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Does urban concentration matter for changes in country economic performance?

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  • Roberto Ganau
  • Andres Rodriguez-Pose

Abstract

This paper uses a novel, globally-harmonised city-level dataset —with cities defined at the Functional Urban Area (FUA) level— to revisit the link between urban concentration and country-level economic dynamics. The empirical analysis, involving 108 low- and high-income countries, examines how differences in urban concentration impinge on changes in employment, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and labour productivity at country level over the period 2000-2016. The results indicate that urban concentration reduces employment growth but increases GDP per capita and labour productivity growth. The returns of urban concentration are higher for high- than for low-income countries and are mainly driven by the ‘core’ of FUAs, rather than by sub-urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Ganau & Andres Rodriguez-Pose, 2021. "Does urban concentration matter for changes in country economic performance?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2106, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:2106
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    4. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Jamie Griffiths, 2021. "Developing intermediate cities," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 441-456, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban concentration; Long-run economic dynamics; Employment growth; GDP per capita growth; Labour productivity growth; Cross-country analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • 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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