The Dictionary of Human Geography

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both the mental agility and access to in-

formation to obtain the most for the

least, and applying both to consumers

who maximize utility, and producers

who maximize profits.

(2) A concern with determining conditions

for equilibrium. Rational responses by

producers and consumers tomarketsig-

nals produce equilibrium such that there

is no incentive for any individual to

change their decision: market equilib-

rium is the solution to the problem of

individual maximization.

(3) An emphasis on defining competitive

market efficiency such that there is an

optimal allocation of resources among

competing uses. If not, there is competi-

tive market failure, requiring correction.

(4) An assertion of the methodological sov-

ereignty of independent, rational individ-

uals, and who form the back-stop of

neo-classical explanation. Everything –

institutions, firms, social classes – is redu-

cible to the law of individual rational

choice (methodological individualism).

Criticisms of neo-classical economics are

endless. They include objections that neo-

classicism is nothing but anideology, a sop

for marketcapitalism; that the rational choice

assumption is empirically false, logically in-

consistent and morally suspect; that equilib-

rium, with its assumption that time has

stopped, holds at best in Heaven and never

on Earth; thatsocietyis always more than

the sum of its rational agents (thereissuch a

thing as society); and that the use of math-

ematics is primarily for internal sociological

purposes and not for meeting scholarly ends

(even Samuelson said that his intensive know-

ledge of mathematics made him feel like an

Olympic-trained athlete with no race to run).

Neo-classical economics entered economic

geography as part of thequantitative revo-

lutionfrom the late 1950s, and also at the

same time through an allied movement,

regional science(King, 1979). The central

intellectual problem was to introducespaceto

a theoretical system that had never systemat-

ically included it. While economic geograph-

ers and regional scientists made attempts to

do so via location theory, there always

remained fundamental problems in couching

neo-classical competitive equilibrium models

within an economy distributed over space (see

space-economy), because the spatial constitu-

tion of an economy inherently confers mono-

polistic advantage. Consequently, the core

neo-classical postulate of competitive market

efficiency is violated (see (3) above). This is

yet another example of what Harvey (1985b,

p. 142) identifies as the ‘numbing effect’ of

space on the ‘central propositions ofanysocial

theory’. In any case, economic geographers

were never as mathematically astute as neo-

classical economists, nor did most of them

share their penchant forabstractionand rig-

our. Consequently, the importation of neo-

classical theory was frequently half-hearted,

incomplete and prone to mistakes. From the

late 1990s, there was a second-wave attempt

to link economic geography to neo-classicism

through thenew economic geography, but

this has been even more unsuccessful as meas-

ured by the degree of disciplinary acceptance

than in the first go-around. tb

Suggested reading

Robinson (1962).

neo-geography A term – coined by a non-

geographer – referring to the bespoke creation

ofmapsusing the internet, involving the

shared use of mapping resources (such as

Google Maps and geographical informa-

tion systems) to which information is added.

Those bespoke maps can incorporate a range

of other materials to illustrate the character-

istics of individual places – such as photo-

graphs. It is seen as part of a movement that

is de-professionalizingcartographyand mak-

ing map construction feasible for a wide range

of users. Such construction can involve the

input of data from devices such asglobal

positioning systems– allowing, for example,

the real-time mapping of journeys and track-

ing of movements. rj

Suggested reading

Turner (2006). See also http://platial.com/splash

and http://neogeography.net/

Quantity

Price

Demand

Supply

neo-classical economics Supply and demand

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_N Final Proof page 496 31.3.2009 3:13pm Compositor Name: ARaju

NEO-GEOGRAPHY