Engel's law, Petty's law, and agglomeration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Murata, Yasusada
• 署名单位: Nihon University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2007.06.001
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 161-177
• 关键词: Structural change; agglomeration; Engel's law; Petty's law; Economic geography

摘要

This paper presents a model of structural change and agglomeration. A decline in transportation costs, by enhancing consumers' purchasing power, leads to Engel's law of the demand shift from agricultural to non-agricultural goods. At the same time, the decline in transportation costs, by enlarging the extent of the market for non-agricultural goods, induces Petty's law of the labor reallocation from agriculture to non-agricultural activities. These structural transformations weaken dispersion forces given by farmers tied to the land, whereas they strengthen agglomeration forces generated by footloose non-agricultural workers. Thus, a substantial decline in transportation costs gives rise to agglomeration of non-agricultural activities. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.