Economic geography. A Contemporary Introduction

Part I: Conceptual Foundations: 1. A Geographical Approach to the Economy Introduction Poverty and Economics: Explaining What Went Wrong Geographical Perspectives on the Economy A World of Difference: From Masochi to Manhattan Overview of the Book 2. Economic Discourse: Does ´the Economy´ Really Exist? Introduction The Taken-for-granted Economy A Brief History of ´the Economy´ Expanding the Economy beyond the Economic Representing Economic Processes Summary Part II: Dynamics of Economic Space: 3. Uneven Development: Why is Economic Growth and Development so Uneven? Introduction Uneven Development - Naturally! Marxian Approaches: Conceptualizing Value and Structure The Fundamentals of Capitalism The Contradictions of Capitalism Placing and Scaling Capitalism Putting People in the System Going beyond Capitalism Summary 4. Commodity Chains: Where Does Your Breakfast Come From? Introduction Capitalism, Commodities and Consumers Linking Producers and Consumers: The Commodity Chain Approach Re-regulating Commodity Chains: The World of Standards The Limits to Ethical Intervention? Summary 5. Technology and Agglomeration: Does Technology Eradicate Distance? Introduction The Rise of ´Placeless´ Production? Understanding Technological Changes and Their Geographical Impacts Proximity Matters: Traded and Untraded Interdependencies within Clusters Neither Here Nor There: Thinking Relationally Summary 6. Environment/Economy: Can Nature Be a Commodity? Introduction How Is Nature Counted in Economic Thought? Incorporating Nature, Commodification, Ownership and Marketization Valuing Nature: The Commodification of Environmental Degradation Bringing Nature to Life Summary Part III: Actors in Economic Space: 7. The State: Who Controls the Economy: Firms or Governments? Introduction The ´Globalization Excuse´ and the End of the Nation-state? Functions of the State (in Relation to the Economy): Long Live the State! Types of States Today Reconfiguring the State Beyond the State? Summary 8. The Transnational Corporation: How Does the Global Firm Keep It All Together? Introduction The Myth of Being Everywhere, Effortlessly Revisiting Chains and Networks: The Basic Building Blocks of TNCs Organizing Transnational Economic Activities 1: Intra-firm Relationships Organizing Transnational Economic Activities 2: Inter-firm Relationships The Limits to Global Reach? Summary 9. Labour Power: Can Workers Shape Economic Geographies? Introduction Global Capital, Local Labour? Geographies of Labour: Working under Pressure Labour Geographies: Workers as an Agent of Change Beyond Capital versus Labour: Towards Alternative Ways of Working? Summary 10. Consumption: Is the Customer Always Right? Introduction The Consumption Process The Changing Geographies of Retailing The Changing Spaces of Consumption Consumption, Place and Identity Summary Part IV: Socializing Economic Life: 11. Culture and the Firm: Do Countries and Companies Have Economic Cultures? Introduction Firms Are the Same Everywhere, or Are They? Fragmenting the Firm: Corporate Cultures and Discourses National Business Systems Regional Cultures Multiple Cultures, Multiple Scales Summary 12. Gendered Economic Geographies: Does Gender Shape Economic Lives? Introduction Seeing Gender in the Economy From Private to Public Space: Women Entering the Workforce Gendering Jobs and Workplaces Home, Work and Space in the Labour Market Towards a Feminist Economic Geography? Summary 13. Ethnic Economies: Do Cultures Have Economies? Introduction ´Colour-blind´ Economics Ethnic Sorting in the Workforce Ethnic Businesses and Clusters The Economic Geographies of Transnationalism The Limits to Ethnicity