Mathematical Location and Land Use Theory: An Introduction

Covers all main topics of spatial economics, plant location, the theory of nested market areas, including rank-size relations, spatial competition and pricing, land use theory and the emergence of specialization and trade, commuting and traffic distributions according to the gravity and entropy hypotheses, migration, and the layout of transportation networks. A strong focus is on the continuous two dimensional geographical space, with Beckmann''s continuous flow model as central piece. Another feature is a focus on structural stability rather than optimality of emergent patterns. All the specific mathematical tools needed are developed within context. The whole approach is intuitive, and supported by lavish computer graphics. The new edition contains extensive material on spatial competition, oligopoly theory in Hotelling''s setup. The Hotelling case is formally worked out with elastic demand, which limits the occurrence of some of the confusing paradoxes Hotelling found for inelastic demand.