Stylised facts and close dialogue redux

Abstract

We reprise Clark’s influential 1998 article on ‘stylized facts and close dialogue’ to reflect on the state of both and their status in economic geography 25 years later. While close dialogue has been embraced by economic geographers, the notion of stylised facts has been neglected. In making the case for more explicit consideration of stylised facts, we highlight their importance in the research process as a catalyst for interaction between theory and empirical evidence and as a facilitator of academic communication across disciplines, methods and the public. The importance of stylised facts is illustrated by focusing on global financial networks and the efficient market hypothesis. In a time of uncertainty, locally and globally, there is increasing demand for close dialogue as well as new stylised facts – new ways of conceptualising the economic geography of the 21st century.