Evolution in Economic Geography: Institutions, Regional Adaptation and Political Economy

Economic geography has, over the last decade or so, drawn upon ideas from\ud evolutionary economics in trying to understand processes of regional growth and\ud change, with the concept of path dependence assuming particular prominence.\ud Recently, some prominent researchers have sought to delimit and develop an\ud evolutionary economic geography (EEG) as a distinct approach, aiming to create a\ud more coherent and systematic theoretical framework for research. This paper\ud contributes to debates on the nature and development of EEG. It has two main aims.\ud First, we seek to restore a broader conception of social institutions and agency to\ud EEG, informed by the recent writings of institutional economists like Geoffrey\ud Hodgson. Second, we link evolutionary concepts to political economy approaches,\ud arguing that the evolution of the economic landscape must be related to the broader\ud dynamics of capital accumulation, centred upon the creation, realisation and\ud geographical transfer of value. As such, we favour the utilisation of evolutionary and\ud institutional concepts within a geographical political economy approach rather than\ud the construction of a separate and theoretically ‘pure’ EEG; evolution in economic\ud geography, not an evolutionary economic geography.