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Regional inequality and product variety

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Author Info
Kristian, BEHRENS
Jacques-Franois, THISSE

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Abstract

We investigate how differences in set-up costs of various types affect the trade-off between global efficiency and spatial equity and show that the standard assumption of symmetry in fixed costs masks the existence of an interesting effect : the range of available varieties varies depends on the spatial distribution of firms. In such a setting, even when the market outcome leads to excessive agglomeration under symmetric fixed costs, a planner opts for asymmetric fixed costs and more agglomeration. The reason is that the losses induced by more agglomeration are offset by the gains due to additional product variety.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques in its series Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) with number 2005013.

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Length: 15
Date of creation: 23 Jan 2005
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Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvec:2005013

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Related research
Keywords: fixed costs; set-up costs; market size; international trade; homemarket effect;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies
F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
R38 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Production Analysis and Firm Location - - - Government Policies; Regulatory Policies

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2002. "On the Pervasiveness of Home Market Effects," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 69(275), pages 371-90, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Baldwin, Richard E. & Martin, Philippe, 2004. "Agglomeration and regional growth," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 60, pages 2671-2711 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Engel, Charles & Rogers, John H, 1996. "How Wide Is the Border?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1112-25, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Ottaviano, Gianmarco Ireo Paolo & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2003. "Agglomeration and Economic Geography," CEPR Discussion Papers 3838, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Jonathan Haskel & Holger Wolf, 2001. "The Law of One Price - A Case Study," NBER Working Papers 8112, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Paul Krugman, 1992. "Geography and Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262610868.
  8. Gianmarco Ottaviano & Takatoshi Tabuchi & Jacques-FranÁois Thisse, 2002. "Agglomeration and Trade Revisited," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(2), pages 409-436, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Ottaviano, Gianmarco Ireo Paolo & Thisse, Jacques-François, 1999. "Integration, Agglomeration and the Political Economics of Factor Mobility," CEPR Discussion Papers 2185, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation Of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2000. "Non-Europe: The magnitude and causes of market fragmentation in the EU," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 284-314, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2005. "Market size and tax competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 25-46, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Toshihiro Okubo & Vincent Rebeyrol, 2006. "Home Market Effect and Regulation Costs - Homogeneous Firm and Heterogeneous Firm Trade Models," HEI Working Papers 02-2006, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies. [Downloadable!]
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