Spatial equilibrium models of systems of cities with interurban transportation costs.
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文摘
The dissertation deals with the following fundamental issues in urban research: Why are there cities of different sizes in a region, and how can we explain their location patterns? Earlier economic models have either focused on urban agglomeration effects and intraurban structure while ignoring interurban transportation costs, or made unrealistic assumptions to simplify the problem. This research presents a spatial equilibrium model of a single city located at the center of an agricultural hinterland, with trade of industrial and agricultural goods. The model is solved by numerical methods for various sets of input parameters pertaining to the industrial, agricultural, and transportation production functions and to population preferences. By modeling interurban transportation costs and land input into the production of agricultural goods, the spatial dimension of regions receives special attention in order to explain the location pattern of systems of cities. The model considers only two levels of cities in order to examine the mechanism and condition of forming a central place structure. Numerical methods are used to solve the model and derive the response functions of city population sizes, region spatial sizes, price and wage ratios. For the first time, we can clearly explain, in a spatial equilibrium framework, what determines the ratio of the numbers of higher-level to lower-level cities, their sizes and location pattern.