urban agglomeration
From The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition, 2008
Edited by
Steven
N.
Durlauf
and
Lawrence
E.
Blume
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Abstract
Urban agglomeration is the spatial concentration of economic activity in cities. It can also take the form of concentration in industry clusters or in employment centres within a city. One reason that agglomeration takes place is that there exist external increasing returns, also known as agglomeration economies. Evidence indicates that there exist both urbanization economies, associated with city size, and localization economies, associated with the clustering of industry. Both effects attenuate geographically. Theoretical research has identified many sources of agglomeration economies, including labour market pooling, input sharing, and knowledge spillovers. Empirical research has offered evidence consistent with each of these.
Keywords
input sharing; knowledge spillovers; labour market pooling; localization economies; migration; new economic geography; production functions; productivity; rent seeking; systems of cities; urban agglomeration; urban wage premium; urbanization economies
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How to cite this article
Strange, William C. "urban agglomeration." The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online. Palgrave Macmillan. 22 May 2013 <http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_U000064> doi:10.1057/9780230226203.1769

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