Agglomeration and Welfare: The Core-Periphery Model in the Light of Bentham, Kaldor and Rawls
Abstract
The objective of this Paper is to apply different welfare approaches to the canonical model developed by Krugman, with the aim of comparing the only two possible market outcomes, i.e. agglomeration and dispersion. More precisely, we use the potential Pareto improvement criteria, as well as the utilitarian and Rawlsian welfare functions. No clear answer emerges for the following two reasons: (i) in general, there is indetermination when compensation schemes are used and (ii) the best outcome heavily depends on societal values regarding inequalities across individuals. However, simulations undertaken for plausible values of the main parameters suggest that there might be excessive agglomeration.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 4715.Length:
Date of creation: Oct 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4715
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Related research
Keywords: agglomeration; compensation mechanism; economic geography; welfare;Other versions of this item:
- Charlot, Sylvie & Gaigne, Carl & Robert-Nicoud, Frederic & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 2006. "Agglomeration and welfare: The core-periphery model in the light of Bentham, Kaldor, and Rawls," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 325-347, January.
- CHARLOT, Sylvie & GAIGNÉ, Carl & ROBERT-NICOUD, Frédéric & THISSE, Jacques, 2003. "Agglomeration and welfare : the core-periphery model in the light of Bentham, Kaldor, and Rawls," CORE Discussion Papers 2003039, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies
- R13 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2005-02-13 (All new papers)
- NEP-GEO-2005-02-13 (Economic Geography)
- NEP-HPE-2005-02-13 (History & Philosophy of Economics)
- NEP-PKE-2005-02-13 (Post Keynesian Economics)
- NEP-URE-2005-02-13 (Urban & Real Estate Economics)
References
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