Cycles in the Development of Spatial Economics

The purpose of this compact essay is to explore, within a specific time-frame, two related issues regarding spatial economics. The first issue is whether and to what extent elements of space mattered to economists of the past. The second issue is why did a particular interest in spatial economics, as measured by an individual’s ‘peak performance’, surface when it did. By asking the questions why and when, we raise a more basic issue about the relative import of endogenous and exogenous influences on economic theory.