ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Periodic Markets:



Their Functions and Spatial Patterns

in Tamil Nadu, South India

By SHARON PURDY MALONEY

Thesis Director:  Professor John Edwin Brush



The problem of providing marketing facilities for rural farmers in lesser-developed countries so that they can increase production is exacerbated by the existence of too few small or medium-sized market centers to serve very large numbers of villages with no services.  As an alternative to using scarce developmental capital to establish permanent market facilities in poor areas which might not initially be able to support them, units in periodic markets can reach areas large enough to support themselves by moving from market to market.



This study investigates these markets and their relationships to the central place hierarchy of the region for the dual purposes of comparing them with similar phenomena in other areas and of using them in economic development investments.



South Indian periodic markets exhibit similarities with markets in other parts of the world, including positive correlations between market size and population density, and a strong spatio-temporal integration.  Nearest neighbor analysis indicates they are relatively randomly spaced. But the Tamil markets also exhibit some significant differences from their counterparts, since there is no evidence of a social function, of the existence of "rings" of markets, or of a hierarchy distinct from the central place hierarchy.  A 5-step pattern of growth and decline for the markets is suggested.



To discover the central place hierarchy of the region's settlements, regression analysis was performed on population data and service scores based on kinds of services to find breaks in the graphed regression lines.  In addition, services provided were visually demonstrated on maps.  A 5-tier central place hierarchy was revealed.



Size of periodic market is positively correlated with the hierarchical level of the settlement in which the market is located, indicating that the periodic markets are supplements to the central place hierarchy, which is otherwise deficient in smaller market centers.



Periodic markets, then, though earlier ignored in hierarchical analysis and plans for development investment, can economically provide some of the marketing needs of rural dwellers, since mobile units can reach wider areas than permanently located units with the same investment.