Methods in economic geography

Elias A. Kourliouros

Chapter 21 in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2026, pp 151-160 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Economic geography has evolved as a dynamic, contested, and multi-paradigmatic discipline, employing diverse epistemological frameworks and research methods. Its development spans from the naïve empiricism of 19th-century commercial geography to the sophisticated methods of contemporary critical Economic Geography and realist epistemology, in response to socio-economic transformations, political struggles, and theoretical developments. The 1990s witnessed the emergence of postmodernism, post-structuralism, and the cultural/institutional turn, challenging the “economism” and “structural determinism” of the political economy approach. These perspectives prioritized cultural, institutional, and evolutionary aspects of geographical processes, relying almost exclusively on qualitative research methods—a shift that political economy geographers have criticized. More recently, a move towards a synthesis between political economy and cultural/institutional approaches and methodologies has been taking place. In this context, rather than signaling a theoretical crisis, the ongoing methodological debates within Economic Geography reflect the discipline's intellectual vitality and expanding analytical capacity.

Keywords: Economic Geography; Empiricism; Logical Positivism; Political Economy; Abstraction And Successive Analytical Approach; Critical Realism; Qualitative And Quantitative Methods; Extensive And Intensive Research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781803921297
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