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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Format: | Working paper |
Language: | English |
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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. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:45:18Z |
format | Working paper |
id | oxford-uuid:bf44f47f-100e-4ff0-b4c0-db5bc3cb95ac |
institution | University of Oxford |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:45:18Z |
publishDate | 1995 |
publisher | National Bureau of Economic Research |
record_format | dspace |
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 |