By extending the work of previous researchers, this paper develops a model of city size and economic structure which recognizes the distinction between final and nonfinal markets as sources of urban support. The model is applied to various sets of data, and the results support the hypothesis that central-place firms benefit from increased economies of scale in larger centres, at least in the lower orders of a hierarchy. The results also cast some light on the manner in which the structure of an essentially hierarchical urban system can vary across space, and the implications of such variation for compatibility with the rank-size rule are noted.
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