期刊名称：International Business & Economics Research Journal
印刷版ISSN：1535-0754
电子版ISSN：2157-9393
出版年度：2011
卷号：1
期号：11
语种：English
出版社：The Clute Institute for Academic Research
摘要：How will improvements in information technology affect growth of cities? Futurists have suggested that as telecommunications technology improves there will be no need for face-to-face contact and therefore cities, in which face-to-face interactions are facilitated, will become obsolete. This paper develops a general model where individuals involved in a relationship use two modes of interaction, face-to-face interactions and electronic communications. Comparative static analysis on the optimal solutions shows that improvements in telecommunications technology may increase or decrease the demand for face-to-face interactions, depending whether face-to-face interactions and telecommunications are substitutes or complements. The placement of the model within a spatial framework shows that city size increases with electronic communications if face-to-face interactions and electronic communications are complements.
