The productivity advantages of large cities: Distinguishing agglomeration from firm selection

Pierre-Philippe Combes (), Gilles Duranton (), Diego Puga () and Sébastien Roux ()

Working Papers from University of Toronto, Department of Economics

Abstract: Firms are more productive on average in larger cities. Two explanations have been offered: agglomeration economies (larger cities promote interactions that increase productivity) and firm selection (larger cities toughen competition allowing only the most productive to survive). To distinguish between them, we nest a generalised version of a seminal firm selection model and a standard model of agglomeration. Stronger selection in larger cities left truncates the productivity distribution whereas stronger agglomeration right shifts and dilates the distribution. We assess the relative importance of agglomeration and firm selection using French establishment level data and a new quantile approach. Spatial productivity differences in France are mostly explained by agglomeration.

Keywords: agglomeration; firm selection; productivity; cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C52 R12 D24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03-05

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Related works:
Working Paper: The productivity advantages of large cities: Distinguishing agglomeration from firm selection (2009)
Working Paper: The productivity advantages of large cities: Distinguishing agglomeration from firm selection (2009)
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