This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

City Size Distributions as a Consequence of the Growth Process

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Duranton, Gilles

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The size distribution of cities in many countries follows some broadly regular patterns. Any good theory of city size distributions should (i) be able to account for this regularity, but also (ii) rely on a plausible economic mechanism and (iii) be consistent with other fundamental features of cities like the existence of agglomeration economies and crowding costs. Unlike the previous literature, the model proposed here satisfies these three requirements. It views small innovation-driven technological shocks as the main engine behind the growth and decline of cities. Cities grow or decline as they win or lose industries following new innovations. Formally, this is achieved by embedding the quality-ladder model of growth developed by Grossman and Helpman (1991) in an urban framework.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP3577.asp
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3577.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Oct 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3577

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820

Order Information:
Email:

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords: agglomeration economies; city-size distribution; quality-ladder models of growth;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
O18 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses
R11 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Analysis of Growth, Development, and Changes
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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. Vining, Daniel R, Jr, 1976. "Autocorrelated Growth Rates and the Pareto Law: A Further Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 369-80, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Duncan Black & Vernon Henderson, 2003. "Urban evolution in the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 343-372, October.
  4. Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "Smog Reduction's Impact on California County Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(3), pages 565-582. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Duncan Black & Vernon Henderson, 1997. "Urban Growth," NBER Working Papers 6008, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Beardsell, Mark & Henderson, Vernon, 1999. "Spatial evolution of the computer industry in the USA," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 431-456, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 1999. "Diversity and specialisation in cities: Why, where and when does it matter?," Working Papers dpuga-99-02, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Guy Dumais & Glenn Ellison & Edward L. Glaeser, 2002. "Geographic Concentration As A Dynamic Process," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 193-204, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Coulson, N. Edward, 1999. "Sectoral sources of metropolitan growth," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 723-743, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Yorgos Y. Papageorgiou & David Pines, 2000. "Externalities, Indivisibility, Nonreplicability and Agglomeration," Department of Economics Working Papers 2000-01, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Jaffe, Adam B & Trajtenberg, Manuel & Henderson, Rebecca, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(3), pages 577-98, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Linda Harris Dobkins & Yannis M. Ioannides, 1999. "Dynamic Evolution of the U.S. City Size Distribution," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9916, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
  13. Duncan Black & Vernon Henderson, 1999. "A Theory of Urban Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(2), pages 252-284, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Rosen, Kenneth T. & Resnick, Mitchel, 1980. "The size distribution of cities: An examination of the Pareto law and primacy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 165-186, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-70, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Parr, John B., 1985. "A note on the size distribution of cities over time," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 199-212, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Henderson, J V, 1974. "The Sizes and Types of Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 640-56, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. Vernon Henderson, 1999. "Marshall's Economies," NBER Working Papers 7358, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Kahn, Matthew E, 2001. "City Quality-of-Life Dynamics: Measuring the Costs of Growth," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2-3), pages 339-52, March-May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. John Parr, 1976. "A class of deviations from rank-size regularity: Three interpretations," Regional Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 285-292, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Gyourko, Joseph & Kahn, Matthew & Tracy, Joseph, 1999. "Quality of life and environmental comparisons," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. C. Cheshire & E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 1413-1454 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Xavier Gabaix, 1999. "Zipf's Law and the Growth of Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 129-132, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-51, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Krugman, Paul, 1996. "Confronting the Mystery of Urban Hierarchy," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 399-418, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Kahn, Matthew E., 1999. "The Silver Lining of Rust Belt Manufacturing Decline," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 360-376, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Xavier Gabaix, 1999. "Zipf'S Law For Cities: An Explanation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(3), pages 739-767, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1998. "Job Creation and Destruction," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540932, January.
  28. Carlino, Gerald A. & DeFina, Robert H. & Sill, Keith, 2001. "Sectoral Shocks and Metropolitan Employment Growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 396-417, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  29. Dosi, Giovanni, 1988. "Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 1120-71, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Brezis, Elise S & Krugman, Paul R, 1997. " Technology and the Life Cycle of Cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 369-83, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(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. Jan Eeckhout, 2004. "Gibrat's Law for (All) Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1429-1451, December. [Downloadable!]
  2. Cuberes, David, 2008. "A Model of Sequential City Growth," MPRA Paper 8431, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Cuberes, David, 2007. "A Model of Sequential City Growth," MPRA Paper 2172, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Xavier Gabaix & Yannis M. Ioannides, 2003. "The Evolution of City Size Distributions," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0310, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Mark L. J. Wright, 2003. "Urban structure and growth," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 141, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Tomoya Mori & Koji Nishikimi & Tony E. Smith, 2002. "Some Empirical Regularities of Spatial Economies: A Relationship between Industrial Location and City Size," KIER Working Papers 551, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  7. Kwok Tong Soo, 2004. "Zipfs Law for Cities: A Cross Country Investigation," CEP Discussion Papers dp0641, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  8. Goerlich, Francisco José & Mas, Matilde, 2008. "Sobre el tamaño de las ciudades en España. Dos reflexiones y una regularidad empírica," MPRA Paper 15798, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2008. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Over 1000 institutions contribute their bibliographic data directly to this service.

This page was last updated on 2009-10-29.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.