Working Paper: NBER ID: w7120
Authors: Sukkoo Kim
Abstract: The United States transformed itself from a rural to an urban society over the last three centuries. After a century of unremarkable growth, the pace of urbanization was historically unprecedented between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the twentieth century, the urban population continued to increase but in a much more dispersed manner as the suburban population increased. Throughout these developments, cities also exhibited considerable variation in their population sizes. This paper find that the pace and pattern of U.S. urban development are explained by changes in regional comparative advantage and in economies in transportation and local public goods, which in turn were determined by the changes in the economic structures of cities. This paper also finds that cities varied considerably in size because the larger cities reduced market transaction costs associated with coordinating greater geographic division of labor.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: R11; N70
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| changes in regional comparative advantage (F12) | urban development patterns (R14) |
| economies in transportation (R41) | urban development patterns (R14) |
| local public goods (H41) | urban development patterns (R14) |
| improvements in transportation and public goods provision (H40) | transaction costs (D23) |
| transaction costs (D23) | trade and urbanization (F19) |
| city size (R12) | market transaction costs (D40) |
| larger cities (R12) | economic coordination and efficiency (P11) |