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Agglomeration and Growth : Cross-Country Evidence

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  • Marius BRÜLHART
  • Federica SBERGAMI

Abstract

We investigate the impact of within-country spatial concentration of economic activity on country-level growth, using cross-section OLS and dynamic panel GMM estimation. Agglomeration is measured alternatively through measures of urbanization and through indices of spatial concentration based on data for sub-national regions. Across estimation techniques, data sets and variable definitions, we find evidence that supports the "Williamson hypothesis": agglomeration boosts GDP growth only up to a certain level of economic development. The critical level is estimated at some USD 10,000, corresponding roughly to the current per-capita income level of Brazil or Bulgaria. This implies that the tradeoff between national growth and inter-regional equality may gradually lose its relevance.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP in its series Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) with number 08.04.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2008
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Journal of Urban Economics, 65(1), January 2009, pp. 48-63
Handle: RePEc:lau:crdeep:08.04

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne
Phone: ++41 21 692.33.64
Fax: ++41 21 692.33.05
Email:
Web page: http://www.hec.unil.ch/deep/publications/cahiers/series
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Keywords: economic growth; agglomeration; urbanization; dynamic panel estimation;

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Mayer, Thierry & Méjean, Isabelle & Nefussi, Benjamin, 2007. "The Location of Domestic and Foreign Production Affiliates by French Multinational Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 6308, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  2. Maximilian Von Ehrlich & Tobias Seidel, 2013. "Regional Implications of Financial Market Development: Credit Rationing, Trade, and Location," CESifo Working Paper Series 4063, CESifo Group Munich.
  3. Andersson, Martin & Lööf, Hans, 2009. "Agglomeration and Productivity - evidence from firm-level data," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 170, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
  4. E. Marrocu & R. Paci & S. Usai, 2010. "Productivity growth in the Old and New Europe: the role of agglomeration externalities," Working Paper CRENoS 201024, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
  5. Régis Chenavaz & Octavio Escobar, 2012. "Effective area as a measure of land factor," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 1962-1969.
  6. Marius Brülhart, 2011. "The spatial effects of trade openness: a survey," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 59-83, April.
  7. Brulhart, Marius & Hoppe, Mombert, 2011. "Economic integration in the lower Congo region : opening the Kinshasa-Brazzaville bottleneck," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5909, The World Bank.
  8. Steven Poelhekke & Frederick Van der Ploeg, 2008. "Growth, Foreign Direct Investment and Urban Concentrations: Unbundling Spatial Lags," CESifo Working Paper Series 2474, CESifo Group Munich.
  9. Maria Florencia Granato, 2011. "REGIONAL NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY (refereed paper)," ERSA conference papers ersa10p747, European Regional Science Association.
  10. Fernandes, Ana M. & Sharma, Gunjan, 2012. "Together we stand ? agglomeration in Indian manufacturing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6062, The World Bank.
  11. Hashiguchi, Yoshihiro & Tanaka, Kiyoyasu, 2013. "Agglomeration and firm-level productivity : a Bayesian spatial approach," IDE Discussion Papers 403, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
  12. Tripathi, Sabyasachi, 2012. "Large Agglomerations and Economic Growth in Urban India: An Application of Panel Data Model," MPRA Paper 41574, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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