Systems of cities in closed and open economies

This paper investigates the equilibrium properties of the system of cities in an economy. First, for a closed economy, the numbers of each type of city, their capital-to-labor ratios and their wages and costs of living, are solved for. Then the characteristics of international trade between open economies composed of systems of cities are examined, through an evaluation of standard trade theorems. This leads into topics in regional economics, such as migration and regional specialization.