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An Introduction to
Economic Geography

In the context of great economic turmoil and uncertainty, the emergent conflict between
continued globalisation and growing economic nationalism means that a geographical
economic perspective has never been so important. An Introduction to Economic Geography
guides students through the key debates of this vibrant area, exploring the range of ideas and
approaches that invigorate the wider discipline.
This third edition includes new chapters on finance, cities and the digital economy,
consumption and the environment. Underpinned by the themes of globalisation, uneven
development and place, the text conveys the diversity of contemporary economic geography
and explores the social and spatial effects of global economic restructuring. It combines a
critical geographical perspective on the changing economic landscape with an appreciation of
contemporary themes such as neoliberalism, financialisation, innovation and the growth of new
technologies.
An Introduction to Economic Geography is an essential textbook for undergraduate students
taking courses in Economic Geography, Globalisation Studies and more broadly in Human
Geography. It will also be of much interest to those in Planning, Business and Management
Studies and Economics.

Danny MacKinnon is Professor of Regional Development and Governance and Director of the
Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University, UK.

Andrew Cumbers is Professor in Regional Political Economy at the University of Glasgow, UK.
An Introduction to
Economic Geography
Globalisation, Uneven Development
and Place
Third Edition

Danny MacKinnon and

Andrew Cumbers
Third edition published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2019 Danny MacKinnon and Andrew Cumbers

The right of Danny MacKinnon and Andrew Cumbers to be identified as authors of this work has
been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First published by Pearson Education Limited 2007

Second edition published by Routledge 2014

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-1-138-92450-5 (hbk)

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Visit the eResources: www.routledge.com/9781138924512

 Contents

List of figures ix
List of tables xii
Preface to the third edition xiv

Part 1 FOUNDATIONS 1

1 Introducing economic geography 3

1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Key themes: globalisation, uneven development and place 5
1.3 The economy and economic geography 14
1.4 A political economy approach 17
1.5 Outline of the book 22

2 Approaches to economic geography 26

2.1 Introduction 26
2.2 Spatial analysis 29
2.3 The new economic geography 32
2.4 Geographical political economy 34
2.5 New approaches in economic geography 42
2.6 Summary 53

3 From regional specialisation to global integration: changing

geographies of production 58
3.1 Introduction 58
3.2 The dynamics of capitalist production 59
3.3 Industrialisation and regional specialisation 70
3.4 From Fordism to flexible production 77
3.5 New international divisions of labour 86
3.6 Summary 92

v
Contents

Part 2 RESHAPING THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE:

DYNAMICS AND OUTCOMES 97

4 Capital unbound? Spatial circuits of finance and investment 99

4.1 Introduction 99
4.2 Money, credit and debt 100
4.3 The changing geographies of money 102
4.4 Financial crises and cycles 106
4.5 The 2008–09 crisis, recession and faltering recovery 109
4.6 The financialisation of the economy? 119
4.7 Financialisation and the urbanisation of capital 123
4.8 Summary 126

5 Managing capitalism: states and changing forms

of economic governance 130
5.1 Introduction 130
5.2 Understanding the changing nature of the ‘qualitative state’ 131
5.3 States as managers of national and regional economies 135
5.4 Varieties of capitalism 143
5.5 Neoliberalism, crisis and austerity 147
5.6 Governing urban and regional development 156
5.7 Summary 162

6 Restructuring work and employment 167

6.1 Introduction 167
6.2 Conceptualising labour, work and social reproduction 168
6.3 Globalisation and the restructuring of work 174
6.4 Polarisation, flexibilisation and precarity in the labour market 180
6.5 Labour agency in the global economy 185
6.6 Summary 193

7 Geographies of development 197

7.1 Introduction 197
7.2 The project of development 198
7.3 Theories of development 204
7.4 Divergent trajectories of development 211
7.5 Trade, liberalisation and livelihoods 214
7.6 Contesting development: new forms of social and political mobilisation 217
7.7 Summary 221

vi
 Contents

Part 3 REWORKING URBAN AND REGIONAL ECONOMIES 225

8 Connecting cities: transport, communications and

the digital economy 227
8.1 Introduction 227
8.2 Transport infrastructure and urban and regional development 228
8.3 Changing geographies of the digital economy 234
8.4 The sharing economy 240
8.5 Smart cities 244
8.6 Summary 248

9 Global production networks and regional development 254

9.1 Introduction 254
9.2 The global production networks (GPN) approach 256
9.3 Global production networks and regional development 265
9.4 Attracting and embedding FDI as a development strategy 272
9.5 Summary 277

10 Urban agglomeration, innovation and creativity 282

10.1 Introduction 282
10.2 Cities, agglomeration and knowledge 283
10.3 Cities, innovation and clusters 287
10.4 Creative cities 295
10.5 Summary 303

Part 4 REORDERING ECONOMIC LIFE 307

11 Consumption and retail 309

11.1 Introduction 309
11.2 Understanding consumption, consumers and commodities 310
11.3 Changing patterns of consumption 313
11.4 Spaces and places of consumption 317
11.5 The restructuring and internationalisation of retail 325
11.6 Summary 328

12 Economic geography and the environment 331

12.1 Introduction 331
12.2 Nature, climate change and economic development 332

vii
Contents

12.3 A critical economic geography of the environment 336

12.4 Sustainability transitions: the multi-level perspective and beyond 343
12.5 The emerging economic geography of energy transition 347
12.6 Summary 354

13 Alternative economic geographies 358

13.1 Introduction 358
13.2 Capitalism and its alternatives 359
13.3 Alternative economic spaces 363
13.4 Alternative global networks of trade and development 373
13.5 Summary 377

Part 5 PROSPECTS 381

14 Conclusions 383
14.1 Summary of key themes 383
14.2 Contested futures: globalisation, inequality and populism 385

Glossary 389
Index 405

viii
 Figures

1.1 The 13-county Bay Area 4 3.8 Location of the textiles industry in
1.2 Scales of geographical analysis 6 northern England, 1835 74
1.3 ‘A shrinking world’ 7 3.9 Europe in 1875 75
1.4 GDP by country 11 3.10 The US manufacturing belt 76
1.5 Employment in financial and business 3.11 Shipbuilding employment in Britain, 1911 77
services in Britain, 2005 16 3.12 Ford assembly line 78
1.6 Banana split: who gets what in the 3.13 The manufacturing belt in the former
banana chain 18 Soviet Union 80
1.7 Italian industrial districts 20 3.14 The regional distribution of employment
2.1 Demand and supply curves 27 in Britain, 1841–1981 82
2.2 Weber’s locational triangle 30 3.15 The location of ‘Silicon Valley’ 85
2.3 Central places in southern Germany 31 3.16 Hourly compensation costs, in
2.4 Returns to scale 32 US dollars, in manufacturing, for
2.5 Dialectics 35 selected countries 2003, 2015 88
2.6 Urban gentrification in Glasgow 37 3.17 Offshore processing in airline and
2.7 Examples of possible spatial structures 39 insurance industries 90
2.8 The regional development bicycle 47 4.1 The geography of the debt crisis
2.9 Typical mismatch between development in the 1980s 107
strategies and institutions: (a) ‘penny 4.2 Growth of world gross product and
farthing’ equilibrium; (b) ‘square wheels’; gross domestic product by country
and (c) ‘bicycle frame’ situation 48 grouping 2007–17 110
2.10 Towards an alternative model of local 4.3 The geography of foreclosures in the US
industrial evolution 51 as of May 2009 113
2.11 International financial links of 4.4 US unemployment rates by state
south-east England 52 October 2009 114
3.1 The process of production under 4.5 Gross domestic product (GDP) per
capitalism 60 inhabitant in purchasing power standard
3.2 North-east England, regional setting (PPS) in relation to the EU-28 average,
and settlements 62 by NUTS 2 regions, 2014 116
3.3 Kondratiev cycles 66 4.6 Eurozone ten-year government bond
3.4 Chicago and the American railroad yield rates 117
network, 1861 69 4.7 Monthly commodity price indices by
3.5 Surface mail (1866–69) and telegraph commodity group, January 2002–June
transmission (1870), times in days 70 2016 (Index numbers, 2002 = 100) 118
3.6 The process of cumulative causation 72 4.8 Net global capital flows for developed and
3.7 UK manufacturing employment, 1851 73 developing economies 1996–2011 ($Bn) 120

ix
Figures

5.1 A world of states 132 7.8 India: manufacturing exports, wage

5.2 Ownership of Norwegian industry earnings and GDP relative to the rest of
broken down by owner type the world, 1985–2014 214
(NOK billion) 141 7.9 Regional concentrations of textiles and
5.3 Public sector employment as a clothing industry employment in the
percentage of total employment, 2009 main production locations, Tunisia 215
and 2013 142 7.10 An MST protest march 218
5.4 The location of the Singapore-Johor 7.11 Hydrocarbon taxes in Bolivia 1996–2009 220
Bahru-Batam/Bintan growth triangle 8.1 Inverted-U-shaped impact of declining
in South-east Asia 146 transportation costs on agglomeration 229
5.5 The geography of China’s ‘open door’ 8.2 Necessary conditions for transport to
trading policy 150 stimulate regional economic development 230
5.6 Trends in general government debt, as 8.3 The Channel Tunnel and the Eurostar
a percentage of GDP, selected countries Rail network 232
1993–2012 152 8.4 Exponential growth of the internet 234
5.7 Net migration, Ireland (000s), 1987–2013 153 8.5 The video games industry in Montreal,
5.8 Greek GDP and debt levels 2007–14 154 Quebec, Canada 236
5.9 The employment gap in OECD countries 156 8.6 Number of internet users per 100
5.10 The overall result of the UK referendum inhabitants 2000–15 238
on EU membership, 23 June 2016 157 8.7 High-speed internet use for individuals
6.1 Mapping the elite in twenty-first-century by Metropolitan Statistical Area 2013 239
Britain 170 8.8 Airbnb’s tax saving in London 242
6.2 Gender pay gap in selected OECD 8.9 Share of US population participating in
countries 172 the collaborative economy 243
6.3 Share of manufacturing in employment 8.10 New Songdo City, South Korea 246
and value added (current prices) for G7 9.1 The crankshaft’s long journey 255
countries 1970–2012 176 9.2 Apple’s smiling curve and the
6.4 Part-time employment as a proportion of organisation of global value chains 256
total employment: selected countries 182 9.3 A generic production network 257
6.5 Comparisons in levels of legal job 9.4 The laptop PC production network 260
protection in selected countries 1985–2013 183 9.5 Fundamental categories of embeddedness 262
6.6 UK workers employed on zero-hours 9.6 China’s automobile cluster 263
contracts 2000–16 183 9.7 The strategic coupling of regions and
6.7 Trade union density by selected OECD global production networks 266
country 1960–2012 187 9.8 Silicon Glen 268
7.1 The global North and South 198 9.9 Evolving spatial distribution of Taiwanese
7.2 Changing conceptions of development 200 investment in mainland China, 1991–2006 271
7.3 Rostow’s stages of economic development 205 10.1 Metropolitan area growth, United States
7.4 Dependency theory 206 (1980–2000) and human capital (share
7.5 Oxfam cow loan scheme 210 with bachelor’s degree 1980) 286
7.6 Ratio of GDP per capita of selected 10.2 The linear model of innovation 288
countries and country groups to GDP 10.3 The interactive model of innovation 288
per capita of the United States, 1950–2015 211 10.4 Apple’s iPod 289
7.7 GDP growth and changing terms of trade 10.5 Porter’s diamond model 291
in Latin America, 2002–13 212 10.6 Local buzz and global pipelines 294

x
 Figures

10.7 Annual number of citations of the term 12.3 The devastating effects of the early
‘creative cities’ as recorded by Google monsoon in Bangladesh, September 2017 335
Scholar, 1990–2012 296 12.4 Central Park amidst skyscrapers 338
10.8 Artist locations in Minneapolis– 12.5 Aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi
St Paul 298 Nuclear Power Plant 340
10.9 Talent and cultural amenities 299 12.6 The multi-level transitions perspective 344
10.10 Talent and coolness 299 12.7 Global electricity production by fuel
11.1 Christmas consumption 312 type 2014 348
11.2 Macy’s: a famous New York department 12.8 Global new investment in renewable
store with nineteenth-century origins 314 energy by region, 2004–16 349
11.3 (a) The original retail district in 12.9 Top ten onshore wind manufacturers with
nineteenth-century New York; (b) region of manufacture 352
Downtown Manhattan retail area 315 13.1 New Lanark in 1799 360
11.4 McDonald’s in Beijing 318 13.2 The iceberg model 364
11.5 The decline of US retail stores and 13.3 Participants and amount of Trueque
growth of online shopping 323 local currency scheme 369
11.6 The decline of the UK high street 324 13.4 Alternative modes of urban living in
12.1 The link between industrialisation, fossil Glasgow’s community gardens 372
fuels and global warming 333 14.1 The ‘Elephant Graph’: Relative changes in
12.2 Producers of greenhouse gas emissions per capita income by global income level,
by sector 334 1988–2008 386

xi
 Tables

2.1 Economics and economic geography 28 5.3 Regional dependence on the public
2.2 Approaches to economic geography I 28 sector: share of public sector in regional
2.3 Fordist and post-Fordist modes of employment and output, UK, 2010 143
regulation 40 5.4 Characterising five types of state 144
2.4 Approaches to economic geography II 43 5.5 Regional inequalities. Variance of the log
3.1 Quantities of wheat and cloth production 67 of regional GDP per capita 158
3.2 The spatial division of labour in 5.6 Regional policy paradigms 160
manufacturing 81 6.1 Summary of social classes 169
3.3 Hymer’s stereotype of the new 6.2 Youth labour force participation by
international division of labour 87 region and sex 1991 and 2014 180
4.1 Geographical development of the 6.3 Distribution of income within selected
financial system 103 developing countries 181
4.2 Top ranked currencies in terms of 7.1 The UNDP Human Development Index 201
distribution of global foreign exchange 7.2 Progress in achieving the Millennium
market turnover 105 Development Goals 202
4.3 Ranking of global financial centres by 7.3 Theories of development 204
Global Financial Centre Index (GFCI) 7.4 Actual and projected annual economic
September 2015 106 growth figures (GDP% change) in
4.4 Key moments in the rolling out of the BRICS economies 2003–15 213
financial crisis 111 7.5 Principles and practices associated with
4.5 European banks with exposed trading post-neoliberalism in Latin America 219
positions with Lehman at time of collapse 111 8.1 High-speed rail lines in the world,
4.6 Government support (loans) and share selected countries 231
purchases of nationalised banks during 8.2 Groups of innovations in the sharing
2008–09 financial crisis (as of 31st March economy 241
2011) 112 9.1 Characteristics of producer-driven and
4.7 The pathway to financialisation: a buyer-driven chains 258
schematic depiction of the changing 9.2 Firms as actors in the global production
relations between finance, production and networks 259
labour in the evolution of capitalism 121 9.3 Firm-specific strategies and
5.1 Major regional economic blocs 134 organisational outcomes in global
5.2 The costs of bailing out the banks, production networks 265
selected countries as of March 2011, 9.4 Advantages and disadvantages of FDI for
percent of 2010 GDP 137 host regions 273

xii
 Tables

9.5 Role and functions of local and regional 12.3 Discourses of the green economy 347
development agencies in FDI 275 12.4 The emergent geographical political
9.6 The average share of the total volume of economy of sustainability transition: a
automotive suppliers sourced by Czech- comparison of Danish and Chinese
based foreign firms (in %) 276 success 351
10.1 Territorial innovation models 290 13.1 Top ten cooperatives by
10.2 Different forms of proximity 293 income 2014 361
10.3 Artistic specialisations, selected metros 297 13.2 The Bamako Accord: a manifesto for an
10.4 The creativity index 300 alternative globalisation 362
11.1 Brand values for selected global brands 320 13.3 Diverse identities of childcare and their
11.2 World’s top ten retailers by revenue 2015 325 geographies 365
11.3 The changing orientation of Tesco’s 13.4 Coal-based exclusions from Norwegian
international operations 2000–17 326 Pension Fund, 2017 367
12.1 Main contemporary approaches in 13.5 Key facts and figures on credit unions
geography to economy-nature-society worldwide, 2015 370
relations 337 13.6 Mainstream and alternative economic
12.2 Carbon democracy and energy transition 342 geographies of globalisation 376

xiii
 Preface to the third edition
In this third edition of our textbook, our main aim is
to provide students with a sense of the diversity and
vitality of economic geography as a lens to critically
examine the changing economic landscape. The book
is intended as an introductory text for undergraduate
geography students, preparing them for further more
specialist study. The first and second editions were very
well received both by students and teachers, regarded
as innovative books that, at the same time, strived to
keep abreast of a dynamic and volatile global economy.
We are gratified by the positive feedback that we have
received both from students and the course convenors
and tutors that have used the book.
As was the case with the second edition, which
appeared in 2011, and was largely written in the midst
of the global financial crisis, this third edition was writ-
ten during a time of continuing economic and politi-
cal turmoil. Alongside the ‘economic’ crisis dimension,
there is also a sense of ecological crisis as the realities of
global warming become increasingly apparent. While
the immediate crisis threatening the global economy
may have subsided in recent years, the subsequent
‘recovery’ has been a rather muted affair, with little sign
at the time of writing (February 2018) of renewed stabil-
ity or prolonged growth. In addition to the crisis-prone
tendencies of the world economy, widening inequalities
between people and places, policies of austerity and the
growth of a populist backlash against globalisation are
key contemporary trends that are emphasised in this
third edition.
In seeking to keep abreast of such changes, this third
edition has undergone some substantial revision from
the second. We have replaced the threefold structure of
the second edition: ‘Foundations’; ‘Actors and processes’;
and ‘Contemporary issues’ with a four-part text (fol-
lowed by a conclusion). Part 1 ‘Foundations’ remains,
xiv
with similar content on key processes underpinning
the economy, but modified (as three rather than four
chapters) and updated. Part 2, now titled ‘Reshaping the
economic landscape: dynamics and outcomes’ features
updated substantive chapters on the state, labour and
development with a new Chapter 4 (‘Capital unbound?
Spatial circuits of finance and investment’) that is a
substantially revised version of Chapter 9 (‘The uneven
geographies of finance’) from our second edition. Parts 3
and 4, ‘Reworking urban and regional economies’ and
‘Reordering economic life’, provide a significant amount
of new material. Part 3 (‘Reworking urban and regional
economies’) contains two new chapters (Chapters 8 and
10): ‘Connecting cities: transport, communications and
the digital economy’ and ‘Urban agglomeration, inno-
vation and creativity’, alongside another, ‘Global pro-
duction networks and regional economic development’,
that brings together key themes from the second edi-
tion’s chapters on transnational corporations and com-
modity chains and global production networks. Part 4
includes new chapters on ‘Consumption and retail’
(Chapter 11), ‘Economic geography and the environ-
ment’ (Chapter 12) and an updated chapter, ‘Alternative
economic geographies’ (Chapter 13).
We have retained the pedagogic features of boxes,
reflective questions and exercises. In addition to the
changes we have made to the print version of the book,
this edition is novel in featuring accompanying eRe-
source features on the Routledge website with supple-
mentary materials for instructors and students.
We are very grateful to our editors at Taylor & Fran-
cis, Andrew Mould and Egle Zigaite, for their support
and endless patience. We would also like to thank the
six anonymous referees who provided excellent feed-
back and suggestions for improvement from the previ-
ous edition and constructive advice on the new edition.
PART 1
Foundations
Chapter 1
Introducing economic geography
Topics covered in this chapter
³ The main themes of the book:
O globalisation and connections across space;
O uneven geographical development;
O the importance of place;
³ The meaning of the economy.
³ The nature of economic geography as an
academic subject.
³ The political economy approach to economic
geography that we adopt in this book.
1.1 Introduction
In late 2013, a wave of local protests and marches broke
out in San Francisco against Google’s commuter buses
(Corbyn 2014). While commuter buses may seem an
unlikely trigger for social conflict, they had become
symbolic of acute local concerns about the impact of
a dramatic process of gentrification (the movement of
wealthier groups into an area) on housing affordability
in San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area (Schafran
2013), a conflict that is being echoed in global cities like
London. In recent years, the renowned urban charms
of San Francisco have made it a popular bedroom city
for people who work in the booming high-tech indus-
tries of ‘Silicon Valley’ – the shorthand term for the
world-leading cluster of electronics and internet indus-
tries around San Jose and Palo Alto in the south Bay Area
(Figure 1.1). This has fuelled the gentrification of many
neighbourhoods, with spiralling house prices mak-
ing the city increasingly unaffordable to many lower-
income residents, leading to rising eviction rates from
2011 (Corbyn 2014). It is the resultant social tension
that animates the protests against the commuter buses,
laid on by Google and other technology companies to
transport their workers to their offices in Silicon Valley.
3
Foundations

Folsom
Sacramento
Petaluma Napa Vacaville
Marin Fairfield Elk Grove
Novato Solano
Vallejo Sacramento
San Rafael
Richmond
Concord Lodi
Berkeley Antioch
San Francisco Oakland
Contra Costa Stockton San Joaquin

Hayward Livermore Manteca

Redwood City Tracy
Alameda
San Mateo Fremont Modesto
Palo Alto
Stanislaus
San Jose
Patterson Turlock
Santa Clara

Merced
Gilroy Merced

Los Banos

Figure 1.1 The 13-county Bay Area

Source: Schafran 2013: 668, Figure 1.

This collision between the process of economic
development based on high-technology industries and
the existing social fabric of the urban landscape is at the
heart of the economic geography perspective developed
in this book, serving to illustrate its main themes. The
first of these themes is globalisation, which refers to
the increased connections and linkages between people,
firms and markets located in different places, manifested
in flows of goods, services, money, information and peo-
ple across national and continental borders. Here, the
San Francisco Bay Area has attracted huge influxes of
investment, becoming the leading centre of venture
capital in the United States (US). At the same time, its
booming housing market became a key outlet for the
money generated on Wall Street prior to the financial
crash of 2008 (Walker and Schafran 2015). In addi-
tion, economic growth has attracted large numbers of
immigrants, stretching back over many decades, giving
the Bay Area its characteristic social and racial diversity.
The second theme is uneven development, whereby
some countries and regions are more prosperous and
economically powerful than others. The Bay Area is
the richest major metropolitan area in the US on a per
capita (by population) basis, irrespective of whether
this is measured by income or wealth, containing more
millionaires per capita than any other large metro-
politan area (ibid.: 23). Yet, as the protests over gen-
trification highlight, it is also one of the most socially
unequal, symbolising the wider trend of rising inequal-
ity in the US. There are millions of ordinary low- and
middle-wage workers who are not employed in the
high-tech sector in a region with an extremely high cost
of living (ibid.). Over the past couple of decades, the
spread of urbanisation and the rising costs of housing

4
 Introducing economic geography

in San Francisco and the Inner Bay Area more generally 1.2 Key themes:
have driven many of these groups to live further and
further out in the Central Valley counties of San Joa-
globalisation, uneven
quin, Stanislaus and Merced (Figure 1.1). This process development and place
is generally known as ex-urbanisation, representing an
extension of the well-established trend of suburbanisa- In this section, we build on the Bay Area example
tion to previously free-standing areas. Yet, reflecting its to examine the three main themes of the book –
intense housing boom, the Bay Area has been one of the globalisation, uneven development and place – more
regions worst affected by the post-2008 recession and fully. Our selection of these themes is informed by the
foreclosure (housing repossession) crisis. This has been basic geographical concepts of location and distance,
particularly concentrated in the new outer suburbs scale, space and place.
in the Central Valley, with the city of Stockton being
³ Location is perhaps the most basic geographical
declared bankrupt in 2013.
concept, referring to the geographical position of
Third, the social tensions surrounding gentrifica-
people and objects relative to one another (Coe
tion in the Bay Area also illustrate the theme of place,
et al. 2013), i.e. where things are. This is often rep-
in terms of how particular areas become entangled in
resented by maps (see Figure 1.1), and systems of
wider economic processes and the consequences of
grid references have been developed to convey this
this for their social make-up and identity. From the
information in a precise form. It is clearly related to
origins of San Francisco as the supply centre for the
distance which is the area or space between loca-
Californian gold boom of the late 1840s to the inter-
tions, for example cities such as Hong Kong and
net boom of the past couple of decades, the region has
London. Overcoming what geographers have tra-
been transformed by successive waves of investment
ditionally called the ‘friction’ of distance (the effort
and immigration. The alternative, bohemian identity
and cost of moving objects and people between
of San Francisco was established through the attrac-
locations) requires time and money, for example
tion of burgeoning counter-cultures associated with
the price of a long haul flight between London and
particular neighbourhoods such as hippies in Haight-
Hong Kong. The greatly increased ability of eco-
Ashbury and the gay rights movement in the Castro.
nomic actors such as Transnational corporations
For some residents and critics, it is these identities and
(TNCs) and banks to move money, goods, services,
diverse neighbourhoods that are being threatened by
information and people over large distances as a
gentrification as their social diversity gives way to the
result of the development in transport and commu-
male-dominated, affluent monocultures associated
nication technologies has been of great significance
with high-tech workers and entrepreneurs (Corbyn
for the reorganisation of the international economy
2014). For others, however, the latter are simply the lat-
in recent decades.
est wave of incoming pioneers which the region will be
³ Scale refers to the different geographical levels
able to accommodate in the same fashion as it accom-
modated previous migrants. of human activity, from the local to the regional,
national and global (Figure 1.2). They are import-
ant to the definition and organisation of economies
as indicated by the common use of terms such as
Reflect the local economy, national economy and global
economy by policy-makers, media commentators
Do you think that San Francisco will be able to accom-
modate the large-scale in-migration of high-tech work-
and citizens. It is important to see these different
ers and entrepreneurs whilst retaining its character scales of economic organisation as overlapping and
and identity? interconnected rather than viewing them as entirely
separate.

5
Foundations
Global
Macroregional
e.g. EU, North America, E. Asia
National
Translocal
connections
Regional
e.g. California, north-east England
Local
e.g. Silicon Valley, City of London
Workplace
Figure 1.2 Scales of geographical analysis
Source: Castree et al. 2004: xvix.
³ Space is an area of the earth’s surface such as that
contained within the boundaries of a particular
region or country. It is perhaps the most abstract and
difficult to grasp of the geographical concepts intro-
duced here, and is best understood by being related
to distance and place. Although a more general term,
space is related to the more specific notion of dis-
tance and can also be expressed partly in terms of
the area between two points (locations) in space and
the time it takes to move between them. At the same
time, it is often contrasted with place, particularly
in terms of how spaces can be converted into places
through human occupation and settlement
³ Place refers to a particular area (space) to which a
group of people have become attached, endowing it
with human meaning and identity. This is evident
in how the occupation of San Francisco neighbour-
hoods by particular counter-cultural groups has
defined their character and identity. The geogra-
pher Tim Cresswell (2013) illustrates the distinction
between space and place by referring to an adver-
tisement in a local furniture shop entitled ‘turning
space into place’, reflecting how people use furni-
ture and interior décor to make their houses mean-
ingful, turning them from empty locations into
6
International/
trans-national/
supranational/
connections
personalised and comfortable homes. This domestic
transformation of space into place is something with
which we are all familiar, perhaps from decorating
rooms in university halls of residence or shared flats.
1.2.1 Globalisation and
connections across space
The first underlying theme which runs through this
book is that economic activities are connected across
space through flows of goods, money, information and
people. The concept of (economic) globalisation can
be defined as a process of economic integration on a
global scale, creating increasingly close connections
between people and firms located in different places. It
is manifested in terms of increased flows of goods, ser-
vices, money, information and people across national
and continental borders. These flows are not new as
trading relations between distant people and places
involving the exchange of goods have existed through-
out much of human history. The notion of globalisa-
tion, however, emphasises that the volume and scope
of global flows has increased significantly in recent
decades (Dicken 2015). Increased trade and economic
interaction between distant places is dependent on
 Introducing economic geography

technology in terms of the ease of movement and com-
munication across space.
A new set of transport and communications tech-
nologies has emerged since the 1960s, including jet air-
craft, shipping containerisation, the internet, email and
mobile telephones. The effects of these ‘space-shrinking
technologies’ have brought the world closer together,
effectively reducing the distance between places in
terms of the time and costs of movement and commu-
nication (Figure 1.3).

1500–1840

Best average speed of horse-drawn vehicles

and sailing ships was 10 mph

1850–1930

Steam locomotives averaged 65 mph

Steam ships averaged 36 mph
1950s

Propellor aircraft 300–400 mph

1960s

Jet passenger aircraft 500–700 mph

Figure 1.3 ‘A shrinking world’

Source: Dicken 2003: 92.

7
Foundations

Similarly, the rise of new information and commu-
nications technologies (ICTs) such as the internet have
made it possible for large volumes of information to be
exchanged at a fraction of the previous cost, resulting
in ‘time-space compression’. The term was introduced
by the geographer David Harvey (1989) who argued
that the process of ‘time-space compression’ has been
driven by the development of the economy, requiring
geographical expansion in search of new markets, sup-
plies of labour and materials. Investments in transport
and communications infrastructure have facilitated
this process of geographical expansion, reducing the
effects of distance as it becomes easier and cheaper
to transmit information, money and goods between
places. As such, time and space are effectively being
compressed through the development of new tech-
nologies. This is not an entirely novel process with a
previous ‘round’ of time-space compression occurring
towards the end of the nineteenth century through
inventions such as railways, steamships, the telegraph
and the telephone.
While globalisation has become a key buzzword of
the last couple of decades, it should not be viewed as a
single, unified phenomenon or thing, but as a group of
interrelated processes and activities (Dicken 2015: 6).
These include the vastly increased volume of global
financial transactions, the impact of internet technolo-
gies, the creation of increasingly global consumer mar-
kets, the power of TNCs to relocate economic activities
to other countries, the rise of new economic powers like
China, India and Brazil and the role of international
economic organisations in managing the global econ-
omy (Box 1.1). This complexity means that globalisa-
tion cannot itself be held ultimately responsible as the
single cause of other related problems such as social and
economic inequality. Such problems are likely to have
many causes, and national and local factors are often
bound up with the operation of global forces. Further-
more, globalisation is an ongoing set of processes rather
than a final condition that has actually been achieved:
“although there are undoubtedly globalising forces at
work, we do not have a fully globalised world” (ibid.: 7).
In both the academic literature and much popu-
lar commentary, the term globalisation is used in two
distinct senses (Dicken 2015: 3). The first is empirical
or factual, referring to the actual changes that have
occurred in the organisation and operation of the world
economy. This is often represented in statistics such as
figures on the volume of world trade, financial flows or
the number of internet users. The second is ideologi-
cal and refers particularly to the free market, neolib-
eral ideology or world view of globalisation as a project

Box 1.1

Managing globalisation: international economic organisations

These organisations were created
at the end of the Second World War
as part of the Bretton Woods sys-
tem, alongside the regime of fixed
exchange rates. Since the early
1980s, their policies have been
shaped by neoliberalism (Box 1.2).
³ The International Monetary Fund
(IMF). The role of the IMF is to
promote monetary cooperation
between countries, and to support
economic stability and trade. The
provision of financial assistance
to countries experiencing budget-
ary problems allows the IMF to
set conditions requiring countries
to reform their economies. See
www.imf.org/
³ The World Bank (officially the
International Bank for Recon-
struction and Development). Its
role is to provide development
assistance to countries, mainly
in the less developed world. The
Bank runs a range of programmes
and initiatives aimed at reducing
poverty and narrowing the gap
between rich and poor countries.
See www.worldbank.org/
³ The World Trade Organisation
(WTO), established in 1995, tak-
ing over from GATT (the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade).
The role of the WTO is to ensure
a free and open trading sys-
tem, working through successive
‘rounds’ or conferences where
member countries come together
to negotiate agreements. See
www.wto.org/

8
 Introducing economic geography

(Box 1.2) (ibid.: 3). The two are often confused. While
they are often linked together in practice – typically,
for instance, neoliberal world views emphasise certain
factual aspects of globalisation such as increases in
international trade, but exaggerate their meaning and
significance to support certain political objectives such
as reduced government intervention in the economy –
they have distinct meanings. Accordingly, drawing an
analytical distinction between the empirical and ideo-
logical aspects of globalisation is important because it
helps to develop a clearer understanding of what can be
a complex and confusing concept.
After the collapse of Soviet communism and the
broader Cold War order, globalisation became closely
tied to claims about the “triumph of free market
capitalism” (Jones 2010: 9). This was promoted and
justified through a neoliberal project that portrays glo-
balisation as a mutually beneficial and inevitable pro-
cess which increases economic well-being by enabling
a more efficient allocation of resources through the
market and free trade, leading to reduced poverty over
the longer term.
While the neoliberal project of globalisation
encountered little sustained opposition through much
of the 1990s, a new wave of opposition and protest
emerged with the so-called ‘Battle in Seattle’ in Decem-
ber 1999. Seattle brought together a large number of
protesters to demonstrate against neoliberal globali-
sation and the WTO’s efforts to launch a new round
of trade negotiations. It was a key moment in the for-
mation of a counter-globalisation movement which
espouses a more open, participative ‘bottom-up’ model
of globalisation. The counter-globalisation movement
opposes the top-down model of neoliberal globali-
sation, associating it with increased corporate con-
trol, policies of privatisation and liberalisation, and
large-scale inequality and poverty in the global South
(developing world) particularly. In the wake of the
post-2008 economic crisis, the focus of protest and
action moved away from globalisation per se to focus
on issues of inequality and the adoption of austerity
policies by governments through movements such as
Occupy and the protests in Greece. This underlines the
crucial point that globalisation is not only a topic of
endless academic discussion, but also the subject of
active political contestation and conflict (Routledge
and Cumbers 2009).
The real significance of the move towards a more
integrated global economy lies not so much in its quan-
titative extent (for example, the volume of trade or
number of countries involved), but in the qualitative
transformation of economic relationships across geo-
graphical space (Dicken 2015: 6). This emphasises the
intensification and spending up of economic relations
and economic life as the world economy has become
increasingly interconnected. As economic geogra-
phers, we are particularly interested in the impact
of these changes on urban and regional economies.

Box 1.2

Neoliberalism

A central feature of the period since
the 1970s has been a changing
economic policy context, with the
emergence of a dominant set of pol-
icy prescriptions which have exerted
a powerful influence on the think-
ing of many politicians, business
leaders, commentators and inter-
est groups. Neoliberalism in simple
terms entails a commitment to the
promotion of free markets and private
property rights and the reduction of
state involvement in the economy. It
involves the advocacy of more spe-
cific reforms to further this objective
through measures such as trade lib-
eralisation, financial market deregu-
lation, the elimination of barriers to
foreign investment, the privatisation
or selling of state-owned enterprises
to the private sector and the dereg-
ulation of labour markets. Since the
1970s, it has replaced Keynesianism –
based on a commitment to full employ-
ment and state intervention to stimulate
growth during periods of recession –
as the dominant mode of thought gov-
erning global economic policy-making
(section 5.5).

9
Foundations
In particular, sub-national economies have become
increasingly exposed to a range of global flows and
influences. The impact of globalising forces on local,
regional and national economies can best be under-
stood in relation to the following key dimensions of
change (Coe and Jones 2010).
³ Financialisation which emphasises the increasing
role of financial motives, financial markets, financial
actors and financial institutions in daily life (Epstein
2005). This is a process that has been developing
since at least the 1980s, but was dramatically high-
lighted by the financial crash of 2008 in terms of eco-
nomic reliance on the major banks (‘too big to fail’)
and high levels of household indebtedness. The latter
reflects the easy availability of credit before the crash
as people acquired a range of financial products and
services such as mortgages, ‘sub-prime’ loans and
credit cards.
³ Increased competition which represents a central
aspect of globalisation through the liberalisation of
trade and the reduction of barriers between national
markets. This can have very different impacts on
different industries and the cities and regions in
which they are located. It has enabled some indus-
tries and firms to expand into global consumer
markets (think of banks and internet search engines
like Google), while exposure to competition and the
removal of traditional government protections has
rendered other industries and firms less competitive,
often leading to plant closures and unemployment.
This is characteristic of not only some manufactur-
ing industries like textiles and steel in developed
countries but also agricultural and other primary
industries in developing countries in the global
South, in some cases triggering political protests and
demonstrations.
³ Flexibilisation which refers to the effects of global-
isation and increased competition in requiring sub-
national and national economies to become more
flexible. This involves them responding quickly and
efficiently to wider forces of change such as com-
petition, technological change, market trends and
10
broader economic shocks such as the 2008 financial
crash and subsequent recession. Here, we are par-
ticularly interested in the flexibilisation of employ-
ment and labour markets that has occurred since the
1980s, linked to a sectoral shift from manufacturing
to services in developed countries and the growth of
part-time and contract employment, coupled with
reductions in employment stability and security (the
end of the job for life). These changes have been most
prevalent in Anglo-Saxon countries such as the US,
United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, reflecting their
strong attachment to neoliberal policies (Box 1.2)
which have championed the need to create flexible
labour markets, supported by curbs on trade union
power. While flexibility is attractive to business, it is
associated with greater insecurity and precarity for
a significant proportion of the workforce (Coe and
Jones 2010: 6).
1.2.2 Uneven development
A basic feature of economic development under
capitalism is its geographical unevenness. Uneven
development is an inherent feature of the capital-
ist economy, reflecting the tendency for growth and
investment to become concentrated in particular
locations. These areas may be favoured by a par-
ticular set of advantages such as their geographical
position, resource base, availability of capital or the
skills and capabilities of the workforce. Once growth
begins to accelerate in a particular area, it tends to
‘suck in’ investment, labour and resources from sur-
rounding regions. Capital (investment) is attracted by
the opportunities for profit whilst workers are drawn
by abundant job opportunities and high wages. Sur-
rounding regions are often left behind, relegated to a
subordinate role supplying resources and labour to
the growth area.
One key aspect of the process of uneven economic
development is that it occurs at different geographical
scales (Figure 1.2). This can be illustrated with refer-
ence to three key scales of activity: the global, regional
and local.

³ At the global level, there is a marked divergence
between the ‘core’ in North America, Japan and
Western Europe and the ‘periphery’ in the ‘global
South’ of Asia, Latin America and Africa (see
Figure 1.4). This pattern reflects the legacy of colo-
nialism, whereby the core countries in Europe and
North America produced high-value manufac-
tured goods and the colonies produced low-value
raw materials and agricultural products. Whilst a
number of East Asian countries, including China,
have been able to overcome this legacy, experienc-
ing rapid growth and rising prosperity over the past
25 years, others, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,
have been left behind, experiencing conditions of
extreme deprivation and poverty.
³ Within individual countries too, economic dispar-
ities between regions are evident. The rapid eco-
nomic development of China, for instance, has
opened up a growing divide between the booming
coastal provinces in the south and east and a poor,
GDP per capita 2015 (US$ PPP)
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
United Arab United Japan European
Emirates States Union
Figure 1.4 GDP by country
Source: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html.
Introducing economic geography
underdeveloped interior (Box 1.3). Developed coun-
tries are also characterised by regional disparities,
such as the persistent north-south divide which has
characterised the economic geography of the United
Kingdom since the 1930s.
³ Even on a local level within cities, uneven develop-
ment is present in the form of social polarisation
between affluent middle-class neighbourhoods and
poorer inner city areas and public housing schemes
or projects. For example, a study of neighbourhood
inequality in the eight largest Canadian cities found
that it has increased between 1980 and 2005 (Chen
et al. 2012). This was due to differential growth in
family earnings which rose rapidly for the most
affluent families whilst declining or stagnating for
the poorer ones. A strong pattern of residential clus-
tering, whereby affluent people tend to live in afflu-
ent areas and poorer people in poorer ones, meant
that this resulted in increased inequality between
neighbourhoods.
Russia Brazil China Bolivia India Kenya Haiti Somalia
11
Foundations

Box 1.3

Rapid economic growth and uneven development in China

Since the Communist regime opened
up its economy to attract foreign
investment in 1978, China has expe-
rienced rapid economic development,
becoming a world manufacturing and
assembly centre, with the economy
growing at an average rate of 10 per
cent per year from the early 1980s to
2012. As a result, GDP per capita was
35 times higher in 2011 than 1978,
lifting over half a million people out of
poverty (Knight 2013). Rapid growth
has, however, created considerable
strains in terms of environmental
degradation, increased inequality and
the ruling Communist Party’s ability
to manage the social pressures gener-
ated by people’s rising expectations.
The rate of GDP growth actually fell
to an average of 7 per cent between
2012 and 2015 (although many
commentators are sceptical of these
official figures), sparking fears about
economic slowdown in the context of
reduced demand from China for com-
modities such as oil, copper and iron
ore, as well as broader imbalances in
the economy.
The experience of China since
1978 is consistent with the argu-
ment that uneven geographical devel-
opment is inherent to the process of
economic development. The degree of
regional inequality often reflects the
speed and magnitude of economic
and social transformation, meaning
that it is generally highest in coun-
tries undergoing rapid industrialisa-
tion and development which tends to
be concentrated in particular regions
(World Bank 2009). Economic growth
has created a complex pattern of
regional inequality in China, though
the underlying divide is between
the coastal regions and the interior.
The ‘open door’ policy was initially
based on the designation of special
economic zones in the coastal prov-
inces to attract foreign investment,
encouraging these regions to ‘get rich
quick’ (Wei 1999: 51). Coastal prov-
inces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu,
Zhejiang, Fujian and Shandong expe-
rienced rapid growth in the 1980s
and 1990s, while much of the inte-
rior lagged behind. This fuelled the
migration of millions of rural work-
ers to the coastal cities in search of
employment, generating what has
been called the largest mass migra-
tion in human history. As a result,
55 per cent of China’s population
now lives in cities, compared to less
than 20 per cent in 1978 (Anderlini
2015). About 275 million workers,
more than a third of China’s labour
force, are migrants from the coun-
tryside, often leaving their families
behind in their rural villages of origin.
In recent years, the Chinese gov-
ernment has placed more emphasis
on the development of the interior,
linked to a rebalancing away from
export-led growth towards the domes-
tic market, particularly in response to
the effects of the financial crisis in
2008 (Yang 2013). This has fostered
rapid industrial growth in parts of cen-
tral and western China with the city
of Chongqing in Sichuan province,
for instance, becoming a key centre
of personal computer manufactur-
ing (Yang 2017). This highlights the
dynamic nature of uneven develop-
ment processes, particularly in con-
ditions of rapid economic growth as
new centres of production emerge
while established ones undergo peri-
ods of restructuring. In recent years,
as some interior provinces have expe-
rienced rapid development, the flow
of migrants to the coastal regions has
slowed markedly and some migrant
workers have returned to their home
areas, with Chongqing, for instance,
attracting around 300,000 returning
migrant workers in 2014 (ibid.).

The process of economic development is highly
dynamic in nature as new technologies are developed,
new forms of customer demand emerge and work
practices change. Over time, patterns of uneven devel-
opment are periodically restructured as capital invest-
ment moves between different locations, investing in
those which offer the highest rate of return (profit).
As a result, new growth regions emerge whilst estab-
lished ones can experience stagnation and decline. As
broader market conditions and technologies change,
the specialised economic base of formerly prosperous
regions can be undermined by reduced demand, rising
costs, competition and the invention of new products
and methods of production. On a global scale, the most
dramatic change in patterns of uneven development is
the emergence of East Asia as a dynamic growth region
over the last 30 years or so (Box 1.3). Within devel-
oped countries, established industrial regions based on
nineteenth- and early twentieth-century industries such
as coal, steel and shipbuilding have experienced decline

12

whilst new growth centres have emerged in regions
such as the south and west of the US (the so-called ‘sun-
belt’), southern Germany and Cambridge in England.
1.2.3 The importance
of place
The role of place in shaping economic activity is a third
key theme of this book. As we suggested in the previous
section, processes of uneven geographical development
have created distinctive forms of production in partic-
ular places. During the nineteenth and early twenti-
eth century, specialised industrial regions emerged in
Europe and North America. As a result,
. . . distinct places are associated with sectoral and
functional divisions of labour. In the United States
for example, “Pittsburgh meant steel, Lowell meant
textiles, and Detroit meant automobiles” (Clark et al.
1986: 23), while in the United Kingdom, “one finds
metal workers in the Midlands, office professionals
in London, miners in South Wales, and academics
in Oxford” (Storper and Walker 1989: 156).
(Peck 1996: 14)
Although some of these specific associations have been
weakened by deindustrialisation, the general point
about distinctive forms of production being associated
with particular places remains important. The City of
London continues to be associated with finance and
business services, for instance, Los Angeles with mov-
ies and Milan with clothing design and fashion. Sil-
icon Valley in California has become the hub of the
internet and social media industries, building on its
previous success in electronics and computers. This
geographical variety of local economies is continually
reproduced through the interaction between wider
processes of uneven development and local politi-
cal, social, economic and cultural conditions. These
conditions reflect the economic history of a place in
terms of the particular industries found there and the
institutions and practices associated with them. In
general, the interaction between the legacies of estab-
lished industries and institutions and emerging forces
of economic change shapes and moulds the economic
landscape (Massey 1984).
Introducing economic geography
It has become increasingly clear in recent years that
globalisation is a differentiated and uneven process,
generating different outcomes in different places. In
particular, it seems to be associated with a resurgence
of certain regions as economic units in recent decades.
In particular, the success of dynamic growth regions
such as the City of London, Silicon Valley, Taipei in
Taiwan and Guangdong and Shanghai in China are
rooted in the specialised production systems that have
flourished there. Geographical proximity seems to
encourage close linkages and communication between
firms, enabling them to share information and resources.
The existence of a large pool of skilled labour is a crucial
feature of such regions, allowing firms to recruit easily
and workers to move jobs without leaving the local area.
These aspects of the local production system encourage
innovation and entrepreneurship, enhancing their com-
petitiveness within the global economy.
Whilst globalisation is not leading to the erasure of
place in absolute terms, it does undermine traditional
notions of places as homogenous and clearly bounded
local areas. In response, there is a need to rethink place
in terms of connections and relations across space
(Massey 1994). It is in this sense that the British geog-
rapher Doreen Massey’s work on the development of a
‘global sense of place’ is of particular interest. Massey
develops a new conception of place as a meeting place,
a kind of node or point where wider social relations and
connections come together:
. . . what gives place its specificity is not some
long internalised history but the fact that it is
constructed out of a particular constellation of
social relations, meeting and weaving together at a
particular locus. . . . Instead . . . of thinking of places
as areas with boundaries around them, they can be
imagined as articulated moments in networks of
social relations and understandings . . . and this in
turn allows a sense of place which is extroverted,
which includes a consciousness of its links with the
wider world, which integrates in a positive way the
global and the local . . .
(Massey 1994: 154–5)
From this perspective, place can itself be regarded as a
process rather than being seen as a static and unchanging
entity. Places are connected and linked through wider
13
Foundations

processes of uneven development operating through
flows of capital, goods, services, information and people.
Movement of particular commodities like bananas, for
example, links different parts of the UK to the econo-
mies of certain Caribbean islands (see Box 1.5).
Reflect
³ Do you agree that specific places (regions) remain
important within a global economy? Justify your
answer with examples.
1.3 The economy and
economic geography
1.3.1 The capitalist economy
‘The economy’ refers to the interrelated processes of
production, circulation, exchange and consumption
through which wealth is generated (Hudson 2005:
1). It is through such processes that people strive
to meet their material needs, earning a living in the
form of wages, profits or rent. Production involves
combining land (including resources), capital, labour
and knowledge – commonly known as the factors of
production – to make or provide particular commodities.
It relies on a supply of resources from nature, mean-
ing that economic activities have a direct impact on the
environment. The commodity, defined as any product
or service that is sold commercially, is so basic to the
workings of the economy that Karl Marx described it
as the ‘economic cell form’ of capitalism. The modern
economy involves the production and consumption of
a vast array of commodities, spanning everything from
smart phones to package holidays (Boxes 1.4, 1.5).
Human societies have tended to organise and
structure their economic activities through overar-
ching modes of production. These can be defined as
economic and social systems which determine how
resources are deployed, how work is organised and how
wealth is distributed. Economic historians have identi-
fied a number of modes of production, principally sub-
sistence, slavery, feudalism, capitalism and socialism.
Each of these creates distinctive relationships between
the main factors of production. Capitalism is clearly the
dominant mode of production in the world today, oper-
ating at an increasingly global scale. It is defined by pri-
vate ownership of the means of production – factories,
offices, equipment and money capital – and the asso-
ciated need for most people to sell their labour power
to employers in order to earn a wage. This allows them
to purchase commodities produced by other firms, cre-
ating the market demand that underpins the capitalist

Box 1.4

Global commodity chains

Global commodity chains (GCCs) link
together the production and supply
of raw materials, the processing of
these materials, the production of
components, the assembly of fin-
ished products, and the distribution,
sales and consumption of these prod-
ucts. They involve a range of different
organisations and actors, for example
farmers, mining or plantation compa-
nies, component suppliers, manu-
facturers, subcontractors, transport
operators, distributors, retailers and
consumers. Global commodity chains
have a distinct geography, linking
together different stages of produc-
tion carried out in different places
(Watts 2014). Some parts of the pro-
duction process add more value or
profit, creating tensions between the
different participants in the supply
chain over who captures this value.
Relationships between large super-
markets and their suppliers are a
good example of this tension, with
farmers in the UK staging protests,
including the removal of milk from
supermarket shelves, against low
prices in August 2015. Exploring the
production and consumption of par-
ticular commodities helps us to trace
and uncover economic connections
between places, linking different
localities to global trading networks
and showing how the range of goods
(such as milk) that we consume on a
daily basis are produced, distributed
and sold.

14
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Title: Los cien mil hijos de San Luis

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HIJOS DE SAN LUIS ***
Índice: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII,
XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX,
XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI.

Nota de transcripción

Los errores de imprenta han sido corregidos.

La ortografía del texto original ha sido modernizada de acuerdo con las normas
publicadas en 2010 por la Real Academia Española.
Las rayas intrapárrafos han sido espaciadas según los modernos usos
ortotipográficos.
Las notas a pie de página han sido renumeradas y colocadas al final del párrafo en
que se las llama.
 EPISODIOS NACIONALES

LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS DE SAN LUIS

 Es propiedad. Queda hecho el depósito
que marca la ley. Serán furtivos los
ejemplares que no lleven el sello del autor
 B. PÉREZ GALDÓS
EPISODIOS NACIONALES
SEGUNDA SERIE

LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS

DE

SAN LUIS

33.000

MA DRID
O B RAS DE P É RE Z G AL DÓ S
132, Hortaleza
1904
EST. TIP. DE LA VIUDA E HIJOS DE TELLO
IMPRESOR DE CÁMARA DE S. M.
C. de San Francisco, 4.
 LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS
DE SAN LUIS

Para la composición de este libro cuenta el autor con materiales

muy preciosos. Además de las noticias verbales, que casi son e
principal fundamento de la presente obra, posee un manuscrito que le
ayudará admirablemente en la narración de la parte o tratado que lleva
por título Los cien mil hijos de San Luis. El tal manuscrito es hechura
de una señora, por cuya razón bien se comprende que será dos veces
interesante, y lo sería más aún si estuviese completo. ¡Lástima grande
que la negligencia de los primeros poseedores de él dejara perder una
de las partes más curiosas y necesarias que lo componen! Solo dos
fragmentos sin enlace entre sí llegaron a nuestras manos. Las
laboriosas indagaciones para allegar lo que falta han sido inútiles, lo
que en verdad es muy lamentable, porque nos veremos obligados a
llenar con relatos de nuestra propia cosecha el gran vacío que entre
ambas piezas del manuscrito femenil resulta.
Este tiene la forma de Memorias. Su primer fragmento lleva po
epígrafe De Madrid a Urgel, y empieza así:
 I

En Bayona, donde busqué refugio tranquilo al separarme de m

esposo, conocí al general Eguía.[1] Iba a visitarme con frecuencia, y
como era tan indiscreto y vanidoso, me revelaba sus planes de
conspiración, regocijándose en mi sorpresa y riendo conmigo del gran
chubasco que amenazaba a los francmasones. Por él supe en e
verano del 21 que Su Majestad, nuestro católico rey don Fernando
(que Dios guarde), anhelando deshacerse de los revolucionarios po
cualquier medio y a toda costa, tenía dos comisionados en Francia, los
cuales eran:
[1] Puede verse el retrato de este personaje en las Memorias de un
Cortesano de 1815.

1.º El mismo general don Francisco Eguía, cuya alta misión era
promover desde la frontera el levantamiento de partidas realistas.
2.º Don José Morejón, oficial de la secretaría de la Guerra, y
después Secretario reservado de Su Majestad con ejercicio de
decretos, el cual tenía el encargo de gestionar en París con e
gobierno francés los medios de arrancar a España el cauterio de la
Constitución gaditana, sustituyéndole con una cataplasma anodina
hecha en la misma farmacia de donde salió la Carta de Luis XVIII.
Alababa yo estas cosas por no reñir con el anciano general, que era
muy galante y atento conmigo; pero en mi interior deploraba, como
amante muy fiel del régimen absoluto, que cosas tan graves se
emprendieran por la mediación de personas de tan dudoso valer. No
conocía yo en aquellos tiempos a Morejón; pero mis noticias eran que
no había sido inventor de la pólvora. En cuanto a Eguía, debo deci
con mi franqueza habitual que era uno de los hombres más pobres de
ingenio que en mi vida he visto.
 Aún gastaba la coleta que le hizo tan famoso en 1814, y con la
coleta el mismo humor atrabiliario, despótico, voluble y regañón. Pero
en Bayona no infundía miedo como en Madrid, y de él se reían todos
No es exagerado cuanto se ha dicho de la astuta pastelera que llegó a
dominarle. Yo la conocí, y puedo atestiguar que el agente de nuestro
egregio soberano comprometía lamentablemente su dignidad y aun la
dignidad de la corona, poniendo en manos de aquella infame muje
negocios tan delicados. Asistía la tal a las conferencias, administraba
gran parte de los fondos, se entendía directamente con los partidarios
que un día y otro pasaban la frontera, y parecía en todo ser ella misma
la organizadora del levantamiento y el principal apoderado de nuestro
querido rey.
Después de esto he pasado temporaditas en Bayona, y he visto la
vergonzosa conducta de algunos españoles que sin cesar conspiran
en aquel pueblo, verdadera antesala de nuestras revoluciones; pero
nunca he visto degradación y torpeza semejantes a las del tiempo de
Eguía. Yo escribía entonces a don Víctor Sáez, residente en Madrid, y
le decía: «Felicite usted a los francmasones, porque mientras la
salvación de Su Majestad siga confiada a las manos que por aqu
tocan el pandero, ellos están de enhorabuena.»
En el invierno del mismo año se realizaron las predicciones que yo
por no poder darle consejos, había hecho al mismo Eguía, y fue que
habiendo convocado de orden del rey a otros personajes absolutistas
para trabajar en comunidad, se desavinieron de tal modo, que aquello
más que junta parecía la dispersión de las gentes. Cada cual pensaba
de distinto modo, y ninguno cedía en su terca opinión. A esta variedad
en los pareceres y terquedad para sostenerlos llamo yo enjaezar los
entendimientos a la calesera, es decir, a la española. El marqués de
Mataflorida[2] proponía el establecimiento del absolutismo puro
Balmaseda, comisionado por el gobierno francés para tratar este
asunto, también estaba por lo despótico, aunque no en grado tan
furioso; Morejón se abrazaba a la Carta francesa; Eguía sostenía e
veto absoluto y las dos Cámaras, a pesar de no saber lo que eran una
cosa y otra, y Saldaña, nombrado como una especie de quinto en
discordia, no se resolvía ni por la tiranía entera ni por la tiranía a media
miel.
 [2] Conocido por don Buenaventura en las Memorias de un cortesano
y en La segunda casaca.

Entre tanto, el gobierno francés concedió a Eguía algunos millones

de los cuales podría dar cuenta si viviese la hermosa pastelera. Dios
me perdone el mal juicio; pero casi podría jurar que de aquel dinero
solo algunas sumas insignificantes pasaron a manos de los pobres
guerrilleros, tan bravos como desinteresados, que desnudos
descalzos y hambrientos, levantaban el glorioso estandarte de la fe y
de la monarquía en las montañas de Navarra o de Cataluña.
Las bajezas, la ineptitud y el despilfarro de los comisionados
secretos de Su Majestad no cesaron hasta que apareció en Bayona
también con poderes reales, el gran pájaro de cuenta llamado don
Antonio Ugarte, a quien no vacilo en designar como el hombre más
listo de su época.
Yo le había tratado en Madrid el año 19. Él me estimaba en gran
manera, y, como Eguía, me visitaba a menudo, pero sin revelarme sus
planes. Desde que se encargó de manejar la conspiración, seguíala yo
con marcado interés, segura de su éxito, aunque sin sospechar que le
prestaría mi concurso activo en término muy breve. Un día Ugarte me
dijo:
—No se encuentra un solo hombre que sirva para asuntos
delicados. Todos son indiscretos, soplones y venales. ¿Ve usted lo que
trabajo aquí por orden de Su Majestad? Pues es nada en comparación
de lo que me dan que hacer las intrigas y torpezas de mis propios
colegas de conspiración. No me fío de ninguno, y en el día de hoy
teniendo que enviar un mensaje muy importante, estoy como
Diógenes, buscando un hombre sin poder encontrarlo.
—Pues busque usted bien, señor don Antonio —le respondí—, y
quizás encuentre una mujer.
Ugarte no daba crédito a mi determinación; pero tanto le encarec
mis deseos de ser útil a la causa del rey y de la religión, que al fin
convino en fiarme sus secretos.
—Efectivamente, Jenara —me dijo—: una dama podrá desempeña
mejor que cualquier hombre tan delicado encargo, si reúne a la belleza
y gallarda compostura de su persona un valor a toda prueba.
En seguida me reveló que en Madrid se preparaba un esfuerzo
político, es decir, un pronunciamiento, en el cual tomaría parte la
Guardia real con toda la tropa de línea que se pudiese comprometer
pero añadió que desconfiaba del éxito si no se hacían con mucho
pulso los trabajos, tratando de combinar el movimiento cortesano con
una ruidosa algarada de las partidas del norte. Discurriendo sobre este
negocio, me mostró su grandísima perspicacia y colosal ingenio para
conspirar, y después me instruyó prolijamente de lo que yo debía
hacer en Madrid, del arte con que debía tratar a cada una de las
personas para quienes llevaba delicados mensajes, con otras muchas
particularidades que no son de este momento. Casi toda mi comisión
era enteramente confidencial y personal, quiero decir que e
conspirador me entregó muy poco papel escrito; pero, en cambio, me
repitió varias veces sus instrucciones para que, reteniéndolas en la
memoria, obrase con desembarazo y seguridad en las difíciles
ocasiones que me aguardaban.
Partí para Madrid en febrero del 22.
 II

Con entusiasmo y placer emprendí estos manejos: con entusiasmo

porque adoraba en aquellos días la causa de la Iglesia y el trono; con
placer, porque la ociosidad entristecía mis días en Bayona. La soledad
de mi existencia me abrumaba tanto como el peso de las desgracias
que a otros afligen y que yo aún no conocía. Separándome de m
esposo, cuyo salvaje carácter y feroz suspicacia me hubieran quitado
la vida, adquirí libertad suma y un sosiego que, después de saboreado
por algún tiempo, llegó a ser para mí algo fastidioso. Poseía bienes de
fortuna suficientes para no inquietarme de las materialidades de la
vida: de modo que mi ociosidad era absoluta. Me refiero a la holganza
del espíritu, que es la más penosa, pues la de las manos, yo, que no
carezco de habilidades, jamás la he conocido.
A estos motivos de tristeza debo añadir el gran vacío de mi corazón
que estaba ha tiempo como casa deshabitada, lleno tan solo de
sombras y ecos. Después de la muerte de mi abuelo, ningún afecto de
familia podía interesarme, pues los Baraonas que subsistían, o eran
muy lejanos parientes, o no me querían bien. De mi infelicísimo
casamiento solo saqué amarguras y pesadumbres; y para que todo
fuese maldito en aquella unión, no tuve hijos. Sin duda Dios no quería
que en el mundo quedase memoria de tan grande error.
Fácilmente se comprenderá que en tal situación de espíritu me
gustaría lanzarme a esas ocupaciones febriles que han sido siempre e
principal goce de mi vida. Ninguna cosa llana y natural ha cautivado
jamás mi corazón, ni me embelesó, como a otros, lo que llaman dulce
corriente de la vida. Antes bien, yo la quiero tortuosa y rápida; que me
ofrezca sorpresas a cada instante y aun peligros; que se interne po
pasos misteriosos, después de los cuales deslumbre más la claridad
del día; que caiga como el Piedra en cataratas llenas de ruido y
colores, o se oculte como el Guadiana, sin que nadie sepa dónde ha
ido.
Yo sentía además en mi alma la atracción de la corte, no pudiendo
descifrar claramente cuál objeto o persona me llamaban en ella, n
explicarme las anticipadas emociones que por el camino sentía m
corazón, como el derrochador que principia a gastar su fortuna antes
de heredada. Mi fantasía enviaba delante de sí, en el camino de
Madrid, maravillosos sueños e infinitos goces del alma, peligros
vencidos y amables ideales realizados. Caminando de este modo y
con los fines que llevaba, iba yo por mi propio y verdadero camino.
Desde que llegué me puse en comunicación con los personajes
para quienes llevaba cartas o recados verbales. Tuve noticias de la
rebelión de los Guardias que se preparaba; hice lo que Ugarte me
había mandado en sus minuciosas instrucciones, y hallé ocasión de
advertir el mucho atolondramiento y ningún concierto con que eran
llevados en Madrid los arduos trámites de la conspiración.
Lo mejor y más importante de mi comisión estaba en Palacio, a
donde me llevó don Víctor Sáez, confesor de Su Majestad. Muchos
deseos tenía yo de ver de cerca y conocer por mí misma al rey de
España y toda su real familia, y entonces quedó satisfecho mi anhelo
Hice un rápido estudio de todos los habitantes de Palacio
particularmente de las mujeres: la reina Amalia, doña Francisca
esposa de don Carlos, y doña Carlota, del infante don Francisco. La
segunda me pareció desde luego mujer a propósito para revolver toda
la corte. De los hombres, don Carlos me pareció muy sesudo, dotado
de cierto fondo de honradez preciosísima, con lo cual compensaba su
escasez de luces, y a Fernando le diputé por muy astuto y conocedo
de los hombres, apto para engañarles a todos, si bien privado del valo
necesario para sacar partido de las flaquezas ajenas. La reina pasaba
su vida rezando y desmayándose; pero la varonil doña Francisca de
Braganza ponía su alma entera en las cosas políticas, y llena de
ambición, trataba de ser el brazo derecho de la corte. Doña Carlota
por entonces embarazada del que luego fue rey consorte, tampoco se
dormía en esto.
Los palaciegos, tan aborrecidos de la muchedumbre constitucional
Infantado, Montijo, Sarriá y demás aristócratas, no servían en realidad
de gran cosa. Sus planes, faltos de seso y travesura, tenían por objeto
algo en que se destacase con preferencia la personalidad de ellos
mismos. Ninguno valía para maldita la cosa, y así nada se habría
perdido con quitarles toda participación en la conjura. Los individuos
de la Congregación Apostólica, que era una especie de masonería
absolutista, tampoco hacían nada de provecho, como no fuera allega
plebe y disponer de la gente fanática para un momento propicio. En los
jefes de la Guardia había más presunción que verdadera aptitud para
un golpe difícil, y el clero se precipitaba gritando en los púlpitos
cuando la situación requería prudencia y habilidad sumas. Los
liberales masones o comuneros vendidos al absolutismo, y que a
pronunciar sus discursos violentos se entusiasmaban por cuenta de
este, estaban muy mal dirigidos, porque con su exageración ponían
diariamente en guardia a los constitucionales de buena fe. He
examinado uno por uno los elementos que formaban la conspiración
absolutista del año 22, para que cuando la refiera se explique en cierto
modo el lamentable aborto y total ruina de ella.

Nota del autor. A continuación refiere la señora los sucesos del 7

de julio. Aunque su narración es superior a la nuestra, por la graciosa
sencillez y verdad con que toda ella está hecha, la suprimimos, pues
no conviene repetir, aun mejorándolo, lo que ya apareció en otro
volumen.
 III

Después de los aciagos días de julio, mi situación, que hasta

entonces había sido franca y segura, fue comprometidísima. No es
fácil dar una idea de la presteza con que se ocultaron todos aquellos
hombres que pocos días antes conspiraban descaradamente
Desaparecieron como caterva de menudos ratoncillos, cuando los
sorprende en sus audaces rapiñas el hombre sin poder perseguirlos, n
aun conocer los agujeros por donde se han metido. A mí me
maravillaba que don Víctor Sáez, hombre de una obesidad respetable
pudiera estar escondido sin que al punto se descubriese su guarida
Los palaciegos se filtraron también, y los que no estaban claramente
comprometidos, como por ejemplo, Pipaón, dieron vivas a la
Constitución vencedora, uniéndose a los liberales.
Tuve además la desgracia de perder varios papeles en casa de un
pobre maestro de escuela donde nos reuníamos, y esto me causó
gran zozobra; pero al fin los encontré, no sin trabajo, exponiéndome a
los mayores peligros. La seguridad de mi persona corrió también no
poco riesgo, y en los días 9 y 10 de julio no tuve un instante de respiro
pues por milagro no me arrastraron a la cárcel los milicianos borrachos
de vino y de patriotería. Gracias a Dios, vino en mi amparo un joven
paisano y antiguo amigo mío, el cual en otras ocasiones había ejercido
en mi vida influencia muy decisiva, semejante a la de las estrellas en la
antigua cábala de los astrólogos.
Pasados los primeros días, pude introducirme en Palacio, a pesa
de la formidable y espesa muralla liberalesca que lo defendía
Encontré a Su Majestad lleno de consternación y amargura
principalmente por verse obligado a poner semblante lisonjero a sus
enemigos y aun a darles abrazos, lo cual era muy del gusto de ellos
en su mayoría gente inocentona y crédula. No me agradaba ver en
nuestro soberano tan menguado corazón; pero si en él concordara e
valor con las travesuras y agudezas del entendimiento, ningún tirano
antiguo ni moderno le habría igualado. Su desaliento y desesperación
no le impidieron que se enamorase de mí, porque en todas las
ocasiones de su vida, bajo las distintas máscaras que se quitaba y se
ponía, aparecía siempre el sátiro.
Temerosa de ciertas brutalidades, quise huir. Brindéme entonces a
desempeñar una comisión difícil para lo cual Fernando no se fiaba de
ningún mensajero; y aunque él no quiso que yo me encargase de ella
porque no me alejara de la corte, tanto insté y con tales muestras de
verdad prometí volver, que se me dieron los pasaportes.
El mes anterior había salido para Francia don José Villar Frontín
uno de los intrigantes más sutiles del año 14, aunque, como salido de
la academia del cuarto del infante don Antonio, no era hombre de gran
iniciativa, sino muy plegadizo y servicial en bajas urdimbres. Llevaba
órdenes para que el marqués de Mataflorida formase una regencia
absolutista en cualquier punto de la frontera conquistado por los
guerrilleros. Estas instrucciones eran conformes al plan del gobierno
francés, que deseaba la introducción de la Carta en España y un
absolutismo templado; pero Fernando, que hacía tantos papeles a la
vez, deseaba que sus comisionados, afectando amor a la Carta
trabajasen por el absolutismo limpio. Esto exigía frecuentes
rectificaciones en los despachos que se enviaban y avisos
contradictorios, trabajo no escaso para quien había de ocultar de sus
ministros todos estos y aun otros inverosímiles líos.
Yo me comprometí a hacer entender a Mataflorida y a Ugarte lo que
se quería, transmitiéndole verbalmente algunas preciosas ideas de
monarca, que no podían fiarse al papel, ni a signo ni cifra alguna. Ya
por aquellos días se supo que la Seo de Urgel había sido ganada a
gobierno por el bravo Trapense, y se esperaba que en la agreste plaza
se constituyera la salvadora regencia. A la Seo, pues, debía yo
dirigirme.
La partida y el viaje no eran problemas fáciles. Esto me preocupó
durante algunos días, y traté de sobornar, para que me acompañase
al amigo de quien antes he hablado. A él no le faltaban en verdad
ganas de ir conmigo al extremo del mundo; pero le contenía el amo
de su madre anciana. No poco luché para decidirle, empleando
razonamientos y seducciones diversas; mas a pesar de la propensión
de su carácter a ciertas locuras y del considerable dominio que yo
empezaba a ejercer sobre él, se resistía tenazmente, alegando
motivos poderosos, cuya fuerza no me era desconocida. Al fin, tanto
pudo una mujer llorando, que él abandonó todo, su madre y su casa
aunque por poco tiempo, con la sana intención de volver cuando me
dejase en paraje donde no existiese peligro alguno. El infeliz
presagiaba sin duda su desdichada suerte en aquella expedición
porque luchó grandemente consigo mismo para decidirse, y hasta
última hora estuvo vacilante.
Aquel hombre había sido enemigo mío, o más propiamente, de m
esposo. Desde la niñez nos conocimos; fue mi novio en la edad en que
se tiene novio. Sucesos lamentables que me afligen al venir a la
memoria, caprichos y vanidades mías me separaron de él, yo creí que
para siempre; pero Dios lo dispuso de otro modo. Durante algún
tiempo estuve creyendo que le odiaba; pero el sentimiento que llenaba
mi alma era, más que rencor, una antipatía arbitraria y voluntariosa
Por causa de ella siempre le tenía en la memoria y en el pensamiento
Circunstancias funestas le pusieron en contacto conmigo diferentes
veces, y siempre que ocurría algo grave en la vida de él o en la mía
tropezábamos providencialmente el uno con el otro, como si el alma de
cada cual, viéndose en peligro, pidiese auxilio a su compañera.
En mí se verificó una crisis singular. Por razones que no son de este
sitio, llegué a aborrecer todo lo que mi esposo amaba y amar todo lo
que él aborrecía. Al mismo tiempo, mi antiguo novio mostraba hacia m
sentimientos tan vivos de menosprecio y desdén, que esto inclinó m
corazón a estimarle. Yo soy así, y me parece que no soy el único
ejemplar. Desde la ocasión en que le arranqué de las furibundas
manos de mi marido, no debí de ser tampoco para él muy aborrecible.
Cuando nos encontramos en Madrid, y desde que hablamos
caímos en la cuenta de que ambos estábamos muy solos. Y si había
semejanza en nuestra soledad, no era menor la de nuestros
caracteres, principal origen quizás de aquella. Hicimos propósito de
echar a la espalda aquel trágico aborrecimiento que antes nos
teníamos, el cual se fundaba en veleidades y caprichosas
monomanías del espíritu, y no tardamos mucho tiempo en conseguirlo
Ambos reconocimos las grandes y ya irremediables equivocaciones de
nuestra primera juventud, y nos maravillábamos de ver tan
extraordinaria fraternidad en nuestras almas. ¡Ser de este modo, habe