ABSTRACT
As the example of Silicon Valley makes clear, the economic analysis of location— the geography of the economy—is the subfield of economics to which the typical buzz words of complexity apply most obviously and dramatically. The critical mass aspect of the model is immediately apparent. In fact, there are two critical masses, depending on whether the regional economy is growing or shrinking. Turing analysis involves focusing on the very early stages of spatial self-organization, in which the object being studied—embryo or economy—is diverging away from an almost but not quite uniform spatial distribution. In Fujita-type models, as in the racetrack models, the economy is one-dimensional; but instead of a closed circle, it consists of an infinitely long line. The distinction between workers and farmers is dropped; homogeneous labor can produce either manufactures or food. But agriculture requires land, so the farm population must be spread along the line.
