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Estimation of optimal metropolitan size in Japan with consideration of social costs

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  • Fumitoshi Mizutani
  • Tomoyasu Tanaka
  • Noriyoshi Nakayama

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to estimate the optimal city size which would attain maximum total surplus and sustainability, or a city size in which total benefits would equal total costs. We apply regressions to the total benefit function and the total cost function for 269 employment metropolitan areas for the year 2000 in Japan. Our study can be distinguished from others in that we include in total costs such social costs as environmental pollution. Our findings are that the optimal city size is 393–433 thousand persons. The sustainable limit for city size is 1,057–1,150 thousand. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

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  • Fumitoshi Mizutani & Tomoyasu Tanaka & Noriyoshi Nakayama, 2015. "Estimation of optimal metropolitan size in Japan with consideration of social costs," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1713-1730, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:48:y:2015:i:4:p:1713-1730
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-014-0850-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daidai Shen & Jean-Claude Thill & Jiuwen Sun, 2020. "Are Chinese Cities Oversized?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 43(6), pages 632-654, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal city size; Total surplus; Environmental costs; Social costs; R10; R12; Q50;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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