The Multiregional Core-periphery Model: The Role of the Spatial Topology

Abstract

We use the multiregional core-periphery model of the new economic geography to analyze and compare the agglomeration and dispersion forces shaping the location of economic activity for a continuum of network topologies — spatial or geographic configuration — characterized by their degree of centrality, and comprised between two extremes represented by the homogenous (ring) and the heterogeneous (star) configurations. Resorting to graph theory, we systematically extend the analytical tools and graphical representations of the core-periphery model for alternative spatial configuration, and study the sustain and break points. We study new phenomena such as the infeasibility of the dispersed equilibrium in the heterogeneous space, resulting in the introduction of the concept pseudo flat-earth as a long-run equilibrium corresponding to an uneven distribution of economic activity between regions.