Review

     Before having read Geography and Trade, I knew little about what economists call economic geography.  On his introduction, Krugman defines economic geography as "the location of production in space."  The novel itself represents a series of lectures which Krugman gave in 1990 in Belgium.  At first I was a little wary that an international economist such as Krugman had moved into another field; namely that of economic geography.  It rapidly becomes apparent however that its really impossible to understand one without the other, and the distinctions between international, intranational, and interstate trade really begin to blur.

     With the exception of his appendixes (on the core-periphery model, one on expectations, and one on labor market pooling) the book reads pretty smoothly and is understandable without much of the mathematical jargon that has dominated the field recently.  Krugman does employ some rather simple, enjoyable game theory models to explain items such as the development of the manufacturing belt in the United States.  All in all, the work is a quick, easy read which would serve as a great introduction to someone interested in economic geography or spatial economies.

-Daniel Hicks
Economic Analyst
theshortrun.com