A Simple Decision Theory of Spatial Interaction: The Alonso Model Revisited

Abstract

A simple decision theory of spatial interaction is proposed in which interaction decisions are postulated to involve a number of distinct factors, relating to properties both of actors and of opportunities, as well as to the spatial separation between them. In particular, it is postulated that favorable conditions for such factors arise as independent random events over space, and that interactions are taken when an appropriate conjunction of such events occurs. Given this theory, the central result of the paper is to show that the asymptotically most probable interaction frequencies predicted by the theory correspond precisely to the solutions of the general interaction model proposed by Alonso. This result thus provides a possible behavioral foundation for the Alonso model, and in particular it yields an explicit behavioral interpretation of its parameters.