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The indeterminacy of equilibrium city formation under monopolistic competition and increasing returns

Marcus Berliant, Fan-chin Kung

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

Abstract

We study the indeterminacy of equilibrium in the Fujita-Krugman [When is the economy monocentric?: von Thünen and Chamberlin unified, Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 25 (1995) 505-528] model of city formation under monopolistic competition and increasing returns. Both the number and the locations of cities are endogenously determined. Assuming smooth transportation costs, we examine equilibria in city-economies where a finite number of cities form endogenously. For any positive integer K, the set of equilibria with K distinct cities has a smooth manifold of dimension K - 1 as its interior for almost all parameter values in a regular parameterization. The disjoint union of these sets over all positive integers K constitutes the entire equilibrium set. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-133
JournalJournal of Economic Theory
Volume131
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2006

Bibliographical note

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Research Keywords

  • City formation
  • Differentiable manifold
  • Increasing returns
  • Indeterminacy of city systems

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