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! ]

Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Edward L. Glaeser
Matthew E. Kahn

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

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 times 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.

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 file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w8117.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

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 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8117.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Feb 2001
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8117

Note: EFG LE PE
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

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

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

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. 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)
    Other versions:
  2. 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)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. Richard Arnott & Alex Anas & Kenneth Small, 1997. "Urban Spatial Structure," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 388., Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Eric J. Bartelsman & Wayne Gray, 1996. "The NBER Manufacturing Productivity Database," NBER Technical Working Papers 0205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. 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)
  8. 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!]
  9. Mills, Edwin S., 1992. "The measurement and determinants of suburbanization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 377-387, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. 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)
  11. Glaeser, Edward L, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-60, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. 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)
  13. 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)
  14. 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)
  15. 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)
    Other versions:
  16. 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)
  17. White, Michelle J., 1976. "Firm suburbanization and urban subcenters," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 323-343, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. 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.
    Other versions:
  19. 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)
  20. 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)
  21. 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)
  22. 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)
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. Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse Shapiro, 2001. "Is There a New Urbanism? The Growth of U.S. Cities in the 1990s," NBER Working Papers 8357, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Eric A. Hanushek & Kuzey Yilmaz, 2007. "Schools and Location: Tiebout, Alonso, and Government Policy," NBER Working Papers 12960, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Marcy Burchfield & Henry G. Overman & Diego Puga & Matthew A. Turner, 2005. "Causes of sprawl: A portrait from space," Working Papers tecipa-192, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Bento, Antonio M. & Cropper, Maureen L. & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Vinha, Katja, 2003. "The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3007, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Michael L. Lahr, 2004. "Is New York City Still Propelling Growth In Its Suburbs?: A Study Of Economic Spillover Effects Through Spatial Contiguity," Urban/Regional 0403007, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  6. Gerald Carlino & Satyajit Chatterjee & Robert Hunt, 2006. "Urban density and the rate of invention," Working Papers 06-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Gobillon, Laurent & Selod, Harris & Zenou, Yves, 2005. "The mechanisms of spatial mismatch," CEPR Discussion Papers 5346, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Sukkoo Kim, 2002. "The Reconstruction of the American Urban Landscape in the Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 8857, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Gobillon, Laurent & Selod, Harris & Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Spatial Mismatch: From the Hypothesis to the Theories," IZA Discussion Papers 693, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Frederic Gilli, 2003. "Why is Central Paris loosing jobs?," ERSA conference papers ersa03p122, European Regional Science Association. [Downloadable!]
  11. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2003. "Sprawl and Urban Growth," NBER Working Papers 9733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Christopher H. Wheeler, 2004. "Productivity and the geographic concentration of industry: the role of plant scale," Working Papers 2004-024, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Gerald Carlino & Satyajit Chatterjee & Robert Hunt, 2005. "Matching and learning in cities: urban density and the rate of invention," Working Papers 04-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Matteo Bellinzas, 2004. "Dinamiche demografiche, agglomerazione e determinanti economiche. Il caso italiano," Working Paper CRENoS 200407, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia. [Downloadable!]
  15. José M. Mella, 2003. "How are cities working in the Spanish territorial development? ( 1985-2000)," ERSA conference papers ersa03p340, European Regional Science Association. [Downloadable!]
  16. Edward L. Glaeser, 2007. "Do Regional Economies Need Regional Coordination?," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000917, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? RePEc data is maintained by each archive holder on its own website. Nothing is held centrally.

This page was last updated on 2008-7-26.

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.