Central place theory and city size distribution

• Main Author: HSU, Wen-Tai
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Central place theory; power law; Zipf’s law; regular variation; number-averagesize rule; fractal structure; Behavioral Economics; Growth and Development; Urban Studies and Planning
• 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
• Institution: Singapore Management University

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...