Back to the Future: Lösch, Isard, and the Role of Money and Credit in the Space-Economy

Regional Research Frontiers: The Next Fifty Years, edited by R. Jackson and P. Schaeffer, Advances in Spatial Science: Springer International, Forthcoming

26 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 2016 Last revised: 13 Nov 2016

See all articles by David S. Bieri

David S. Bieri

Virginia Tech - School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA); Virginia Tech - Department of Economics

Date Written: August 6, 2016

Abstract

The recent financial crisis has been a powerful reminder that the intersectoral flow of funds is also -- always and everywhere -- a local phenomenon with real effects. Yet, the contemporary canon of regional economic theory has enshrined the classical dichotomy, treating the spheres of money and production as analytically distinct. Consequently, the current literature has little to say about monetary phenomena and their spatial consequences. The widespread disengagement of regional scientists with respect to issues of money, credit and banking represents a radical break with the discipline's intellectual origins over half a century ago. This paper re-examines the monetary content of some of the foundational works in regional science. In particular, I argue that August Lösch and Walter Isard, the former a student of Joseph Schumpeter's and the latter a student of Alvin Hansen's, both represent important branches in the long lineage of 20th century continental and U.S. monetary thought, respectively. In doing so, this paper also outlines key elements of a research agenda that reengages with regional aspects of money and credit, casting them as central pillars of a Lösch-Isard synthesis.

Keywords: Monetary thought, non-neutrality of money, geography of money and finance, regional science

JEL Classification: B20, E12, R30

Suggested Citation

Bieri, David S., Back to the Future: Lösch, Isard, and the Role of Money and Credit in the Space-Economy (August 6, 2016). Regional Research Frontiers: The Next Fifty Years, edited by R. Jackson and P. Schaeffer, Advances in Spatial Science: Springer International, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2791761

David S. Bieri (Contact Author)

Virginia Tech - School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) ( email )

United States

Virginia Tech - Department of Economics ( email )

3021 Pamplin Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States

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