Roles of theories in Economic Geography

To explain, assert causality

Harvey-“developing general explanatory statements of considerable reliability.”
1. generality: the explanation offered by a theory should not only apply in one place or time. It should be generalizable
2. reliability: a good theory consistently works as an explanation; its explanatory capacity will not often let us down, although occasionally it might.
theory should not only identify the causality but also give assumptions to predict

by no means everyone in the economic geography tent subscribes to the conventional causal‐explanatory understanding of theory. Some vigorously contest it. Why?

social context is all‐important: different contexts call for different explanations; explanation cannot be context‐independent.
some phenomena require causal explanation whereas others call for a different type of theory, more akin to “clarification” or “elucidation – richer, more expressive descriptions.”

economic geography is home to a range of different understandings of “theory,: Theory culture

2 broad culture to theory:

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