Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13181
Authors: André de Palma; Yorgos Papageorgiou; Jacques-François Thisse; Philip Ushchev
Abstract: We provide a bare--bones framework that uncovers the circumstances which lead either to the emergence of equally-spaced and equally-sized central places or to a hierarchy of central places. We show how these patterns reflect the preferences of agents and the efficiency of transportation and communication technologies. Under one class of agents, the economy is characterized by a uniform distribution or by a periodic distribution of central places having the same size. Under two asymmetric classes of agents, the interaction between agents may give rise to a hierarchy of settlements with one or several primate cities.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: R12; R14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| agents' preferences shift towards valuing interactions with others (D91) | pattern of equally spaced central places emerges (R12) |
| increase in spatial interaction (R12) | population becomes unevenly distributed across central places (R23) |
| population density increases beyond threshold (J11) | negative impacts of congestion dominate, leading to a decrease in overall welfare (L91) |
| improvements in transportation and communication technologies (L96) | density of activities initially fosters agglomeration (R11) |
| density of activities (R11) | more dispersed configuration as congestion costs rise (L91) |
| emergence of hierarchy of central places (R12) | interactions between two populations with differing characteristics (F55) |