Much of the 'economic geography literature assumes myopic migrants, so a ke
y question is whether the results derived hold when migrants think about th
e future. The question is addressed by introducing a set of techniques - pa
rtly analytic and partly numerical - that allow consideration of forward-lo
oking expectations in the standard core-periphery model. The techniques rev
eal a startling result. Forward-looking behaviour is shown analytically to
never affect the 'break' and 'sustain' points. Simulation of global adjustm
ent paths shows that forward-looking expectations have no qualitative effec
t on the model's behaviour when migration costs are high; here myopia is tr
uly an assumption of convenience. If migration costs are lower, history-ver
sus-expectations considerations emerge acid agglomeration can be a self-ful
filling prophecy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.