Self-organization of hexagonal agglomeration patterns in new economic geography models

Self-organization of agglomeration patterns for economic models in a two-dimensional economic space is studied from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint of new economic geography, central place theory, and bifurcation theory. Emergence of hexagonal distributions of various sizes in a homogeneous space is predicted theoretically for core–periphery models. The existence of hexagonal distributions as stable equilibria is demonstrated by a comparative static analysis with respect to transport costs for specific core–periphery models. These distributions are the ones envisaged by central place theory and also inferred to emerge by Krugman (1996) for a core–periphery model in two dimensions.