There is strong evidence showing that in most countries cities develop sequentially, with the initially largest city being the first to grow. This paper presents a growth model of optimal city size that rationalizes this particular growth pattern. Increasing returns to scale is the force that...

In this paper we draw an analogy between the process of learning-bydoing and the learning process which develops in a neural network context. The bridging tool we refer to is a dynamic production function whose only variable input is labour. By concentrating on the 'neural network production...

When firms enjoy increasing returns in presence of a high rate of innovation, competition may obtain due to the continuous changes in demand and cost conditions even when there is no differentiation and the products of competing firms are essentially homogeneous. In this paper we intend to...

The literature on network effects has popularized a hypothesis that competition between incompatible technologies results in the "winner-take-all" outcome. For the survival of the firm in this sort of competition, the installed base has been emphasized. We argue that the validity of this...

Stalled progress on explaining institutional change is, in part, the result of two conceptual challenges that hinder effective theory building: concept stretching and concept proliferation. These problems affect a hallmark concept of institutional change, path dependence, whose usefulness has...

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in <I>Structural Change and Economic Dynamics</I>, 2013, 24, 141-156.<P> We address the notion of dynamic, endogenous diversity and its role in theories of investment and technological innovation. We develop a formal model of an innovation arising from the...</p></i>

In an economy with a non-convex production sector, we provide an assumption on each individual producer, which implies that the survival assumption holds true at the aggregate level for general pricing rules. For the marginal pricing rule, we derive this assumption from the bounded marginal...

Paul KRUGMAN, professor of economics at Princeton University, is well-known for his models of increasing returns in the world trade theory and their use in economic geography. His aim is to explain the reasons for the localization of activities and the concentration of firms. The purpose of this...