Working Paper: NBER ID: w27215
Authors: Gilles Duranton; Diego Puga
Abstract: Urban density boosts productivity and innovation, improves access to goods and services, reduces typical travel distances, encourages energy-efficient construction and transport, and facilitates sharing scarce amenities. However, density is also synonymous with crowding, makes living and moving in cities more costly, and concentrates exposure to pollution and disease. We explore the appropriate measurement of density and describe how it is both a cause and a consequence of the evolution of cities. We then discuss whether and how policy should target density and why the trade-off between its pros and cons is unhappily resolved by market and political forces.
Keywords: urban density; productivity; innovation; urban economics
JEL Codes: R12; R31; R32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| urban density (R11) | access to goods and services (H49) |
| urban density (R11) | travel distances (R41) |
| urban density (R11) | energy-efficient construction (L74) |
| urban density (R11) | housing prices (R31) |
| urban density (R11) | productivity (O49) |
| urban density (R11) | productivity (for more productive firms) (D21) |