Classical location theory is extended from its least cost approach to a maximum profit framework in this outstanding collection of Melvin L. Greenhut's key essays. This extension of classical location theory changes the analysis used in location economics from that of pure competition to oligopolistic competition. Using the analysis which is developed in this volume, locational interdependencies and, in turn, industrial location are shown to be affected by, diverse factors, including among others, marginal cost curves, demand curves and the number of firms in the market. Employing empirical findings to relate theory to practice, the author establishes a general theory via which he investigates and resolves specific issues and problems. These essays make a major contribution by enabling the reader to appreciate the important developments that have taken place over recent years in location economics. Location Economics and its companion volume, Spatial Microeconomics, will be welcomed by students, teachers and practitioners of economics for improving access to Professor Greenhut's many important essays and papers.

This work approaches traditional price theory and the analysis of imperfect competition, to represent a breakthrough in the development of microeconomic theory. Increasingly, it has been recognized that the perfectly competitive paradigm is inappropriate to the explanation of pricing behaviour in many real life markets characterized by a significant separation between producers and consumers. The spatial perspective adopted by the authors provides a natural separation of markets, but provides as well a powerful analogy for apparently nonspatial issues such as product differentiation, pricing over time, problems of storage and transportation, and the economics of intra-industry trade and of the multinational enterprise. A major concern of this volume is to make these analogies explicit by applying this spatial analysis to a wide variety of nonspatial problems. In addition, the analysis and results presented in this book are shown to carry signficant policy implications with respect, for example, to the Robinson-Patman legislation, anti-merger policies, and anti-dumping legislation.

This work approaches traditional price theory and the analysis of imperfect competition, to represent a breakthrough in the development of microeconomic theory. Increasingly, it has been recognized that the perfectly competitive paradigm is inappropriate to the explanation of pricing behaviour in many real life markets characterized by a significant separation between producers and consumers. The spatial perspective adopted by the authors provides a natural separation of markets, but provides as well a powerful analogy for apparently nonspatial issues such as product differentiation, pricing over time, problems of storage and transportation, and the economics of intra-industry trade and of the multinational enterprise. A major concern of this volume is to make these analogies explicit by applying this spatial analysis to a wide variety of nonspatial problems. In addition, the analysis and results presented in this book are shown to carry signficant policy implications with respect, for example, to the Robinson-Patman legislation, anti-merger policies, and anti-dumping legislation.

This text traces developments in location theory, the economics of space and value and spatial microeconomics from its early beginnings in the work of von Thuenen to the most recent applications in modern industrial organization and international trade. The articles cover 1924 to 1992.