Spatial Structure in the Retail Trade: A Study in Product Differentiation with Increasing Returns
Abstract
This article develops a model to analyze the implications of economies of scale in transportation for the spatial distribution of retail outlets and for the structure and pricing of public transportation systems. Consumers (or workers) are located around the circumference of a circle with a single producer (or employer) at the center. Consumers may buy directly from the center (workers may drive directly to the center), or they may buy from shops on the circumference which have bought in bulk from the center (workers may drive to stations on the circumference and commute by public transportation). The article examines the socially optimal pattern of outlets, the pricing policy which supports this and the effects of alternative pricing policies, and the patterns of outlets resulting from various forms of competition. Among the results derived, it is shown that the socially optimal pattern cannot be sustained by nondiscriminatory pricing that covers average costs, and that attempts to cover average costs may lead to large distortions. In addition, without price discrimination, competition usually leads to an excessive number of outlets if the market is large and to an insufficient number if the market is small.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by The RAND Corporation in its journal Bell Journal of Economics.
Volume (Year): 11 (1980)
Issue (Month): 2 (Autumn)
Pages: 565-583
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Web page: http://www.rje.org
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Bouckaert, J., 1995.
"Momopolistic Competition with a Mail Order Business,"
Papers
9562, Tilburg - Center for Economic Research.
- Bouckaert, Jan, 2000. "Monopolistic competition with a mail order business," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 303-310, March.
- Bouckaert, J.M.C., 1995. "Monopolistic competition with a mail order business," Discussion Paper 1995-62, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
- Aiura, Hiroshi & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2008. "Welfare properties of spatial competition with location-dependent costs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 32-48, January.
- Jacek Cukrowski, 1998. "Information-processing, technological progress and regional retail networks dynamics," ERSA conference papers ersa98p71, European Regional Science Association.
- David Flath, 2003. "Regulation, Distribution Efficiency, and Retail Density," NBER Working Papers 9450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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