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Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City

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Author Info
Edward L. Glaeser
Matthew E. Kahn

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Abstract

This paper examines the decentralization of employment using zip code data on employment by industry. Most American cities are decentralized--on average less than 16 percent of employment in metropolitan areas is within a three mile radius of the city center. In decentralized cities, the classic stylized facts of urban economics (i. e. prices fall with distance to the city center, commute time rise with distance and poverty falls with distance)no longer hold. Decentralization is most common in manufacturing and least common in services. The human capital level of an industry predicts its centralization, but the dominant factor explaining decentralization is the residential preferences of workers. Political borders also impact employment density which suggests that local government policies significantly influence the location of industry.

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Paper provided by Harvard - Institute of Economic Research in its series Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers with number 1912.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:fth:harver:1912

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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. Thurston Lawrence & Yezer Anthony M. J., 1994. "Causality in the Suburbanization of Population and Employment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 105-118, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. McMillen, Daniel P. & McDonald, John F., 1998. "Suburban Subcenters and Employment Density in Metropolitan Chicago," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 157-180, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Richard Arnott & Alex Anas & Kenneth Small, 1997. "Urban Spatial Structure," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 388., Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Eric J. Bartelsman & Wayne Gray, 1996. "The NBER Manufacturing Productivity Database," NBER Technical Working Papers 0205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Richard Voith & Joseph Gyourko, 1998. "The tax treatment of housing: its effects on bounded and unbounded communities," Working Papers 98-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  6. Mills, Edwin S., 1992. "The measurement and determinants of suburbanization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 377-387, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Mieszkowski, Peter & Smith, Barton, 1991. "Analyzing urban decentralization : The case of Houston," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-199, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Glaeser, Edward L, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-60, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Mieszkowski, Peter & Mills, Edwin S, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-47, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Guy Dumais & Glenn Ellison & Edward Glaeser, 1997. "Geographic Concentration as a Dynamic Process," NBER Working Papers 6270, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Brueckner, Jan K., 1987. "The structure of urban equilibria: A unified treatment of the muth-mills model," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 20, pages 821-845 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn & Jordan Rappaport, 2000. "Why Do the Poor Live in Cities?," NBER Working Papers 7636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1991. "Subcenters in the Los Angeles region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 163-182, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Henderson, Vernon & Mitra, Arindam, 1996. "The new urban landscape: Developers and edge cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 613-643, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Gin, Alan & Sonstelie, Jon, 1992. "The streetcar and residential location in nineteenth century Philadelphia," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 92-107, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Ross, Stephen & Yinger, John, 1995. "Comparative static analysis of open urban models with a full labor market and suburban employment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 575-605, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Carlino, Gerald A., 1985. "Declining city productivity and the growth of rural regions: A test of alternative explanations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 11-27, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. White, Michelle J., 1976. "Firm suburbanization and urban subcenters," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 323-343, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Edward L. Glaeser, Jed Kolko, and Albert Saiz, 2001. "Consumer city," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 27-50, January.
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  21. Margo, Robert A., 1992. "Explaining the postwar suburbanization of population in the United States: The role of income," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 301-310, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Small Kenneth A. & Song Shunfeng, 1994. "Population and Employment Densities: Structure and Change," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 292-313, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Macauley, Molly K., 1985. "Estimation and recent behavior of urban population and employment density gradients," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 251-260, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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