Abstract

Recent theories of economic growth, including those of Romer, Porter, and Jacobs, have stressed the role of technological spillovers in generating growth. Because such knowledge spillovers are particularly effective in cities, where communication between people is more extensive, data on the growth of industries in different cities allow us to test some of these theories. Using a new data set on the growth of large industries in 170 U.S. cities between 1956 and 1987, we find that local competition and urban variety, but not regional specialization, encourage employment growth in industries. The evidence suggests that important knowledge spillovers might occur between rather than within industries, consistent with the theories of Jacobs.

Keywords

RomerVariety (cybernetics)Economic geographyCompetition (biology)EconomicsGrowth theoryEndogenous growth theoryHuman capitalNeoclassical economicsEconomic growthGeography

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Publication Info

Year
1991
Type
preprint
Citations
43
Access
Closed

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Edward L. Glaeser, Hédi Kallal, José Scheinkman et al. (1991). Growth in Cities. RePEc: Research Papers in Economics .