Analytical Political Economy: A Geographical Introduction

Abstract

This paper is an introduction to the special issue on ‘space and analytical political economy’. First, the term analytical political economy is defined by an examination of the historical rise of the political economy perspective within economics. Second, three leading variants within the analytical political economic tradition are distinguished and described—neo-Ricardianism, fundamental Marxism, and rational choice Marxism. Last, the consequences of inserting geography into the aspatial theories of analytical political economy are briefly reviewed.