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Diversity and specialisation in cities: Why, where and when does it matter?

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Author Info
Gilles Duranton
Diego Puga

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Abstract

Why are some cities specialised and others diversified? What are the advantages and disadvantages of urban specialisation and diversity? To what extent does the structure of cities, and the activities of firms and people in them, change over time? How does the sectoral composition of cities influence their evolution? To answer these and related questions, we first distil some key stylised facts from the empirical literature on cities and the composition of their activities. We then turn to a review of different theories looking at such issues, and study the extent to which these theories contribute to the understanding of the empirical regularities.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Toronto, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number dpuga-99-02.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: 11 Jul 1999
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Handle: RePEc:tor:tecipa:dpuga-99-02

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Related research
Keywords: cities; diversity; specialisation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
R30 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Production Analysis and Firm Location - - - General
O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search, Learning, and Information

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  1. 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)
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  2. Duncan Black & Vernon Henderson, 2003. "Urban evolution in the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 343-372, October.
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  4. J. Vernon Henderson, 1994. "Externalities and Industrial Development," NBER Working Papers 4730, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Fujita, Masahisa & Krugman, Paul & Mori, Tomoya, 1999. "On the evolution of hierarchical urban systems1," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 209-251, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Abdel-Rahman Hesham M. & Fujita Masahisa, 1993. "Specialization and Diversification in a System of Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 189-222, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Henderson, Vernon, 1997. "Medium size cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 583-612, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Fujita, Masahisa, 1988. "A monopolistic competition model of spatial agglomeration : Differentiated product approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 87-124, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  28. Vernon Henderson, 1999. "Marshall's Economies," NBER Working Papers 7358, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  30. Miyao, Takahiro, 1987. "Dynamic urban models," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 22, pages 877-925 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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