Some Reconsiderations of Simon's City-Size Distribution Model

Abstract

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.