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Urban Growth Shadows

Author

Listed:
  • David Cuberes
  • Klaus Desmet
  • Jordan Rappaport

Abstract

Does a location's growth benefit or suffer from being geographically close to large economic centers? Spatial proximity may lead to competition and hurt growth, but it may also generate positive spillovers and enhance growth. Using data on U.S. counties and metro areas for the period 1840?2017, we document this tradeoff between urban shadows and urban spillovers. Proximity to large urban centers was negatively associated with growth from 1840 to 1920, and positively associated with growth after 1920. Using a two-city spatial equilibrium model with intra-city and inter-city commuting, we show that the secular evolution of commuting costs can account for this and other observed patterns in the data.

Suggested Citation

  • David Cuberes & Klaus Desmet & Jordan Rappaport, 2019. "Urban Growth Shadows," Research Working Paper RWP 19-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp19-08
    DOI: 10.18651/RWP2019-08
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    Cited by:

    1. Dong, Lei & Du, Rui & Kahn, Matthew & Ratti, Carlo & Zheng, Siqi, 2021. "“Ghost cities” versus boom towns: Do China's high-speed rail new towns thrive?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Cui, Wenyue, 2025. "Shadow and spillover: The influence of neighboring innovative cities on regional innovation growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Takayama, Yuki & Ikeda, Kiyohiro & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2020. "Stability and sustainability of urban systems under commuting and transportation costs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Rafael González-Val, 2021. "The Spanish spatial city size distribution," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(6), pages 1609-1631, July.
    5. Peng, Cong & Wang, Yao & Chen, Wenfan, 2024. "Roads to development? Urbanization without growth in Zambia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126771, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Hao Fan & Jingjing Wang & Qian Xu, 2025. "Traffic infrastructure and dietary quality improvement: Evidence from Chinese expressway," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(4), pages 863-881, August.
    7. Xie, Lin & Wang, Shaozhuang & Yan, Lingxiao, 2024. "Distributional effects of expressway access on rural entrepreneurial activities in China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Steven Bond-Smith & Philip McCann, 2022. "The work-from-home revolution and the performance of cities," Working Papers 2022-6, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    9. Jiang, Wei & Jiang, Nana & Wang, Ke-Liang, 2025. "The local effects and neighborhood effects of high-speed railway on urban entrepreneurial vitality: Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Haoqing Zheng & Cody Yu-Ling Hsiao & Hong-Wai Ho & Chunli Ji & Songlin Zhang, 2024. "How the spatial functional division of labor in urban clusters affects urban population size? Evidence from 19 urban clusters in China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Yueqi Yu & Zhouzhou Lin & Dongxia Liu & Yuning Hou, 2024. "Exploring the spatially heterogeneous impacts of industrial agglomeration on regional sustainable development capability: evidence from new energy industries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 16657-16682, July.
    12. Jie Tang & Wenyue Cui, 2024. "Does the Internet trigger an innovative spatial revolution: evidence from China," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 305-318, December.
    13. Tao Ge & Jinye Li & Cang Wang, 2023. "Econometric analysis of the impact of innovative city pilots on CO2 emissions in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9359-9386, September.
    14. Kumagai, Junya & Yoo, Sunbin & Managi, Shunsuke, 2025. "Corrigendum to “Railway expansions and human capital growth: A 20-year causal analysis in Tokyo” [Journal of Transport Geography 123 (2025) 1–15/104076]," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    15. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Jedwab, Remi & Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2024. "Pandemics and cities: Evidence from the Black Death and the long-run," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Wenyue Cui & Jie Tang & Shuai Yuan & Xin Dai, 2025. "Innovation Convergence: A System Review," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(3), pages 13349-13392, September.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • 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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