Central place theory and city size distribution

This paper proposes a theory of city size distribution via a hierarchy approach rather than the popular random growth process. It does so by formalizing central place theory using an equilibrium entry model and specifying the conditions under which city size distribution follows a power law. Central...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: HSU, Wen-Tai
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1994
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2993/viewcontent/Hsu_2012_The_Economic_Journal__1_.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
id sg-smu-ink.soe_research-2993
record_format dspace
spelling sg-smu-ink.soe_research-29932019-11-22T08:11:28Z Central place theory and city size distribution HSU, Wen-Tai This paper proposes a theory of city size distribution via a hierarchy approach rather than the popular random growth process. It does so by formalizing central place theory using an equilibrium entry model and specifying the conditions under which city size distribution follows a power law. Central place theory describes the way in which a hierarchical city system with different layers of cities serving differently sized market areas is formed from a uniformly populated space. The force driving the city size differences in this model is the heterogeneity in economies of scale across goods. The city size distribution under a central place hierarchy exhibits a power law if the distribution of scale economies is regularly varying, which is a general class that encompasses many well-known, commonly used distributions. This model is also consistent with a power law for firms and a number-average-size rule, which is the log-linear relationship between the number and average size of the cities in which an industry is located. 2012-09-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1994 info:doi/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02518.x https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2993/viewcontent/Hsu_2012_The_Economic_Journal__1_.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School Of Economics eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Central place theory power law Zipf’s law regular variation number-averagesize rule fractal structure Behavioral Economics Growth and Development Urban Studies and Planning
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Central place theory
power law
Zipf’s law
regular variation
number-averagesize rule
fractal structure
Behavioral Economics
Growth and Development
Urban Studies and Planning
spellingShingle Central place theory
power law
Zipf’s law
regular variation
number-averagesize rule
fractal structure
Behavioral Economics
Growth and Development
Urban Studies and Planning
HSU, Wen-Tai
Central place theory and city size distribution
description This paper proposes a theory of city size distribution via a hierarchy approach rather than the popular random growth process. It does so by formalizing central place theory using an equilibrium entry model and specifying the conditions under which city size distribution follows a power law. Central place theory describes the way in which a hierarchical city system with different layers of cities serving differently sized market areas is formed from a uniformly populated space. The force driving the city size differences in this model is the heterogeneity in economies of scale across goods. The city size distribution under a central place hierarchy exhibits a power law if the distribution of scale economies is regularly varying, which is a general class that encompasses many well-known, commonly used distributions. This model is also consistent with a power law for firms and a number-average-size rule, which is the log-linear relationship between the number and average size of the cities in which an industry is located.
format text
author HSU, Wen-Tai
author_facet HSU, Wen-Tai
author_sort HSU, Wen-Tai
title Central place theory and city size distribution
title_short Central place theory and city size distribution
title_full Central place theory and city size distribution
title_fullStr Central place theory and city size distribution
title_full_unstemmed Central place theory and city size distribution
title_sort central place theory and city size distribution
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2012
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1994
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2993/viewcontent/Hsu_2012_The_Economic_Journal__1_.pdf
_version_ 1770573491960020992