In the efficient delivery of local public services, size matters. Many countries around the world have vertical government structures that are perceived as inefficient because of their high levels of jurisdictional fragmentation. This timely volume examines the different strategies used to...

Agglomeration in Asia -- The relationship between Toyota and its parts suppliers in the age of information and globalization : concentration vs. dispersion / Masatsugu Tsuji -- Iron town cluster : Yawata, its glory, decline and rebirth / Mitsuhiro Kagami -- Information technology and economic...

This book focuses on cities, their relationships with each other and the disparities between them. Analysing cities as the places where diversity is especially apparent, where cultural richness is experienced and where conflicts often erupt, it illustrates how cultures and cultural diversity...

Recommended readings (Machine generated): 1. Gilles Duranton and Henry G. Overman (2005), 'Testing for localization using micro-geographic data', Review of economic studies, 72 (4), December, 1077-106 -- 2. J. Vernon Henderson (2003), 'Marshall's scale economies', Journal of urban economics, 53...

With the publication of The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida in 2002, the "creative city" became the new hot topic among urban policymakers, planners and economists. Florida has developed one of three path-breaking theories about the relationship between creative individuals and...

The central purpose of this book is to analyse the optimal allocation of local public goods or services (for example garbage collection, police, fire brigades and medical services) in large urban agglomerations and the allocation consequences of increasing competition in the provision of them....

Introduction / Colin Robinson -- 1. Beyond regulation / Stephen Littlechild -- Comment / Colin Robinson -- 2. Ronald coase and the spectrum question / Thomas W. Hazlett -- Comment / Leonard Waverman -- 3. European energy liberalisation : progress and problems / Jorge Vasconcelos -- Comment /...

Building on Oliver Williamson's original analysis, the contributors introduce new ideas, different perspectives and provide tools for better understanding changes in the approach to regulation, the reform of public utilities, and the complex problems of governance. They draw largely upon a...

Does decentralization enhance service delivery and poverty reduction? Drawing on cutting edge research, expert contributors address this fundamental question facing policy-makers in developing as well as advanced countries. This timely book builds upon insights on the recent developments in the...

Worldwide, postal and delivery economics has attracted considerable interest. Numerous questions have arisen, including the role of regulation, funding the Universal Service Obligation, postal reform in Europe, Asia and North America, the future of national postal operators, demand and pricing...