Dynamic Locational Phases of Economic Activity in the Globalized World

Part I Location theory of retailing industry -- 1 Market areas of retailers in linear space -- 1.1 Formation mechanism of monopoly retailer's market -- 1.2 Emergence of competition and competition styles -- 1.3 Equilibrium price and market established in linear market -- 2 Market areas of retailers in plane space -- 2.1 Shapes of market border between two retailers -- 2.2 Market area in spatial free entry equilibrium -- 2.3 Effects of variety of items on retailer's market situation -- 2.4 Effects of freight rate on items and market of shopping center -- 3 Market analysis by Contact Price Curve -- 3.1 Derivation of spatial free-entry equilibria -- 3.2 Analysis of spatial free-entry equilibria by using contact price curve -- Part II Location theory of manufacturing industry -- 4 Change of factory's production in agglomeration -- 4.1 Formation of industrial agglomeration -- 4.2 Relationship between number of factories and agglomeration economies -- 4.3 Spatial departure of production processes from agglomeration -- 5 Location theory of factory in the globalized world -- 5.1 Factory's location in the globalized world -- 5.2 Derivation of the profit function of a firm -- 5.3 Settlement of location prospective area -- 5.4 Firm's profits and revenues of countries in different corporation tax rates -- 5.5 Location power of the corporation tax and the interest rate -- 5.6 Effects on factory's location of industrial park and industrial complex -- Part III Location theory of city system -- 6 City systems built on basis of economic activity -- 6.1 City systems constructed on basis of market area theory -- 6.2 City system built by using cities' production functions -- 6.3 Change of city system in the real world -- 7 Analysis of city system by using cities' land rents -- 7.1 Assumptions and framework of analysis -- 7.2 Land rent and capital amount in city -- 7.3 Analysis of Land rents and production amounts of cities in city system -- 7.4 Influences of change of freight rates and production efficiency on cities -- 8 City system as a location factor -- 8.1 Role of city system in firm's decision making of location -- 8.2 Numerical index of characteristics of city system -- 8.3 Estimation of social health of prefectures in Japan -- 8.4 Relationships between city system and prefecture's performances -- 8.5 City system as a location factor -- Appendix -- References.

This book clarifies the mechanisms of economic globalization in changing industries' locations and shows how industries' locations have changed through those mechanisms. First, the book deals with the retailing industry. Introducing the concept of a contact price into the market area analysis, it is shown in Part I that retailers' market areas and prices are changed in different ways by a reduction of transportation costs. The mechanism of these changes is explained by checking the contact prices at apexes of the retailers' market areas. Then the book moves to the manufacturing industry and deals with a firm's production process. Part II of the book shows the manner in which the production volume of factories within an agglomeration is decreased as the number of factories within the agglomeration increases. Subsequently, considering the fact that many production factories depart from agglomerations to other sites to reduce production costs, a method of searching for a factory's new site is proposed in which a firm can seek out an optimal location of a factory in a short period of time. By referring to a chaotic phenomenon, a firm sets a location prospective area in a large geographical area and selects an optimal location within that area. In the third part of the book the city system is the focus. Part III elucidates the theoretical formation of a city system and analyzes structural changes of a city system due to a reduction of transportation costs. The mechanism of the change is explained by a flexible market area theory which studies a city system by using the market areas established in the free-entry equilibrium. Then, the economic relationships between the cities within a city system are examined from the point of view of the land rent in the cities' areas. This analysis shows the influences of a change in the largest city on other cities. Finally, the relationships between a city system and regional performance are examined using real data. The examination shows that the city system reveals the regional performance