by Yuko Aoyama, Dan Haberly, Rory Horner and Seth Schindler

The contemporary global economy is undergoing considerable turbulence. The state is resurgent, in multiple domains. Unpredictability is seemingly the name of the game amidst geopolitical and military tensions, unprecedented tariffs, the recent and continued threat of pandemics, technological and climatic change. Researchers must face up to what appears to be an unstable and rapidly changing context. In our newly released, edited collection  – ‘A Research Agenda for Economic Geography: Reframing 21st Century Capitalism’ – we showcase analyses of 21st century capitalism ranging from globalization, platformization, and green transitions to geopolitics.

The book presents forward-thinking, agenda-setting work on topics that are of critical ‘real’ world importance. Contributors to this volume raise questions about current interpretations of the world economy, and propose new research agendas on state capitalism, financialization, deglobalization, and a planetary labour market, to name just a few, as well as conceptual frameworks to decolonize innovation and methodological approaches to analyse socio-technical transition.

Each chapter in this collection raises a crucial question and outlines pathways for further analysis:

• How is state capitalism changing?
• How does the real economy emerge from capitalism’s intrinsically financial logic?
• How should innovation be decolonised?
• How do imaginaries of inclusive non-capitalist economies emerge?
• How is economic coercion shaping global supply chains?
• How are US-China tensions forging a new global economic geography?
• How are global production networks of medical products being reshaped following the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How can new methodological approaches examine socio-technical transitions?
• Why should the green transition consider regional development policy?
• What challenges do hydrocarbon dependent countries face in recalibrating national economic strategies?
• How does algorithmic governance shape global digital networks?
• How do social media ‘finfluencers’ alter financial subjectivities?
• What does the planetary labour market mean for capital-labour relations?

Economic geography has a long and rich history as a field of geographic inquiry. Indeed, the eponymous journal – founded and still hosted at Clark University – is now 100 years old. It is our hope that this collection marks a clear departure from much of the recent (and somewhat pessimistic) debate around the future of the field of economic geography.  We do not interpret the multitudes of trajectories and thematic foci represented in this volume as fragmenting, or limited in inter-disciplinary audiences.  Quite the opposite, our belief is that our best work is defined by our engagement with major global challenges and societal changes.  Our focus must be on an outward and forward-looking response to emerging, 21st century challenges. Notably a few, prescient recent contributions also highlight the need for more challenge-oriented and melioristic approaches in the related field of regional studies, which respond to contemporary issues which trouble the contemporary world. As economic geographers, we must not end up ‘missing the boat’ in analysing important real-world trends, and generating research with multidisciplinary impact.

The book aims to be of interest not just to economic geographers, but also to researchers in related fields – including business, development studies, economic sociology, heterodox economics, management and political economy. Moreover, academics, policymakers and other practitioners with a more specialist focus should find the individual contributions of relevance. The bold, concrete, necessary and imaginative propositions intend to stimulate discussion and inspire agendas for the future.

Top image by Kamran Abdullayev on Unsplash

Note:  This article gives the views of the author/academic featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the Global Development Institute as a whole.

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