In conjunction with the empirical findings that the form of city-size distributions is stable over time, this paper reexamines Simon's (1955) model and provides a better understanding of that model. First, a Simon-type model is proposed which is a generalization of Simon's model. Second, Simon's model is reexamined with respect to the ‘steady state’. Third, in the context of the Simon-type model, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the ‘steady state’ with the Yule (1924) city-size distributions are investigated. Last, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the ‘asymptotically steady state’ are obtained.
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References
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MandelbrotB, 1959“A note on a class of skew distribution functions: Analysis and critique of a paper by H A Simon”Information and Control290–99
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OkabeA, 1977aContributions to the Study of City Size Distributions unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo (in Japanese)
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OkabeA, 1977b“Expected rank-size rule: A theoretical relationship between the rank-size rule and city size distributions” DP-13, Institute of Socio-Economic Planning, University of Tsukuba, Japan
