0000000000546168
AUTHOR
Kristian Behrens
showing 3 related works from this author
On the emergence of the urban phenomenon. Part I
2001
In this paper we develop a relatively simple but general model describing the formation of urban agglomerations in a pre-industrial setting. Rural agglomeration on a local scale arises from the multiplication and specialization of intermediate goods and labor services, while dispersion is due to the commuting costs of agricultural workers. Urban agglomeration on a more global scale stems from the trade-off between increasing returns to scale and transport costs of goods. We derive a general equilibrium model of the formation of urban structures and show how population growth, strict indivisibilities and structural changes in the production sector can modify quantitatively and qualitatively …
Asymmetric trade and agglomeration
2003
We extend the quadratic utility approach by Ottaviano et al. [19] and byBehrens [1] to the range of intermediate values of transport costs in orderto investigate how asymmetric trade affects the regional distribution ofeconomic activities. Asymmetry in trade is an endogenous result of pricecompetition and transport costs: depending on both the spatial distribution offirms and the value of transport costs, only firms located in one of the tworegions can profitably access the foreign market, which gives rise to morecomplex patterns of trade. We show that the unilateral breaking of autarkygives rise to strong agglomeration forces which lead to the absorption of thesmaller regions’ industry. Fu…
On the emergence of the urban phenomenon Part II
2001
In this paper, we extend the basic model describing the formation of urban agglomerations in a pre-industrial setting. As we will show, this setting is flexible enough to allow for the investigation of multiple aspects of the spatial economy. After summarizing the basic model and the numerical examples we will refer to, we successively examine the issues of coordination failure in the emergence of the urban phenomenon, the presence of transactions costs and the possibility of diffusion of manufactured good production through the system of agglomerations. This last aspect will be treated in two different ways : that of increasing agricultural productivity and that of increasing technologi…