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Does The Choice Of Geographic Units Matter For The Validation Of Gibrat'S Law?

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  • Boris A. PORTNOV

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Israel)

Abstract

As we hypothesize, the selection of observation units may become a critical consideration for an empirical investigation of Gibrat’s Law, according to which the growth of cities is expected to be independent of their sizes. In order to verify this hypothesis, we investigate whether the validation of Gibrat’s law may depend on the aerial units used for the analysis i.e., individual localities vs. integrated urban areas. The present study examines that possibility, using 1990-2000 population growth data for two levels of geographic resolution 4,667 local administrative units (i.e., municipalities) and 2189 contiguous urban areas in 40 European countries. According to our findings, the association between population size and growth tend to differ across subsets of localities, being positive across localities with fewer location advantages and negative elsewhere. As a result, the strength and direction of the ‘growth-size’ association may change, depending on the relative shares of location subsets used for aggregation.

Suggested Citation

  • Boris A. PORTNOV, 2012. "Does The Choice Of Geographic Units Matter For The Validation Of Gibrat'S Law?," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 36, pages 79-106.
    • Handle: RePEc:tou:journl:v:36:y:2012:p:79-106
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Eeckhout, 2004. "Gibrat's Law for (All) Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1429-1451, December.
    2. Boris A. Portnov & Moshe Schwartz, 2009. "Urban Clusters As Growth Foci," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 287-310, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Natalya Rybnikova & Boris Portnov, 2015. "Using light-at-night (LAN) satellite data for identifying clusters of economic activities in Europe," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 307-334, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    POPULATION GROWTH; EUROPEAN URBAN SYSTEM; LOCATIONAL SUBSETS; LOCATIONAL ATTRIBUTES; GIBRAT'S LAW; URBAN AREAS; LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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