The economists sometimes argue that geography came to a halt way back because the mathematical tools of the day were not up to the job. Imperfect competiton features prominently, for instance, and clever maths is needed to deal with it. No, not quite, says Mr Martin. It wasn't mathematical backwardness that led geographers away from this approach but the conviction that to rely too heavily on maths was a dead end. Geographers became more interested in real economic landscapes, with all their complex histories and local contexts and particularities . . .
Geographers insist that profoundly different processes are at work at different scales.
Mr Krugman's response is robust. Better to know the model you are using, if only to understand its limitations, than to kid yourself you have moved to a deeper, model-free plane. One day, maybe, but tempers will have to cool first. The article by Mr Martin is The New Geographical Turn in Economics , Cambridge Journal of Economics , January 1999.