We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics...

type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>We study how the level of trade costs and the intensity of competition interact to explain the nature and intensity of trade within a given industry and the location of firms across countries. As trade costs decrease from very high to very low values, the global economy...</p>

We investigate whether an aging population may challenge the supremacy of large working cities. To this end, we develop an economic geography model with two types of individuals (workers and retirees) and two sectors (local services and manufacturing). Workers produce and consume; the elderly...

We investigate how cross-country differences in firms' fixed set-up costs affect the trade-off between global efficiency and spatial equity. Our analysis reveals that the standard assumption of symmetry in set-up costs masks the existence of an interesting effect: the range of available...

In this paper, I pursue two objectives. First, I propose a primer in economic geography relying on a simple model that can be solved analytically by undergraduate students. Second, I briefly discuss two topics that, in my opinion, should rank high on the research agenda. Copyright (c) 2010,...