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The provision of retail and other service functions in a settlement on a particular day or days of the week only. These may be all of the functions assembled there, as in some current West African periodic markets, or they may complement a permanent set available throughout the week, as in British market towns. Research into these systems was stimulated by analogies with central place theory; in situations with relatively low ranges and high thresholds, a system of traders moving around a set cycle of markets might overcome the problem of insufficient demand to support a permanent establishment at any one place. The movement of the traders to be near their customers on set occasions is more efficient than the customers travelling long distances to permanent markets much less frequently. Detailed research has identified considerable variability in the ways in which traders work within such systems, however: each system must be analysed as a particular local cultural phenomenon. (See also market exchange.)Â (RJJ)
Suggested Reading Bromley, R.F. 1980: Trader mobility in systems of periodic and daily markets. In D.T. Herbert and R.J. Johnston, eds, Geography and the urban environment: progress in research and applications, volume 3. Chichester and New York: John Wiley, 133-74. |
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