Myth and Reality in the Origin of American Economic Geography

Abstract

The organization of American economic geography and the enunciation of a new, human-focused conceptual orientation appropriate to it have been attributed to scholars at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. I argue here that such attribution is too limited and does disservice to the rich history of the discipline. Economic geography as a university subject was introduced by economists influenced by German economic historicism. It was adopted by departments of geography when abandoned by economists. Earliest formulations of a new non-Davisian model of geographic inquiry were the work of individuals not connected with the Wharton group of Emory Johnson, J. Russell Smith, J. Paul Goode, and Walter S. Tower. The general recognition of the philosophic and subject organization contribution of the Pennsylvania group is appropriate but made more realistic by a fuller understanding of the diverse roots of American economic geography.

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