Regular field and tenurial arrangements in Holderness,Yorkshire

In this paper I shall argue that in a small district of Yorkshire, details of field form and holding layout in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century townships suggest that these came into being as a result of a phase of reorganization and planning. I shall also consider the possible period of this reorganization, and discuss the circumstances that may have been involved.An approach of this kind inevitably raises the problem of the extent to which landscape forms can be used as evidence of their modes of origin. It is fashionable to argue that an emphasis on morphological aspects overlooks functional and change-producing mechanisms in field systems, that such an approach tends to assume stability of form where positive evidence for change is lacking, and that identical forms can originate in different ways and at different times. On the other hand, landscape forms are often the only clues to phases of development that occurred before documentary evidence was of sufficient quantity and quality to reveal them. The value of the methodology has been particularly well demonstrated in Sweden, where more recent landscapes have been used as the basis for the identification of earlier generations of field patterns and settlements. ^[1] In England, the approach has been most successfully applied to the analysis of settlement forms. Both Roberts and Sheppard have convincingly demonstrated that an examination of regular village plans in northern England can reveal evidence of their early development. ^[2] This paper is an attempt to use a similar technique in the study of field morphology and tenurial patterns.     

PRICING POLICY REACTIONS TO AGGLOMERATION IN A MARKET WITH SPATIAL SEARCH*

ABSTRACT. Price dispersion (variation) and agglomeration are common characteristics of spatial markets, in particular, markets with imperfect consumer information and search. However, pricing and location strategies in these markets are not well analyzed since spatial search is difficult to model without restricting the spatial dimension of the problem. This paper analyzes pricing and location strategies in a market with spatid search using a probabilistic modeling strategy that does not restrict search patterns in the plane. Specifically, the analysis considers the pricing strategy of an isolated firm in response to the agglomeration of competing firms. Results indicate that spatial and temporal price dispersion are effective responses to competitors'agglomeration. However, the relative effectiveness of these strategies varies with market conditions. In addition, agglomeration can have some counterintuitive effects. This paper also provides insights into existing theories of spatial search and spatial competition in spatially-restricted (linear and circular) markets.