International Advances in Economic Research

, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp 361–377 | Cite as

A Gravity Approach to Constructing Regional Structures from Interregional Flow Data

Article
First Online:

Abstract

A cost-based gravity index is derived from interregional flows in a structural gravity model and used to construct a set of regional structures with a variable number of regional units. The approach enables a structural description of the economic geography based on interregional resource flows. It is mainly exemplified with interstate migration data for the U.S., from which a set of macro-regions is constructed and compared with the U.S. Census divisions. A similar study of the six states in the New England division is discussed for comparison, based on inter-county data for migration and commuting.

Keywords

Spatial structure Migration Regional identity Structural gravity 

JEL Classification

R10 O10 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Jon P. Knudsen, participants at the 82th International Atlantic Economic Conference, and an anonymous referee, for valuable comments.

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Copyright information

© International Atlantic Economic Society 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Business and LawUniversity of AgderKristiansandNorway

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