Beyond urban form: How Masahisa Fujita shapes us

Abstract

Literature from several phases of the career of Masahisa Fujita is surveyed chronologically, with a view toward future contributions in these areas. First we address the economic structure of the interior of a city with mobile consumers, adding production. Next we provide a critical discussion of the new economic geography, in particular distinguishing between recent approaches employing two regions and more than two regions, both in theory and in application to data. Finally, we discuss knowledge creation in groups and briefly touch on his current work in artificial intelligence.

The Footloose Entrepreneur model with a finite number of equidistant regions

“…A two‐region set‐up overlooks the variability of market access across regions (Fujita and Thisse 2009), thus more complex spatial patterns may arise in a multi‐regional set‐up compared to a two‐region one (Fujita and Mori 2005; Fujita and Thisse 2009; Behrens and Robert‐Nicoud 2011; Akamatsu, Takayama, and Ikeda 2012; Gaspar 2018). As pointed out by Fujita, Krugman, and Venables (1999) and Berliant and Mori (2017), the consideration of only two regions stems from the advantage of dealing with more tractable problems, although it seems implausible that the geographical dimension of economic activity can be reduced to a 2‐region framework. It is important, therefore, to understand to what extent the main conclusions obtained using 2‐region models extend to models with more regions.…”

Strengthening A ‘Nepal, India, and China Equitable (NICE) Relationship’ for Regional Development

“…Another scholar David Audretsch contributed to the NEG by linking entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development, and global competitiveness (Audretsch, 2012). The scholar Masahisa Fujita has contributed to developing models of urban agglomeration, the role of transportation costs, and the relationship between agricultural land use, urbanization, and economic development (Fujita, 2011); (Berliant and Mori, 2016). The contribution of Jecques-Francois Thisse is also significant in the NEG literature that added value to spatial patterns of farms and industries and role of the transportation cost, location activities, human capital, and agglomeration economics in shaping regional development and urban development (Thisse, 2017).…”

Japanese contributions to regional science

“…As such, similar aims and analytical methodology naturally led Fujita and Krugman to work closely together. As Berliant and Mori (2017, p.11) note “the coincidence of aims and this opportune timing resulted in the seminal collaboration between the two.” The new tool of choice would be the market potential function of firms.…”

“…Fujita and Krugman (1992) is the oldest evidence of cooperation between the two. As its extension, Fujita (1993) was “the first general equilibrium model of endogenous agglomeration on a continuous location space in which all households and firms are fully mobile,” according to Berliant and Mori (2017, p.12). Fujita and Krugman (1995) then attempted to show when the monocentric city breaks down.…”

“…Also revolutionary was the possibility of catastrophic transitions among multiple equilibria. Although labour migration was still missing, their consideration of the mobility of firms was, as Berliant and Mori (2017) acknowledge, about 20 years ahead of their time. Based on monopolistic competition, Fujita (1988) introduced economies of scale at the level of the firm along with pecuniary externalities and transport costs to derive equilibrium location patterns, and Abdel‐Rahman and Fujita (1990) adopted Dixit–Stiglitz (1977) type monopolistic competition to explain agglomeration.…”