The Dictionary of Human Geography

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 it is aproblem that can be assumed away,

with the results obtained from the particu-

lar available data set being accepted as ‘the

real ones’; or

 it is avery powerful analytical devicefor

exploring various aspects of geography

and spatial variations, since alternative

regionalizations can be produced – this

allows the creation of both frequency dis-

tributions with which one regionalization

can be compared and, in some cases,

optimal regionalizations for particular pur-

poses (seeclassification and regional-

ization).

Although the existence of the maup is

widely recognized as posing a problem for

muchspatial analysis, in very many cases

researchers have had to adopt either the first

or the second of these positions because they

are constrained by available data sources

(especially those provided by censuses).

Attempts have been made to develop method-

ologies that can take the maup into account and

produce unbiased ecological estimates (as in

the work of Holt, Steel, Tranmer and Wrigley,

1996, and King’s, 1997, classic volume on

solving theecological inferenceproblem;

see also a recent overview in Swift, Liu and

Uber, 2008), but few analysts have adopted

the third of Openshaw and Taylor’s suggested

responses, preferring to accept the outcome of

one aggregation as providing a reliable estimate

of the ‘real’ relationship.

The maup is not only an issue in spatial

analysis: it is also relevant to a range of prac-

tical issues – notablyredistricting. Many

electoral systems use territorially defined con-

stituencies, which comprise aggregations of

smaller territorial units; UK Parliamentary

constituencies, for example, are aggregations

of contiguous local government electoral

wards with a size constraint. Johnston and

Rossiter (1982; see also Cirincione, Darling

and O’Rourke, 2000) have shown that there

is a large number of possible solutions to the

constituency-building problem in every area,

which can produce different election results,

so that the selection of a particular aggregation

can not only lead to a particular outcome in

one constituency (hence the widespread prac-

tice ofgerrymanderingin some countries),

but can also contribute to considerable bias in

election results, whereby not only is the per-

centage of seats won by a party disproportion-

ate to its share of the votes cast, but other

parties with the same share of the votes

might win very different shares of the seats

(Johnston, Pattie, Dorling and Rossiter,

2001: seeelectoral geography). rj

Suggested reading

Openshaw (1982).

money and finance human geographywas

late in recognizing the geographical signifi-

cance of money and finance, with few at-

tempts to write geographies of money and

finance much before the 1980s (for excep-

tions, see Conzen, 1975, 1977). However,

since then a new sub-field of geographical re-

search has emerged (Corbridge, Thrift and

Martin, 1994; Leyshon and Thrift, 1997;

Martin, 1999; Clark, 2005a). As this work

has evolved, it has followed a similar trajectory

to the wider discipline, with earlier work being

influenced by more abstract economic and

social theory, while more recent work has

tended towards substantive, cultural accounts

of the geographical consequences of money

and finance.

The first systematic engagement with the

geography of money and finance emerged

frommarxistanalyses of the broader dynam-

ics of capitalism, best exemplified by the

work of David Harvey (1989b, 1999 [1982]).

Marx drew attention to the role that money

and finance played in the financial system

within capitalism, which revolves around

money and the socialpowerthat its posses-

sion delivers in amarketeconomy. Drawing

on this insight, Harvey developed the concept

oftime__space compression, which provided a

propulsive element to earlier theories of a

shrinking world, such astime__space conver-

genceandtime__space distanciation. The

social power of money increases the pace of

life overtimeas part of a generalized process

to reduce the turnover time of capital, and the

faster realization of profits and incomes. This

encourages the introduction of new space-

shrinking technologies, bringing in their wake

the progressive dislocation of economic and

political systems. Money has become ever

more mobile and fungible, and is now the

most heavily tradedcommodityin the global

economy. The sheer weight of money in cir-

culation within and between financial markets

has made governments more sensitive to their

operation, and economic development has

been destabilized by a series of serious finan-

cialcrisesin various parts of the world, in-

cluding latin america and Sub-Saharan

africain the 1980s (Corbridge, 1993a), and

South East Asia and Latin America (again)

in the 1990s (Beaverstock and Doel, 2001;

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_M Final Proof page 476 1.4.2009 3:19pm

MONEY AND FINANCE