Economic Geography

Geographers and policy formulation
Geographers have much to contribute to policy, but few geographers are inclined
to invest the time needed to build the level of credibility needed to influence
policy. There are few of us compared to economists, and the latter are consid-
ered to know about economic matters, no matter how far removed from empir-
ical reality their research actually is. Geographers, however, gain little from
communicating only with each other. Publishing in other disciplines’ journals
and in more popular nonacademic outlets would raise awareness of what geog-
raphers know and do – and how it has some competitive advantage over the
theoretical perspectives of the always-more-numerous economists.
The apparently anecdotal nature of much of the empirical research in
economic geography also does not help to build credibility in policy circles. Case
studies of a few, or interviews with a few dozen, can be easily dismissed as anec-
dotes, too few in number, unrepresentative, or unreliable. Perhaps meta-analyses
of the many empirical studies would be useful.
The fact remains that geographers have spent far too little time contributing to
public policy debates. This is not to say that geographers have not addressed public
issues in their research. But that research is seldom made public beyond the
restricted scope of scholarly journals, which few if any policymakers bother to
read. The impact that GIS has had outside geography gives geographers of all
stripes greater credibility than we have had in some time. The opportunity is here
to take advantage of that heightened credibility to have an impact on the lives of
people in the places we study.
References
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Technology, knowledge, and jobs
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Edward J. Malecki
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