Full price competition and Dupuit's defense of the long-and-short-haul “discrimination”

Condemnation of the long-and-short-haul discrimination has been nearly ubiquitous in the literature on economic theory and transportation. However, the French economist Dupuit developed a case against all transport regulation by relating it to a defense of the practice of place discrimination before the middle of the nineteenth century. He did so, moreover, within an early elaboration of a full price explanation of competitive functioning. This paper analyzes the idea in Dupuit's context and argues that this so-called form of price discrimination is actually an efficient and necessary form of the competitive process.     

Production-location decision and free entry oligopoly: A correction

This paper shows that there is no interior solution in Mai–Hwang's 1992 oligopolistic location model with free entry when the production function exhibits constant or decreasing returns to scale. The comparative static results of the impact of a demand change on the location decision only apply to the case where the production function exhibits increasing returns to scale. It re-examines the impact of a demand change on the location decision of an oligopolistic firm and corrects the propositions derived by [C.C. Mai, H. Hwang, Production-location decision and free entry oligopoly, Journal of Urban Economics 33 (1992) 252–271. Reprinted in: M.L. Greenhut, G. Norman (Eds.), The Economics of Location, vol. I: Location Theory, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, 1995].     

Transportation rates and plant location in oligopolistic competition with sequential entry

This paper examines the impact of quantity-discounted transportation rates on location patterns of oligopolistic competition with sequential entry. When transportation rates are constant, Hwang and Mai (1990) show that the entrant locates at the same point as the existing firms if the production function exhibits constant returns to scale. The entrant will locate farther away from (closer to) the market than the existing firms do if the production function exhibits increasing (decreasing) returns to scale. This paper shows that Hwang and Mai's results need not hold when transportation rates are a function of quantity shipped and distance traveled.     

Transportation rates, market structure and the production-location decision : A note

This note examines the effects of market structure on production and location decisions of an oligopolistic firm. It shows that if transportation rates are a function of quantity shipped and distance traveled, a linearly homogeneous production function is not sufficient to ensure independence between the optimum location and market structure unless (i) the elasticities of transportation rates with respect to quantity shipped are constant and identical, and (ii) the ratios of marginal products to the marginal transportation costs are equal for each input. This results is significantly different from Hwang and Mai's in the constant transportation rates case.     

The Moses-Predöhl pull and the neoclassical location theory : An alternative approach

This paper shows that the appearance of the controversial Moses-Prednhl pull is due to the two-stage approach (the separation of the production decision and the location decision) which has been applied in the neoclassical location theory. It also shows the Moses-Prednhl pull is zero by using the well-known envelope theorem in the two-stage approach. Furthermore, it provides an alternative approach to show the Moses-Prednhl pull is zero by considering the production decison and the location decision simultaneously.     

Transport rates structure,optimum location,and theory of production: Reexamination

The two-stage approach consistently to present a generalized location theory of the firm in linear space is employed. It is shown that the second-order sufficient condition for the profit-maximizing and/or cost-minimizing location problem requires that transport rates increase with distance. In the process, it is demonstrated that this approach provides a compact way to analyze the location and production decisions separately and to avoid the errors made by Mathur and others.     

A note on Lee's model of intraurban employment location

By using the two-stage approach, this note provides an alternative derivation of Lee's theoretical model. In the process, we will demonstrate that the two-stage approach provides a compact way to define the bid-rent function rigorously and to avoid the weakness contained in Lee.     

A note on the clarke and shrestha linear space model

This note re-examines two important propositions in the Clarke and Shrestha linear space model. We provide a complete analysis of designing and locating a secondary energy generation facility in the Clarke and Shrestha linear model and clarify two of their propositions.     

Wealth effects, treasury bill financing, perpetuity financing, and stability

This note re-examines the stabilities of government financing by (a) treasury bills, and (b) perpetuities. In contrast to Currie and Gazioglou, it is shown that the wealth effect on expenditures plays the same role in the financing by treasury bills and by perpetuities.