Stability and sustainability of urban systems under commuting and transportation costs

Jacques Thisse, Yuki Takayama () and Kiyohiro Ikeda

No 14728, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper explores the conditions for the emergence of a system of cities in a general equilibrium setting that accounts for the mobility of labor, transportation costs between cities and commuting costs within cities. Locations are equally distributed over a circular space. We find that the multiplicity of stable spatial equilibria is the rule and not the exception. Using the concept of stability areas to study the transition from one stable equilibrium to the next, we show that decreasing commuting or transportation costs generate equilibrium paths that may feature a megalopolis or hierarchical system of cities having different sizes. We confirm that transportation and commuting costs have opposite impacts on the space-economy.

Keywords: Economic geography; Cities; Racetrack economy; Multiplicity of stable equilibria; Commuting costs; Transportation costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F12 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-lab, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Stability and sustainability of urban systems under commuting and transportation costs (2020)
Working Paper: Stability and sustainability of urban systems under commuting and transportation costs (2020)
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