URBAN PRODUCTIVITY: CITY SIZE OR INDUSTRY SIZE*

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the effect of city size and industry size on urban productivity in the food processing industry. Some formulations suggest productivity is associated with industry size rather than city size. However, when allowance is made for the tendency of food processing to locate near relevant raw materials and for regional dummies, there is no support for industry scale economies. Agglomeration effects, associated with city size, do exist. The central estimates are based on the Chan-Mountain version of the translog production function. The results provide information on some facets of the appropriate balance between industrial and agricultural production.     

THE NUMBER‐AVERAGE SIZE RULE: A NEW EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL LOCATION AND CITY SIZE*

ABSTRACT The spatial intensities of both industries and population are highly uneven across space. Moreover, these intensities differ not only across industries, but also change through time. Nevertheless, we show using Japanese data for metropolitan areas in two time periods that the location intensities of both industries and population are linked by surprisingly simple and persistent patterns. In particular, we identify a strong negative log‐linear relation between the number and the average (population) size of metro areas in which a given industry is found. This relation, which we designate as the Number‐Average Size (NAS) Rule, is also shown to be intimately connected to both the Rank‐Size Rule and Christaller's (1966) Hierarchy Principle applied to metropolitan areas. In particular, we show mathematically that in the presence of the Hierarchy Principle (which holds quite well in Japan) this NAS Rule is essentially equivalent to the Rank Size Rule.     

THE SIZE OF SOVIET RAYONS AND INTRA-RAYON LINKAGES

The paper is devoted to an analysis of the relationship between the area of Soviet rayons (minor civil divisions) and population density. It is assumed that a network of rayons is shaped for purposes of administrative convenience, minimizing administration-related trips from the periphery to the center. The solution of the minimization problem yields a set of relationships among population density, radius, area and total population of rayons.     

THE GEOGRAPHICAL BASIS FOR DIFFERENTIATING THE SIZE OF FARMS

On the theory that optimization of farm size may enhance agricultural productivity, the author uses a game—theoretic model to find a solution for optimal farm size among the collective farms of Irkutsk Oblast. A game matrix, in which the players are the environment, using the strategies of a series of physical zones of agricultural production, and society, using the strategies of alternative farm sizes, yields a combination of farm sizes that would enhance total farm production in Irkutsk Oblast by 5 percent. The author notes that even greater improvements might be achieved in bringing types of farming more into line with physical and economic conditions of particular regions.     

CONTEMPORARY URBANIZATION AND AN OPTIMAL SIZE FOR SOVIET CITIES

Three Leningrad geographers use a recent book by Yu. L. Pivovarov of Moscow as a point of departure to focus on two issues relating to urbanization in the Soviet Union: (1) the nature of the urbanization process; (2) optimal city size. The authors challenge Pivovarov's view that urbanization is a relatively independent socio-historical process in which places evolve on their own from lower forms to higher forms of settlement. They contend that urbanization is closely related to the characteristics of a given socio-economic system and that, in the Soviet Union, it involves not only city growth per se, but the relationship between urban and rural settlement and the penetration of urban life styles into the countryside. On the controversy surrounding optimal size, the writers say that the issue is not to find the ideal size for cities in general, but to set desirable limits for cities of different functional types and, most important, to insure that the infrastructure of cities keeps pace with industrial potential. If industrial development moves far ahead of infrastructure, the authors argue, it is desirable to constrain further growth, especially by keeping out industries that tend to have an agglomerative effect in attracting other industries. Once infrastructure catches up with industrial development, the constraints can be eased and the economies of size inherent in large cities can again come into play.     

THE SIZE OF NATURE RESERVES AND COSTS OF THEIR MAINTENANCE

A paper devoted to nature reserve size in the USSR, and more specifically to whether the areas of such reserves are adequate in particular natural zones and for particular species, determines that too many zapovedniki presently are too small to carry out their intended functions properly. In fact, until quite recently, in spite of a dramatic expansion of the total area and number of nature reserves, average reserve size has decreased. A trend toward decreasing reserve size and increasing per hectare maintenance expenditures can be noted as the level of economic development characteristic of particular natural zones increases (translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005).     

PARTICLE SIZE AND PHOSPHATE ANALYSIS-EVIDENCE FOR THE EVOLUTION OF A TELL

Soil samples were collected from a deep sounding through the centre of a tell, 11 m in height, at Sitagroi in north-eastern Greece. These samples were analysed for particle size and total phosphate in order to elucidate the formation of the tell. The phosphate results, though very varied, indicated that the tell evolved entirely as a result of occupation of the site. It is proposed that the main process of accumulation was from house collapse and that local alluvium was used for house construction. A similarity is shown between local alluvium, a remnant of a house wall and most of the samples from the deep sounding. Pearson type 1 curves are fitted to the particle size data and this permits a grouping of soil samples. Some of the divisions between the groups coincide not only with occupation phase changes but also with localized lower phosphate contents. Two periods of site abandonment are suggested.     

聚集经济与最优城市规模探讨

经济活动的空间集中是一个引人注目的现象,聚集经济是空间集中的重要原因之一。虽然外部性对经济活动的集中有重要影响,但要解释聚集经济的来源还必须寻求更微观、更基本的经济主体行为上的原因。每个城市都存在着一个最优的规模,这个最有效率的规模是由经济活动空间集中所带来的利益与所引起的成本之间的一个均衡所决定的。因此,在城市化过程中,必须注重城市功能与效率的充分发挥。本文结合规模收益递增和单中心圆形城市模型,分析了通勤成本、城市规模收益递增程度对最优城市规模的影响,讨讨了城市人均收入与城市规模之间的关系,推导了两种对立的力量所决定的最优城市规模。文中指出:在一定条件下,城市人均收入与城市规模之间存在倒U形关系;否则,在城市总生产函数中规模收益递增程度足够强的情况下,最优城市规模取决于通勤成本。     

A NOTE ON NEIGHBORHOOD SIZE AND THE MEASUREMENT OF SEGREGATION INDICES*

This note examines neighborhood segregation measures with respect to size and validity. Conventional measures, while related to within-neighborhood homogeneity, are not necessarily related to neighborhood size. An empirical test examines racial segregation for Baltimore in 1970 and 1980 using both census tract and specially formulated neighborhood aggregates. For both years, and for all measures of segregation, the values and trends are essentially unchanged by the level of aggregation.     

AN INDUSTRIAL AGGLOMERATION APPROACH TO CENTRAL PLACE AND CITY SIZE REGULARITIES*

ABSTRACT An empirical regularity designated as the Number‐Average Size (NAS) Rule was first identified for the case of Japan by Mori, Nishikimi, and Smith , and subsequently extended to the United States by Hsu . This rule asserts a negative log‐linear relation between the number and average population size of cities where a given industry is present. In this paper, we utilize the cluster‐identification methodology developed by Mori and Smith to sharpen this notion of “industrial presence” by focusing only on cities that constitute at least part of a significant spatial agglomeration for the given industry. Our key result is to show that the NAS rule continues to hold (even more strongly) under this sharper definition.     

TELECOMMUNICATION EXTERNAL ECONOMIES,CITY SIZE AND OPTIMAL PRICING FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS*

ABSTRACT. In this paper I make use of a city systems model to examine how telecommunications may affect cities in urban systems. The model offers an explanation for the observation that the share of employment in the communication-intensive producer-service sector increases with city size in the U.S. I suggest that external scale economies associated with metropolitan employment size, telecommunication network size and total number of intrametropolitan telecommunication contacts are possible explanations for this observation. I go on to suggest that the presence of telecommunication size and contact level external scale economies at the metropolitan level affects the optimal price that should be charged for local telecommunication services.     

山东微山县出土大型五铢

2003年12月18日至2004年元月8日,山东微山县微山岛乡发现古墓葬,县文化局、文物管理所和乡文化站组成发掘小组,发掘清理了12座汉代石椁画像墓、土坑墓,出土一批陶、釉陶、原始青瓷、银、铜、铁、玉、骨、石、水晶质文物及钱币。M18为石椁画像墓、墓室的草木灰中发现7枚半两钱,直径23mm。M20的墓室中有5枚五铢,M21的墓室中有9枚五铢,M22的墓室中有10枚五铢,M23的墓室中有1枚大泉五十和1枚货泉,M24的墓室中有2枚大泉五十。所出五铢均为西汉钱币,墓葬年代为王莽中期。M25为竖穴土坑墓,墓中骨架颌骨部有一枚剪轮五铢,为口含,骨架的腰部有40余…     

珠江三角洲中小城市的城市化研究

本文通过对中小城市在珠江三角洲城市化进程中的发展地位、发展特点、城市化形成机制以及珠江三角洲未来发展环境等方面进行分析,得出:①中小城市的发展完善了珠江三角洲的城镇体系;②中小城市对城市化水平的贡献率远远大于大城市;③未来城市发展的动力机制将更趋多样性,将会出现更加理想的城市化空间发展模式。另外,针对珠江三角洲未来中小城市的发展,本文提出了相应的对策。