IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/inrsre/v4y1979i2p127-136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Functional Form of the Gravity Model

Author

Listed:
  • James B. Kau

    (Department of Real Estate and Urban Development The University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602 USA)

  • C.F. Sirmans

    (Department of Real Estate and Urban Development The University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602 USA)

Abstract

Gravity models have been used extensively in regional planning and transportation studies in order to examine spatial interaction. These models have been criticized, however, because their precise functional form is difficult to determine empirically. In this paper an application of a maximum likelihood method, developed by Box and Cox, is presented that allows an investigator to choose the most appropriate functional form from a general class of alternatives. This method, which imposes no additional information requirements, is applied to 1970 data on 489 trip flows among approximately 700 different travel nodes in Georgia. The log-linear functional form for the gravity model performs best in this context.

Suggested Citation

  • James B. Kau & C.F. Sirmans, 1979. "The Functional Form of the Gravity Model," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 4(2), pages 127-136, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:4:y:1979:i:2:p:127-136
    DOI: 10.1177/016001767900400202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/016001767900400202
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/016001767900400202?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, 1954. "Long-Range Economic Projection," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number unkn54-1.
    2. Thomas F. Golob & Martin J. Beckmann, 1971. "A Utility Model for Travel Forecasting," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 79-90, February.
    3. Thomas F. Golob & Richard L. Gustafson & Martin J. Beckmann, 1973. "An Economic Utility Theory Approach To Spatial Interaction," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 159-182, January.
    4. Walter Isard & Guy Freutel, 1954. "Regional and National Product Projections and their Interrelations," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Range Economic Projection, pages 425-471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Martin J. Beckmann & James P. Wallace, 1969. "Evaluation of User Benefits Arising from Changes in Transportation Systems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 344-351, November.
    6. Tony E. Smith, 1975. "An Axiomatic Theory Of Spatial Discounting Behavior," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 31-43, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Felipa Mello Sampayo, 2006. "The Geographic Distribution of Economic Activities of the USA Multinational Enterprises," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_040, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wojciech Kisiała & Artur Bajerski & Bartosz Stępiński, 2017. "Equalising or Polarising: The Centre–Periphery Model and the Absorption of EU Funds under Regional Operational Programmes in Poland," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 67(3), pages 413-434, September.
    2. Manas Chatterji, 2014. "Walter Isard and the Role of Regional Science and Peace Science for the Poor Countries," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 37(1), pages 96-106, January.
    3. T E Smith, 1976. "A Spatial-Discounting Theory of Interaction Preferences," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 8(8), pages 879-915, December.
    4. Lin, Ting (Grace) & Xia, Jianhong (Cecilia) & Robinson, Todd P. & Goulias, Konstadinos G. & Church, Richard L. & Olaru, Doina & Tapin, John & Han, Renlong, 2014. "Spatial analysis of access to and accessibility surrounding train stations: a case study of accessibility for the elderly in Perth, Western Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 111-120.
    5. Brander, Luke M. & Ghermandi, Andrea & Kuik, Onno & Markandya, Anil & Nunes, Paulo A.L.D. & Schaafsma, Marije & Wagtendonk, Alfred, 2010. "Scaling up Ecosystem Services Values: Methodology, Applicability and a Case Study," Sustainable Development Papers 60689, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    6. L Lo, 1991. "Spatial Structure and Spatial Interaction: A Simulation Approach," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 23(9), pages 1279-1300, September.
    7. repec:elg:eechap:14395_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Wang, Fahui & Guldmann, Jean-Michel, 1996. "Simulating urban population density with a gravity-based model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 245-256, December.
    9. Purcell, Joseph C., 1955. "Prospective Demand for Meat and Livestock in the South," Marketing Research Reports 310115, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Transportation and Marketing Program.
    10. Heyes, Anthony & Martin, Steve, 2015. "NGO mission design," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 197-210.
    11. Paas, Tiiu, 2002. "Gravity Approach for Exploring Baltic Sea Regional Integration in the Field of International Trade," Discussion Paper Series 26379, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    12. W. Brock & A. Xepapadeas & A. Yannacopoulos, 2014. "Robust Control and Hot Spots in Spatiotemporal Economic Systems," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 257-289, September.
    13. Robert E. Lipsey, 2010. "John W. Kendrick (1917–2009)," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 647-650, September.
    14. Neoh, Jun Guan & Chipulu, Maxwell & Marshall, Alasdair & Tewkesbury, Adam, 2018. "How commuters’ motivations to drive relate to propensity to carpool: Evidence from the United Kingdom and the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 128-148.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:4:y:1979:i:2:p:127-136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.