A comparison of city size distributions for China and India from 1950 to 2010

Jeff Luckstead and Stephen Devadoss

Economics Letters, 2014, vol. 124, issue 2, 290-295

Abstract: We examine the distributions of Chinese and Indian city sizes for seven decades (1950s to 2010s) using lognormal, Pareto, and general Pareto distributions. We ascertain which distribution fits the data and how the city size distributions change during these periods. The Chinese city size distribution is represented by lognormal in the early periods (1950–1990) and by Pareto in 2010, but is not characterized by Zipf, which could be attributed to Chinese government’s restrictions of migration from rural to urban areas and the one-child policy. In contrast, the Indian city size distribution transitions from lognormal in the earlier periods to Zipf in the later periods.

Keywords: China; City size; General Pareto; India; Lognormal; Pareto (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C24 C46 D30 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:124:y:2014:i:2:p:290-295

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2014.06.002

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