On an infinitely-extensible plane (with uniform customer-density) the socially-optimal configuration of firms is a regular hexagonal lattice. Will the free market necessarily produce this configuration? We argue that the currently-accepted, affirmative answer has been erroneously derived from...

The paper is divided into two parts: one-dimensional markets and two-dimensional markets. Also, we develop both one and two-dimensional models. Within each, we distinguish (a) bounded, (b) unbounded but finite, and (c) unbounded, infinite spaces. Among other things, we show: in one dimension,...

On an infinitely-extensible plane (with uniform customer-density) the socially-optimal configuration of firms is a regular hexagonal lattice. Will the free market necessarily produce this configuration? We argue that the currently-accepted, affirmative answer has been erroneously derived from...

Here we reproduce the table of contents and the introductory chapter to our book of related essays published by Edward Elgar. These essays deal with the important implications of allowing for the distribution of goods in characteristic space and of producers in geographic space. Although several...

Less information about a location has long been believed to be a barrier to new migration to that location. Diverse empirical results support this belief. Here we show that if agents are risk-neutral, less information about a location not only is not a barrier to migration to that location, it...

In their efforts to create a position in a market, and to maintain that position, firms make positioning investments of various sorts, in R&D, plant, advertising, and location, or more generally, in product development and maintenance. The heart of this paper is the hypothesis that the success...

We humans engage in a lot of costuming that can often be interpreted as type communication. Uniforms are the obvious example (cops on the beat, for example, wear uniforms because they want us to know that they are cops), but there are many other examples. This paper models costuming, or image...

We investigate the origins of identity and the innate proclivity to draw a distinction between "insiders" and "outsiders".We propose an evolutionary explanation: we argue that identity arises because it facilitates survival. In an evolutionary setting we endogenize preferences and demonstrate...