HETEROGENEOUS TASTES AND RESIDENTIAL LOCATION*

ABSTRACT. In a simple urban model, where the only spatial distinction made is between center and suburb, we introduce a uniform distribution of preferences for land. Under a logarithmic utility function, we examine how the location and consumption decisions of individuals differ in consequence of their different preferences for land. Comparative statics indicate that the qualitative response of the city at equilibrium to changes in per capita income and transportation cost is not affected by the introduction of such heterogeneity. Possible extensions are also briefly discussed.     

HOMO ECONOMICUS IN PERSPECTIVE

We are concerned about the growing body of critical literature against the use of neoclassical economics (nce) in geography. Examples in this literature share important characteristics, namely, a concern about the philosophy of science, a scepticism about the utility of mathematical modelling, and an aversion to homo economicus. Since these subjects are often misunderstood, we first provide brief reviews. We then use this background to examine in detail a representative example of the critical literature (Barnes 1987). We believe that our conclusions extend to a significant part of that literature.
Nous nous inquiétons du nombre de plus en plus grand d'articles de nature critique qui réfutent I'application de I'économie néo-classique (enc) à la géographic Certains traits importants se retrouvent dans beaucoup d'articles, c'est-à-dire, des intérêts pour la philosophie des sciences, un scepticisme quant à I'utilité des modèles mathéma-tiques, et une aversion pour homo economicus. Comme ces sujets sont fréquemment mal compris, nous fournis-sons tout d'abord de brèves revues de la littérature. Ensuite, nous nous servons de ce point de départ pour examiner en détail une partie représentative de la litlé-rature (Barnes 1987). Nous croyons que nos conclusions s'appliquent à un grand nombre d'articles.     

Political Aspects of Social Justice and Physical Planning in an Abstract City

This essay examines the issue of consistency between certain short-run effects of urban policy and the corresponding incidence of policy. Short-run effects are politically important in democracies because they determine popular support. Incidence, on the other hand, is socially important because it defines the level of welfare and its distribution among citizens. It is seen that the two are not necessarily consistent. Inconsistencies arise within both the social and the spatial realms of urban policy. Such inconsistencies depend upon individual preferences, urban morphology, urban technology, and upon the structure of society itself.     

An Analysis of Migration Streams for the Canadian Regional System, 1952–1983 1. Migration Probabilities

This is part one of a two-part series that seeks to specify the factors and processes contributing to aggregate change in the Canadian population distribution over the recent past. In part one, we use a model of migration probabilities to identify socioeconomic factors that explain the observed interregional migration flows. In part two, we use an adjustment process for our regional population system to calculate equilibrium population distributions. The estimated migration probabilities of part one are essential for this calculation, thus linking equilibria with the socioeconomic factors previously identified. Disequilibrium, defined as the difference between observed and equilibrium population distributions, is then used to infer relative growth and decline tendencies in the system. We examine and justify our results in the larger context of contemporary Canadian history.     

An Analysis of Migration Streams for the Canadian Regional System, 1952–1983: 2. Disequilibrium

This is part two of a two-part series that seeks to specify the factors and processes contributing to aggregate change in the Canadian population distribution over the recent past. In part one, we use a model of migration probabilities to identify socioeconomic factors that explain the observed interregional migration flows. In part two, we use an adjustment process for our regional population system to calculate equilibrium population distributions. The estimated migration probabilities of part one are essential for this calculation, thus linking equilibria with the socioeconomic factors previously identified. Disequilibrium, defined as the difference between observed and equilibrium population distributions, is then used to infer relative growth and decline tendencies in the system. We examine and justify our results in the larger context of contemporary Canadian history.     

POPULATION DENSITY IN A CENTRAL‐PLACE SYSTEM

The existing empirical literature about polycentric population density has focused on the urban scale, and the alternative models proposed in that context have been justified using heuristic arguments. This paper describes how polycentric density distributions can, in general, be endowed with a theoretical framework which differs from the existing literature with respect to the treatment of centers: instead of assuming that they represent places of work, it assumes they are places that provide goods and services to households. This imposes a hierarchical structure on the model, which allows replacing the set of distances to all centers (typically used in the existing literature as the same explanans irrespectively of location) with a smaller set of distances that corresponds to the number of levels in the hierarchy and varies with location. The central‐place framework used also provides a direct link between a polycentric model and the Clark formula, in the sense that the latter can emerge through a smoothing procedure of the former. Finally, in the context of central places, the scope of related empirical investigations can be extended naturally from the urban to the regional scale. This is the scale of a simple test presented here, which has been specifically included to support the corresponding theoretical arguments about the structure of a polycentric density gradient. The paper concludes with some expected problems and advantages of applying these ideas to the urban scale.