Brett Christophers has an interesting piece in Progress in Human Geography, entitled “The territorial fix: Price, power and profit in the geographies of markets” (requires subscription). It takes the notion of the ‘spatial fix’ developed by David Harvey and others and argues for a ‘territorial fix’, and developing from my claim that territory is a ‘political technology’, suggests it is also an ‘economic technology’.

The article heeds recent calls for closer attention to the geographies of markets. Speaking primarily to a rich tradition of geographical political economy, it argues that such geographies are highly material to value and profit creation and realization. In developing this argument, the article invokes the concept of a ‘territorial fix’, whereby territory is conceptualized as a technology of market-making geared to putting in place and optimizing the conditions for capital accumulation. The article draws selectively and critically on studies of territorialized market formation and pricing in two globalized industries – pharmaceuticals and television – to formulate this argument.