WHEN IS THE ECONOMY MONOCENTRIC - VON THUNEN AND CHAMBERLIN UNIFIED

Since The Isolated State by von Thunen, countless versions of the von Thunen model have appeared. It seems, however, that a fundamental ques tion remains unanswered: Why should all manufacturing goods be produce d in a single town? In this paper we develop a monopolistic competitio n model of an 'isolated state', and investigate the answer to this que stion. Since the answer to this question suggests when there will be m ore than one town in the isolated state, it is hoped the present model will lead to the development of a general equilibrium model of urban systems.