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Industrial location theory in German thought – Launhardt and Weber

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Jacky Perreur
Jacky Perreur*
Affiliation:
LATEC –Université de Bourgogne
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Summary

There is an entire branch of industrial location analysis in economics and operational research that refers back to Weber. In this paper I show that the model he developed had already been proposed by W. Launhardt in 1882 as a generalization of a route planning method presented in 1872. It contained all the technical aspects of Weber’s model. That does not mean Weber should be forgotten though, as his contribution involves far more than the simple presentation of the model. In terms of method, he defends and uses the hypothetical-deductive method. As for the content, he attempts to understand the formation of concentrations of economic activities and population, which leads to an interesting analysis of agglomeration economies.

Tout un courant d’analyse des localisations industrielles, présent en économie et en recherche opérationnelle, se réfère à Weber. Dans ce papier nous montrons que le modèle qu’il développe avait déjà été proposé par W. Launhardt dès 1882 comme généralisation d’une méthode de tracé des routes présentée en 1872. On y trouve tous les aspects techniques du modèle de Weber. Ceci ne signifie cependant pas qu’il faille oublier Weber car sa contribution dépasse la simple présentation du modèle. Sur le plan méthodologique il défend et utilise la méthode hypothético déductive. Quant au contenu il souhaite comprendre la formation des concentrations d’activités et humaines ce qui le conduit à une intéressante analyse des économies d’agglomérations.

Keywords

B10R10B10R10
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 64 , Issue 1: Space and economics in retrospect , 1998 , pp. 75 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1998 

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