Application of Game Theoretic Analysis to a Problem in Demography

Governments in certain countries have tried over the last two decades to draw most industry to the largest cities. The effect has generally been a large increase in both the population and land area of the cities, as the nearby rural areas are taken out of agricultural production and urbanized. Where the land is especially fertile, this can represent a definite loss to the country's agricultural capabilities. By studying the Nash equilibria we show that, given political pressures, there is a very real danger that this process will continue until all, or practically all of the land has been urbanized.