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The Optimal Distribution of Population across Cities

Author

Listed:
  • David Albouy
  • Kristian Behrens
  • Frédéric Robert-Nicoud
  • Nathan Seegert

Abstract

The received economic wisdom is that cities are too big and that public policy should limit their sizes. This wisdom assumes, unrealistically, that city sites are homogeneous, migration is unfettered, land is given freely to incoming migrants, and federal taxes are neutral. Should those assumptions not hold, large cities may be inefficiently small. We prove this claim in a system of cities with heterogeneous sites and either free mobility or local governments, where agglomeration economies, congestion, federal taxation, and land ownership create wedges. A quantitative version of our model suggests that cities may well be too numerous and underpopulated for a wide range of plausible parameter values. The welfare costs of free migration equilibria appear small, whereas they seem substantial when local governments control city size.

Suggested Citation

  • David Albouy & Kristian Behrens & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud & Nathan Seegert, 2016. "The Optimal Distribution of Population across Cities," NBER Working Papers 22823, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22823
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    JEL classification:

    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • 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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