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Pollution and city size: can cities be too small?

Author

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  • Rainald Borck
  • Takatoshi Tabuchi

Abstract

We study optimal and equilibrium sizes of cities in a city system model with pollution. Pollution is a function of population size. If pollution is local or per-capita pollution increases with population, equilibrium cities are too large under symmetry; with asymmetric cities, the largest cities are too large and the smallest too small. When pollution is global and per-capita pollution declines with city size, cities may be too small under symmetry; with asymmetric cities, the largest cities are too small and the smallest too large if the marginal damage of pollution is large enough. We calibrate the model to US cities and find that the largest cities may be undersized by 3–4%.

Suggested Citation

  • Rainald Borck & Takatoshi Tabuchi, 2019. "Pollution and city size: can cities be too small?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 995-1020.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:19:y:2019:i:5:p:995-1020.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lby017
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    Cited by:

    1. Carozzi, Felipe & Roth, Sefi, 2023. "Dirty density: Air quality and the density of American cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Borck, Rainald & Schrauth, Philipp, 2024. "Urban pollution: A global perspective," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Rainald Borck, 2019. "Bevölkerungsdichte, Stadtstruktur und Umweltverschmutzung [Population density, urban structure and air pollution]," Zeitschrift für Immobilienökonomie (German Journal of Real Estate Research), Springer;Gesellschaft für Immobilienwirtschaftliche Forschung e. V., vol. 5(1), pages 161-171, November.
    4. Borck, Rainald, 2019. "Public transport and urban pollution," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 356-366.
    5. Blaudin de Thé, Camille & Carantino, Benjamin & Lafourcade, Miren, 2021. "The carbon ‘carprint’ of urbanization: New evidence from French cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Pflüger, Michael P., 2018. "City Size, Pollution and Emission Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 11354, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Wu, JunJie & Segerson, Kathleen & Wang, Chunhua, 2023. "Is environmental regulation the answer to pollution problems in urbanizing economies?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    8. Lafourcade, Miren & Blaudin de Thé, Camille & Carantino, Benjamin, 2018. "The Carbon `Carprint' of Suburbanization: New Evidence from French Cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 13086, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Niklas Gohl & Philipp Schrauth, 2022. "Ticket to Paradise? The Effect of a Public Transport Subsidy on Air Quality," CEPA Discussion Papers 50, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Dong, Tao & Jia, Ning & Ma, Shoufeng & Xu, Shu-Xian & Ping Ong, Ghim & Liu, Peng & Huang, Hai-Jun, 2022. "Impacts of intercity commuting on travel characteristics and urban performances in a two-city system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    11. Pflüger, Michael, 2021. "City size, pollution and emission policies," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Huang, Ruting & Yao, Xin, 2024. "City size and energy efficiency of Chinese manufacturing firms: An empirical study from a city characteristic perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Wang, Junjie & Liao, Feixiong & Wu, Jianjun & Xu, Zhongzhi & Gao, Ziyou, 2024. "Resilience assessment of intercity transport in a two-city system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    14. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Pietrostefani, Elisabetta, 2019. "The economic effects of density: A synthesis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 93-107.
    15. Carozzi, Felipe & Roth, Sefi, 2023. "Dirty density: air quality and the density of American cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117385, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Juan Carlos Bárcena-Ruiz & F. Javier Casado-Izaga, 2018. "Optimal size of a residential area within a municipality," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 75-92, May.
    17. Xiong Chen & Wencui Du, 2022. "Too Big or Too Small? The Threshold Effects of City Size on Regional Pollution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-21, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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