Actions for Economies of scale in the Baltimore metropolitan area : measurement and change

Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

Economies of scale in the Baltimore metropolitan area : measurement and change

Author
Schroeder, Kurt A. (Kurt Alfred), 1950-
Published
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1988.
Physical Description
264 leaves

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

Graduate Program
Summary
This dissertation is an examination of the concept of economies of scale in an intraurban setting. The two questions it seeks to answer are from economic geography and microeconomic theory. The first question, from economic geography, is if differences in economies of scale can be found between inner city and suburban businesses. The second question asked that from microeconomic theory, is whether a simple but theoretically sophisticated measure of economies of scale can be devised which can then be applied to the analysis of differences between inner city and suburban businesses. Results of the study only partially conform to the explanations offered in geographic and economic theory. The hypothesis of Scott(1982a) and Blackley and Greytak (1986) suggests that differences should exist between inner city and suburban establishments.According to this hypothesis, inner city establishments should be smaller, should have a smaller optimal size, and should have less of a relative cost disadvantage, when compared to the optimal establishment in the inner city, than suburban establishments. This dissertation performed three tests of economies of scale in inner city and suburban study areas. Two of these tests, the means test and the minimum cost size class test, look for simple differences between the inner city and suburban size distributions. The third test uses a measure of economies of scale proposed in this dissertation to determine which sizes of establishments in the inner city and suburban study areas had less of a cost disadvantage when compared to the optimally-sized establishment in their area. The more sophisticated measure of economies of scale incorporated in the third test was more successful in finding differences between the two study areas than the simpler tests of means and minimum cost size class. The differences in the economies of scale estimates contained in the cost curves occurred generally in a fashion which con­firmed the hypothesis. In all sectors but construction, small inner city establishments and large suburban establishments usually, but not always, had lower relative costs. Further investigation of these differences seems worthwhile, especially in the light of the impact of inner city/suburban differences on the metropolitan economy. The stochastic measure of economies of scale proposed in this study was more internally consistent than the survivor method, that is, a curve with generally smooth contours. The stochastic method resulted in estimated cost curves which were consistent with the expected appearance of a cost curve. The method also allows direct comparison of the patterns of economies of scale in different areas, and is able to delineate differences in economies of scale between the areas when they exist. The examination of intraurban economies of scale contained in this dissertation has at least partially confirmed that major differences do exist between the inner city and suburban areas of Baltimore in terms of the way the establishments in these areas incorporate economies of scale in their operations. The results of this dissertation indicate that an effort to incorporate the concept of economies of scale into a comprehensive theory of intrametropolitan economic geography should continue.
Dissertation Note
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University.
Reproduction Note
Microfilm (positive). 1 reel 35mm., (University Microfilms 89-10058).
View MARC record | catkey: 484178