ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a model for balanced regional growth. It is argued that a model of regional transport flows cannot be based on a micro-economic approach. The chapter concludes with a few remarks on computational experience. Few if any topics in economics have been studied in greater depth than general equilibrium theory. The equilibrium problem of trip distribution according to gravity principles and route assignment according to cost minimisation, where transport costs on the links are non-decreasing functions of the flows, has attracted a lot of interest in transport research. The 'inner solution' over a very short time span corresponds to an equilibrium where the slow variables related to the production and transport system can be regarded as given, i.e. an adiabatic process. The 'outer' solution for large time-periods gives the 'slow manifold' for which the trade pattern is always in equilibrium.
