%0 Journal Article %T Competition, market access and economic geography: Structural estimation and predictions for France %+ Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques (PSE) %+ Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille (GREQAM) %+ Paris School of Economics (PSE) %+ Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) %+ Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales (ADIS) %A Combes, Pierre-Philippe %A Lafourcade, Miren %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0166-0462 %J Regional Science and Urban Economics %I Elsevier %V 41 %N 6 %P 508-524 %8 2011-11 %D 2011 %R 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2011.03.012 %K Regional development %K Core-periphery %K Trade costs %K Transport costs %Z Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and FinanceJournal articles %X This paper evaluates the role of competition and input-output market access in shaping the geography of economic activity. In a first step, we develop a multi-region multi-industry economic geography model under Cournot competition, of which we estimate the parameter values from French data. We then turn to simulations to see whether a core-periphery equilibrium exists, even with strategic interactions among firms. We show that the marginal profits and mark-ups of firms are greater in both core and peripheral regions than in between, due to a subtle interplay between competition and market-access forces. Production is mostly monocentric, however, and profits are higher in the core, which should produce further concentration. We finally show that policy-makers face a difficult trade-off: lowering inter-regional trade costs reduces disparities between regions, but increases intra-regional inequality. %G English %L halshs-00754508 %U https://pjse.hal.science/halshs-00754508 %~ SHS %~ UNIV-PARIS1 %~ ENS-PARIS %~ ENPC %~ PJSE %~ PSE %~ CNRS %~ UNIV-AMU %~ UNIV-PSUD %~ EHESS %~ INRA %~ GREQAM %~ EC-MARSEILLE %~ AO-ECONOMIE %~ PARISTECH %~ PSL %~ UNIV-PARIS-SACLAY %~ AGREENIUM %~ UNIV-PSUD-SACLAY %~ LABEXIMU %~ AMSE %~ INRAE %~ PSE-POST-PRINT %~ ENS-PSL %~ EHESS-PSL