Globalisation: Countries, Cities and Multinationals

Philip McCann () and Zoltan J. Acs, ()

No 2009-042, Jena Economic Research Papers in Economics from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Thueringer Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek

Abstract: In this paper we explore the relationship between the size of a country, the size of its cities, and the economic performance of the country. In order to do this we integrate three different literature, namely the literature on optimal country size, literature on historical processes of urbanisation and the performance of cities, and literature on the role of multinational firms in the global economy. Using an economic geography perspective, we demonstrate that the relationship between city-size and the prosperity of the nation state, to a much more complex set of relationships. In the modern era of globalisation the role of global companies within the city-region is critical, and city-regions in turn are seen to drive national economies. As such, the relationships between firms, cities and countries have been largely reversed, casting doubt on various institutional economic theories.

Keywords: scale; cities; countries; multinational firms; globalisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R12 F23 N90 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
Date: 2009-06-04
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2009-042

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