper examines the intellectual history of contemporary economic geography over last century. Mainly four major stages of economic geography research are considered. As an introductory stage, the first one is the traditional economic geography which lacks an actual theoretical background. The second stage is the spatial analysis revolution when quantitative research became the sole research technique. From the early 1970s a new stage of economic geography was emerged based on questioning quantitative economic geography. These criticisms were clustered around political economy, especially Marxism and facilitated the structuralism perspective in economic geography. The final stage is the cultural and institutional turn in economic geography. This turn brought new ideas and diversified theoretical and conceptual frameworks of economic geography. During this final stage the new economic geography, in particular, Krugman’s work has been very influential over literature. At the conclusion section the paper also tries to reflect the historical background of the economic geography to Turkey and evaluates the current progress of the discipline in Turkey through published books and researches.