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Size Distribution of All Italian Cities

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  • Belloc, Marianna

Abstract

By revisiting well-established empirical regularities, this paper examines the distributional properties of city sizes in Italy over the period 2001-2024. Three main findings emerge. First, when considering the full population of approximately 7,900 municipalities, city sizes are well approximated by a lognormal distribution. Second, consistent with Gibrat’s law, city population growth rates appear to be independent of initial city size. Third, the upper tail of the distribution follows Zipf’s law, although the results are sensitive to the choice of truncation threshold. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to urban dynamics and the organization of the Italian urban system.

Suggested Citation

  • Belloc, Marianna, 2026. "Size Distribution of All Italian Cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 20989, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20989
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    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP20989
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic 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)

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