We consider the parallel developments in the economics of agglomeration and the economics of networks. We explore the complementarities between the productivity benefits of agglomeration and those of network linkages, arguing that networks of actors dispersed over space may substitute for agglomerations of actors at a single point. JEL classification: D20, L14, R30

The effects of inequality on economic growth depend on several factors. On one hand, they depend on the time horizon considered, on the initial level of income and on its initial distribution. But, on the other hand, as growth and inequality are also uneven across space, it also seems relevant to wonder about the effects of the geographic agglomeration of economic activity. Moreover, it seems r...

A non-intrusive technique has been developed for measuring agglomeration rate constants (β0) in a constant shear field. A particulate suspension with a mean particle diameter, d, of about 10 μm is introduced in an optically accessible cylindrical Couette flow device. The suspension is illuminated by means of a pulsed laser and observed with a CCD camera. The recorded images are analysed off-lin...

*The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. ensely populated areas tend to be more productive. Of course, the cost of living and producing in these locations is higher because congestion raises the cost of scarce fixed resources such as land. But despite the higher prices,...

Most studies about the effects of producers’ services on manufacturing agglomeration focus on the effects themselves while neglecting the mechanism that such effects spread. By stressing the key role of trade costs in the process of manufacturing agglomeration, this paper identifies a chain of effects from producers’ service improvements to manufacturing agglomeration via changing trade costs a...

The drum agglomeration of nickel laterite and gold ores has been optimized through the design of experiments (DOE) using a Taguchi L16 (45) orthogonal array to determine the optimum conditions for maximizing average agglomerate size and minimizing the amount of fines. The effects of controllable operating factors including moisture content (nickel laterite ore: 34-37%; gold ore: 7-10%), retenti...

A Melitz-style model of monopolistic competition with heterogeneous firms is integrated into a simple NEG model to show that the standard assumption of identical firms is neither necessary nor innocuous. We show that re-locating to the big region is most attractive for the most productivity firms; this implies interesting results for empirical work and policy analysis. A ‘selection effect’ mean...