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Rank-Size Distribution and the Process of Urban Growth

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  • France Guerin-Pace

    (I.N.E.D, 27 rue du Commandeur, 75014, Paris, France)

Abstract

From data on French cities' population covering almost two centuries, the viability of rank-size parameters for describing the evolution of city size distributions is tested. We first demonstrate the sensitivity of the Pareto's exponent to the variations of city sample size. The population threshold for which the adjustment of the city size distribution remains stable appears considerably lower than usually admitted. Then it is shown that the non-Paretian behaviour of city size distributions which appears in some censuses can be linked to the particular growth process of middle-sized cities. It can be explained in terms of deviations of Gibrat's law of proportionate effect and modelled in a simple way.

Suggested Citation

  • France Guerin-Pace, 1995. "Rank-Size Distribution and the Process of Urban Growth," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 551-562, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:32:y:1995:i:3:p:551-562
    DOI: 10.1080/00420989550012960
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rosen, Kenneth T. & Resnick, Mitchel, 1980. "The size distribution of cities: An examination of the Pareto law and primacy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 165-186, September.
    2. Parr, John B., 1985. "A note on the size distribution of cities over time," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 199-212, September.
    3. Ijiri, Yuji & Simon, Herbert A, 1974. "Interpretations of Departures from the Pareto Curve Firm-Size Distributions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages 315-331, Part I, M.
    4. Vining, Daniel R, Jr, 1976. "Autocorrelated Growth Rates and the Pareto Law: A Further Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 369-380, April.
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    1. Marjo Kasanko & Jose I. Barredo & Carlo Lavalle & Valentina Sagris, 2005. "Towards urban un-sustainability in Europe? An indicator-based analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa05p149, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Anindya S. Chakrabarti, 2017. "Scale-free distribution as an economic invariant: a theoretical approach," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Arshad, Sidra & Hu, Shougeng & Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2019. "Zipf’s law, the coherence of the urban system and city size distribution: Evidence from Pakistan," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 87-103.
    4. Florian Ploeckl, 2017. "Towns (and villages): definitions and implications in a historical setting," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 11(2), pages 269-287, May.
    5. Ricardo Machado Ruiz, 2004. "As Estruturas Urbano-Regionais Do Brasil E Estados Unidos Comparadas: Um Estudo Exploratório," Anais do XI Semin·rio sobre a Economia Mineira [Proceedings of the 11th Seminar on the Economy of Minas Gerais], in: João Antonio de Paula & et alli (ed.),Anais do XI Seminário sobre a Economia Mineira [Proceedings of the 11th Seminar on the Economy of Minas Gerais], Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    6. Fazio, Giorgio & Modica, Marco, 2012. "Pareto or log-normal? A recursive-truncation approach to the distribution of (all) cities," SIRE Discussion Papers 2012-54, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    7. González-Val, Rafael & Lanaspa, Luis & Sanz, Fernando, 2008. "New Evidence on Gibrat’s Law for Cities," MPRA Paper 10411, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. P. Nijkamp & A. Reggiani, 2012. "Did Zipf Anticipate Socio-Economic Spatial Networks?," Working Papers wp816, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    9. Zora Živanović & Branka Tošić & Teodora Nikolić & Dragica Gatarić, 2019. "Urban System in Serbia—The Factor in the Planning of Balanced Regional Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Soo, Kwok Tong, 2005. "Zipf's Law for cities: a cross-country investigation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 239-263, May.
    11. Graham Crampton, 2005. "The Rank-Size Rule in Europe - testing ZipfÂ’s law using European data," ERSA conference papers ersa05p185, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Claude LACOUR & Sylvette PUISSANT, 2008. "Medium-Sized Cities and the Dynamics of Creative Services," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2008-08, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).

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