IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/spmain/hal-03415835.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Agglomeration incentives in a spatial Cournot model with increasing returns to scale

Author

Listed:
  • Sylvain Barde

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, University of Kent [Canterbury])

Abstract

This paper uses a spatial Cournot competition model to examine the effect of increasing returns to scale (IRS) in manufacturing as an agglomerating force between a fixed number of firms competing over regional markets. As one would expect, with a constant returns to scale (CRS) manufacturing sector the dispersed symmetric equilibrium will always be stable. The first important result is the confirmation that even low levels of IRS provide incentives for the manufacturing firms to deviate from this symmetric equilibrium and move towards agglomeration. An interesting aspect of the results, however, is that IRS do not automatically imply an unstable symmetric equilibrium, and the threshold required to provoke instability increases with transport costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Barde, 2008. "Agglomeration incentives in a spatial Cournot model with increasing returns to scale," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03415835, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03415835
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal-sciencespo.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03415835
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    2. Anderson, Simon P & Neven, Damien J, 1991. "Cournot Competition Yields Spatial Agglomeration," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(4), pages 793-808, November.
    3. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Lafourcade, Miren, 2001. "Transport Cost Decline and Regional Inequalities: Evidence from France," CEPR Discussion Papers 2894, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Diego Puga, 1998. "Agglomeration in the Global Economy: A Survey of the ‘New Economic Geography’," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 707-731, August.
    5. Gupta, Barnali & Pal, Debashis & Sarkar, Jyotirmoy, 1997. "Spatial Cournot competition and agglomeration in a model of location choice," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 261-282, June.
    6. Paul Krugman, 1998. "Space: The Final Frontier," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 161-174, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sylvain Barde, 2007. "Modelling the Folk Theorem: A Spatial Cournot Model with Explicit Increasing Returns to Scale," Studies in Economics 0701, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    2. Lammers, Konrad & Stiller, Silvia, 2000. "Regionalpolitische Implikationen der neuen ökonomischen Geographie," HWWA Discussion Papers 85, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    3. Ramírez Grajeda, Mauricio & de León Arias, Adrián, 2009. "Spatial implications of international trade under the new economic geography approach," MPRA Paper 18076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Yang, Yong, 2012. "Agglomeration density and tourism development in China: An empirical research based on dynamic panel data model," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1347-1359.
    5. Alberto Franco Pozzolo, 2004. "Research and Development, Regional Spillovers and the Location of Economic Activities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 72(4), pages 463-482, July.
    6. Ademir Rocha & Fernando Perobelli, 2020. "Spatial distribution of logistics services in Brazil: A potential market analysis," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 185-217, February.
    7. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8001 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Fujita, Masahisa & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2009. "New Economic Geography: An appraisal on the occasion of Paul Krugman's 2008 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 109-119, March.
    9. J.Peter Neary, 2001. "Of Hype and Hyperbolas: Introducing the New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 536-561, June.
    10. Mayer, Thierry, 2000. "Spatial Cournot competition and heterogeneous production costs across locations," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 325-352, May.
    11. Eric Langlais & Andreea Cosnita-Langlais, 2022. "Incentives to differentiate under environmental liability laws : Product customization and precautionary effort," EconomiX Working Papers 2022-20, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    12. Henry Overman & Stephen Redding & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Economic Geography of Trade, Production, and Income: A Survey of Empirics," CEP Discussion Papers dp0508, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Stefano Colombo, 2016. "Location choices with a non-linear demand function," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95, pages 215-226, March.
    14. Ricardo Biscaia & Paula Sarmento, 2013. "Location Decisions in a Natural Resource Model of Cournot Competition," FEP Working Papers 509, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    15. Epifani, Paolo, 2005. "Heckscher-Ohlin and agglomeration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 645-657, November.
    16. Norman Sedgley & Bruce Elmslie, 2011. "Do We Still Need Cities? Evidence on Rates of Innovation from Count Data Models of Metropolitan Statistical Area Patents," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 86-108, January.
    17. Alejandro Diaz-Bautista, 2005. "Agglomeration Economies, Economic Growth and the New Economic Geography in Mexico," Urban/Regional 0508001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Puga, Diego, 1999. "The rise and fall of regional inequalities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 303-334, February.
    19. Noriaki Matsushima & Toshihiro Matsumura, 2003. "Mixed oligopoly and spatial agglomeration," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 62-87, February.
    20. Chia-Hung Sun & Jyh-Fa Tsai & Fu-Chuan Lai, 2017. "Spatial Cournot competition in a circular city with more than two dispatches," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 68(4), pages 413-442, December.
    21. Stéphane Riou, 2003. "Géographie, croissance et politique de cohésion en Europe," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 17(3), pages 171-220.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

    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:hal:spmain:hal-03415835. 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: Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.