International Economics Commons^™

It's All In The Mail: The Economic Geography Of The German Empire, Florian Ploeckl

Florian Ploeckl

Market Access And Information Technology Adoption: Historical Evidence From The Telephone In Bavaria, Florian Ploeckl

Florian Ploeckl

Information technology, like the telephone, influences market access; this paper answers the question about a reverse effect, does market access affect information technology, in particular its adoption? Using the historical case of the introduction of the telephone in Bavaria, I demonstrate with a rank, order and stock effects diffusion model how market access affects the diffusion of local telephone exchanges over towns as well as the rate of adoption of telephone lines within towns. The results of a duration analysis show that market access speeds up the diffusion, a spatial correlation specification demonstrates that this is not just a geographic …

Space, Settlements, Towns: The Influence Of Geography And Market Access On Settlement Distribution And Urbanization, Florian Ploeckl

Florian Ploeckl

The spatial distribution of economic activity is strongly linked to the structure of the urban system. The origin and development of the spatial pattern of this system is separated into two stages, the diffusion of settlements and their potential transition to urban status. The theoretical framework incor porates the influence of geographic characteristics and location interdependence as central mechanisms in both stages. Their relative importance for both is tested empirically with the historical settlement pattern in Saxony as a case study. After investigating with a spatial point process approach how geographic endowments and location interdependence shape the spatial distribution of …

Endowments And Market Access; The Size Of Towns In Historical Perspective: Saxony 1550-1834, Florian Ploeckl

Florian Ploeckl

The spatial concentration of people into towns shapes the population distribution, the factors explaining town size are therefore important determinants on the spatial distribution of people. This paper uses a historical case study, Saxony in 1834, to analyze empirically the relative impact of endowments and agglomeration based on the application of a New Economic Geography model. The model and data allow the analysis of the complete population distribution, from large cities down to the smallest village. The results suggest that location characteristics explain the relative size of settlements, but only 9% of absolute town and 2% of absolute village population. …