New economic geography: history and debate

We synthesise the main conceptual discussion around New Economic Geography (NEG). We provide the background in adjacent fields of economics which made the surge of NEG possible. We then assess the state of the art in NEG and track the intellectual evolution of the field, focussing on the intrinsic criticism that it has been subject to throughout its history. This criticism has its roots in different conceptions of geography and history, as well as other methodological differences between economists and geographers. We analyse the evolution of the debate and communication between geographical economists and economic geographers.