arXiv subjects

José M. Gaspar

Publications and source records attributed to José M. Gaspar.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Bifurcation mechanism at a sustain point of a long narrow economy

We investigate population agglomeration in a long narrow economy, in which an odd number of places are evenly distributed over a line segment. The bifurcation analysis of this economy elucidates the mechanism of the emergence of twin cities around the central city. The validity and usefulness of this analysis are confirmed using several well-known economic geography models that display various kinds of bifurcation behaviors. By this analysis, we investigate the historical change in the population distribution in a chain of cities on Japan's Main Island.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2025

Innovation, Spillovers and Economic Geography

We develop a Schumpeterian quality-ladder spatial model in which innovation arrivals depend on regional knowledge spillovers. A parsimonious reduced-form diffusion mechanism induces the convergence of regions' average distance to the global frontier quality. As a result, regional differences in knowledge levels stem residually from asymmetries in the spatial distribution of researchers and firms. We analytically characterize the processes of innovation and knowledge diffusion. We then explore how the weight of intra-relative to inter-regional knowledge spillovers interacts with freer trade to shape the spatial distribution of economic activities. If intra-regional spillovers are relatively stronger, a higher economic integration leads to progressive agglomeration. If inter-regional spillovers dominate, researchers and firms may re-disperse after an initial phase of agglomeration as integration increases. This happens because firms and researchers have incentives to relocate to the smaller region, where they can leverage the concentrated knowledge base of the larger region while avoiding congestion in innovation. The smoothness of the dispersion process depends on the particular weight of intra-regional spillovers. If inter-regional spillovers become stronger as trade becomes freer, then the latter induces a monotone dispersion process. When integration is high enough, stable long-run equilibria always maximize the growth rate of the global frontier quality and the average distance to the frontier, irrespective of whether spillovers are mainly local or global.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2025

Heterogeneity, trade integration and spatial inequality

We study the impact of economic integration on agglomeration in a model where all consumers are inter-regionally mobile and have heterogeneous preferences regarding their residential location choices. This heterogeneity is the unique dispersion force in the model. We show that, under reasonable values for the elasticity of substitution among varieties of consumption goods, a higher trade integration always promotes more symmetric spatial patterns, reducing the spatial inequality between regions, irrespective of the functional form of the dispersion force. We also show that an increase in the degree of heterogeneity in preferences for location leads to a more even spatial distribution of economic activities and thus also reduces the spatial inequality between regions.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2024

Innovation through intra and inter-regional interaction in economic geography

We develop a two-region economic geography model with vertical innovations that improve the quality of manufactured varieties produced in each region. The chance of innovation depends on the \emph{related variety}, i.e. the importance of interaction between researchers within the same region rather than across different regions. As economic integration increases from a low level, a higher related variety is associated with more agglomerated spatial configurations. However, if the interaction with foreign scientists is relatively more important for innovation, economic activities may (completely) re-disperse after an initial phase of agglomeration due to the increase in the relative importance of a higher chance of innovation in the less industrialized region. This non-monotonic relationship between economic integration and spatial imbalances may exhibit very diverse qualitative properties, not yet described in the literature.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2021

Production externalities and dispersion process in a multi-region economy

We consider an economic geography model with two inter-regional proximity structures: one governing goods trade and the other governing production externalities across regions. We investigate how the introduction of the latter affects the timing of endogenous agglomeration and the spatial distribution of workers across regions. As transportation costs decline, the economy undergoes a progressive dispersion process. Mono-centric agglomeration emerges when inter-regional trade and/or production externalities incur high transportation costs, while uniform dispersion occurs when these costs become negligibly small (i.e., when distance dies). In multi-regional geography, the network structure of production externalities can determine the geographical distribution of workers as economic integration increases. If production externalities are governed solely by geographical distance, a mono-centric spatial distribution emerges in the form of suburbanization. However, if geographically distant pairs of regions are connected through tight production linkages, multi-centric spatial distribution can be sustainable.

econ.GN↗