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The Evolution of City Size Distributions

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Author Info
Xavier Gabaix
Yannis M. Ioannides

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Abstract

We review the accumulated knowledge on city size distributions and determinants of urban growth. This topic is of interest because of a number of key stylized facts, including notably Zipf’s law for cities (which states that the number of cities of size greater than S is proportional to 1/S) and the importance of urban primacy. We first review the empirical evidence on the upper tail of city size distribution. We offer a novel discussion of the important econometric issues in the characterization of the distribution. We then discuss the theories that have been advanced to explain the approximate constancy of the distribution across very different economic and social systems, emphasizing both bare-bone statistical theories and more developed economic theories. We discuss the more recent work on the determinants of urban growth and, in particular, growth regressions, economic explanations of city size distributions other than Gibrat’s law, consequences of major shocks (quasi natural experiments), and the dynamics of U.S. urban evolution.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, Tufts University in its series Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University with number 0310.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0310

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Related research
Keywords: city size distribution; Gibrat’s law; Hill estimator; persistence of city size distributions; power laws; random growth; urban growth; urban hierarchy; urban primacy; Zipf regression; Zipf’s law.;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C2 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables
N9 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History
R1 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics

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  24. Wheaton, William C & Shishido, Hisanobu, 1981. "Urban Concentration, Agglomeration Economies, and the Level of Economic Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 17-30, October.
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  32. Gerald Carlino & Satyajit Chatterjee, 2002. "Employment Deconcentration: A New Perspective on America's Postwar Urban Evolution," Journal of Regional Science, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(3), pages 445-475. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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