The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.

This paper is an effort to do international trade theory without mentioning countries. Nearly all models of the international economy assume that trade takes place between nations or regions which are themselves dimensionless points. We develop a model in which economic space is instead assumed to b...

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Main Authors: Krugman, P, Venables, A
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: National Bureau of Economic Research 1995
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author Krugman, P
Venables, A
author_facet Krugman, P
Venables, A
author_sort Krugman, P
collection OXFORD
description This paper is an effort to do international trade theory without mentioning countries. Nearly all models of the international economy assume that trade takes place between nations or regions which are themselves dimensionless points. We develop a model in which economic space is instead assumed to be continuous, and in which this 'seamless world' spontaneously organizes itself into industrial and agricultural zones because of the tension between forces of agglomeration and disagglomeration. One might expect such a model to be analytically intractable, but we are able to gain considerable insight through a combination of simulations and an analytical approach originally suggested in a biological context by Alan Turing.
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spelling oxford-uuid:bf44f47f-100e-4ff0-b4c0-db5bc3cb95ac2022-03-27T05:46:07ZThe Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.Working paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:bf44f47f-100e-4ff0-b4c0-db5bc3cb95acEnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsNational Bureau of Economic Research1995Krugman, PVenables, AThis paper is an effort to do international trade theory without mentioning countries. Nearly all models of the international economy assume that trade takes place between nations or regions which are themselves dimensionless points. We develop a model in which economic space is instead assumed to be continuous, and in which this 'seamless world' spontaneously organizes itself into industrial and agricultural zones because of the tension between forces of agglomeration and disagglomeration. One might expect such a model to be analytically intractable, but we are able to gain considerable insight through a combination of simulations and an analytical approach originally suggested in a biological context by Alan Turing.
spellingShingle Krugman, P
Venables, A
The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title_full The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title_fullStr The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title_full_unstemmed The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title_short The Seamless World: A Spatial Model of International Specialization.
title_sort seamless world a spatial model of international specialization
work_keys_str_mv AT krugmanp theseamlessworldaspatialmodelofinternationalspecialization
AT venablesa theseamlessworldaspatialmodelofinternationalspecialization
AT krugmanp seamlessworldaspatialmodelofinternationalspecialization
AT venablesa seamlessworldaspatialmodelofinternationalspecialization