期刊名称：CORE Discussion Papers / Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (UCL), Louvain
出版年度：2008
卷号：1
出版社：Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (UCL), Louvain
摘要：In this paper we build a quality-augmented version of an economic geography model where
consumers have heterogenous tastes for a set of manufacturing varieties. We discuss a
footloose capital model and a footloose entrepreneur model. We show that firms selling the
goods with higher values select the region hosting the largest number of consumers. Larger
countries thus get better access to the higher quality products. We also show that the effect
of spatial selection on firms' spatial distribution crucially depends on the properties of the
taste distribution across varieties. Finally, we show that taste heterogeneity smooths the
agglomeration patterns but that it should be considered neither as a dispersion force nor as
an agglomeration force. Indeed, the introduction of taste heterogeneity makes an initially
dispersed economy less dispersed and an initially agglomerated economy less
agglomerated.
关键词：heterogeneous taste and quality, spatial selection, economic geography,
agglomeration, home market effect.
