scholarly journals Central Place Theory and the Power Law for Cities

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Tai Hsu ◽  
Xin Zou
Keyword(s):  
Power Law ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Place Theory

Rational-Choice Models and Asian Studies

1991 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Little
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Transport Cost ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Central Place Theory ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Place Theory ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
The Individual

The rational-choice paradigm has been attractive to many area specialists in their efforts to arrive at explanations of social and political behavior in various parts of the world. This model of explanation is simple yet powerful; we attempt to explain a pattern of social behavior or an enduring social arrangement as the aggregate outcome of the goal-directed choices of large numbers of rational agents. Why did the Nian rebellion occur? It was the result of the individual-level survival strategies of north China peasants (Perry 1980). Why did the central places of late imperial Sichuan conform to the hexagonal arrays predicted by central-place theory? Because participants—consumers, merchants, and officials—made rational decisions based on considerations of transport cost (Skinner 1964–65). Why was late imperial Chinese agriculture stagnant? Because none of the actors within the agricultural system had both the incentive and the capacity to invest in agricultural innovation (Lippit 1987).

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