THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN AREAS: TESTING FOR THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE PARETO DISTRIBUTION USING A GENERALIZED BOX-COX TRANSFORMATION FUNCTION*

ABSTRACT A widely held opinion among urban economists and geographers is that the Pareto distribution is an accurate representation of the urban size distribution of many countries around the world. This paper focuses attention on the appropriateness of the procedures used in the literature in arriving at this conclusion. We employed the generalized Box-Cox transformation function, which permits estimation of many functional forms for testing the Pareto distribution as special cases. The results obtained are illuminating albeit somewhat surprising. Except for one country the Pareto distribution is overwhelmingly rejected in favor of the general Box-Cox function. In more than 30 percent of all countries this form collapses to a reciprocal function. Moreover, as far as the overall goodness of fit is concerned, our results show that the General Box-Cox function is superior to the Pareto form.     

THE ECONOMIC LAW OF MARKET AREAS: A FURTHER DISCUSSION*

ABSTRACT. The Economic Law of Market Areas, so named by Fetter, is concerned with the division of a territory between two competing centers. It is argued that this Law can be conveniently examined in terms of six cases, each of which is specified by a combination of differentials in freight rates and prices at the two centers. The locational significance of each case is considered, along with the form and dimensions of the market-area boundary between the two centers. Three of the cases are each shown to subsume a special case. It is further shown that for any case except one, a reversal of the differentials between the two centers, while resulting in a symmetrically-equivalent outcome, requires a different (and usually substantial) respecification of the case.     

A QUANTITATIVE FABRIC ANALYSIS APPROACH TO THE DISCRIMINATION OF WHITE MARBLES*

Quantitative fabric analysis was applied in order to discriminate better among white marbles from various quarries of archaeological interest. This method provides an effective complementary tool to a characterization based upon petrography, cathodoluminescence microscopy and stable isotopes. Very good discrimination of marbles is achieved with the help of simple variables such as major axis and the shape-specific PARlS-factor. Using quantitative fabric analysis, marbles with similar cathodomicrofacies, as, for example, the Naxian quarries of Apiranthos, Koronos, Flerio and Kinidaros and the quarry of St. Beat (French Pyrenees), can be distinguished from each other. Marbles collected within one quarry may display dissimilar cathodomicrofacies. The common origin of such specimens can be determined with the aid of quantitative fabric analysis, as shown for the quarries of Kinidaros as well as St. Béat.     

GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS OF URBAN SPATIAL STRUCTURE. THE PORT-CITY MODEL RECONSIDERED*

In this paper, I consider a general equilibrium urban spatial structure in the setting of a port city by adopting Cobb-Douglas type functional forms for production and utility functions. Unlike previous port-city models, this one can generate four land-use patterns, that is, (1) monocentric, (2) completely integrated, (3) partially integrated (with integration at the center), and (4) partially integrated (with integration at the urban fringe) land-use patterns, and the last pattern suggests a new explanation of suburbanization of employment. The existence and uniqueness of each land-use pattern is proven in a simple constructive way.     

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF OFFICE RENT AND AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES: A CASE STUDY OF TORONTO*

ABSTRACT. An equilibrium model of office location is applied and tested in the Toronto metropolitan area. The model focuses on the role of communication among firms which is the driving force behind the spatial agglomeration of office firms. The model calculates the equilibrium floor rent in each district, given the existing building stock. The performance of the model is tested in terms of the goodness of fit between observed and estimated office rent in each district. By using the model, we estimate the value of agglomeration economies which is defined as changes in productivities caused by increases in the number of office firms. It is shown that the agglomeration economies in the office sector are much larger than those in manufacturing, and the external effects of agglomeration are considerably large.