GEOG 326Geographic Perspectives on Economic Systems

3 credits · Geography · Penn State

This course builds on concepts presented in the introductory human geography course to explore the subfield of economic geography. It serves as a foundation for courses on economic development, political economy, and other offerings in geography. It will provide a balanced view of contemporary economic processes across the world through a geographical lens, focusing on a wide range of topics including the history of globalization, spatial structures of firms and businesses, international trade, and state interventions. The main objective of this course is to give students access to a geographer's lens for analyzing, interpreting, and critiquing information related to the economy. By the end of the course, students should be able to evaluate the role of different abstract principles in the creation of the economic landscape and to incorporate important critiques of these abstractions into their understanding of how and why uneven development is produced in economic systems. This course will also develop students' skills in formulating and presenting written and oral arguments based on their own knowledge in conjunction with various reference materials.