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Zipfs Law for Cities: A Cross Country Investigation

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Kwok Tong Soo

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Abstract

This paper assesses the empirical validity of Zipf¿s Law for cities, using new data on 73countries and two estimation methods ¿ OLS and the Hill estimator. With either estimator,we reject Zipf¿s Law far more often than we would expect based on random chance; for 53out of 73 countries using OLS, and for 30 out of 73 countries using the Hill estimator. TheOLS estimates of the Pareto exponent are roughly normally distributed, but those of the Hillestimator are bimodal. Variations in the value of the Pareto exponent are better explained bypolitical economy variables than by economic geography variables.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0641.

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Date of creation: Jul 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0641

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Related research
Keywords: Cities; Zipf¿s Law; Pareto distribution; Hill estimator;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C16 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Econometric and Statistical Methods; Specific Distributions
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. González-Val, Rafael, 2009. "The Evolution of US City Size Distribution from a Long Term Perspective (1900-2000)," MPRA Paper 9732, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Y Ioannides & Henry Overman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Kurt Schmidheiny, 2007. "The Effect of Information and Communication Technologies on Urban Structure," CEP Discussion Papers dp0812, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Tomoya Mori & Tony E. Smith, 2009. "A Reconsideration of the NAS Rule from an Industrial Agglomeration Perspective," KIER Working Papers 669, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. Cuberes, David, 2008. "A Model of Sequential City Growth," MPRA Paper 8431, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  5. Rafael, González-Val, 2008. "Deviations from Zipf’s Law for American cities: an empirical examination," MPRA Paper 11504, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. David C. Maré, 2008. "Labour Productivity in Auckland Firms," Working Papers 08_12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
  7. Maarten Bosker & Steven Brakman & Harry Garretsen & Marc Schramm, 2006. "A Century of Shocks: The Evolution of the German City Size Distribution 1925 – 1999," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Xiujian Chen & Shu Lin & W. Robert Reed, 2006. "Another Look at what to do with Time-series Cross-section Data," Working Papers in Economics 06/04, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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