Spatial frictions

Kristian Behrens (), Giordano Mion, Yasusada Murata and Jens Suedekum

Journal of Urban Economics, 2017, vol. 97, issue C, 40-70

Abstract: The world is replete with spatial frictions. Shipping goods across cities entails trade frictions. Commuting within cities causes urban frictions. How important are these frictions in shaping the spatial economy? We develop and quantify a multi-city general equilibrium model to address this question at three different levels: Do spatial frictions matter for the city-size distribution? Do they affect individual city sizes? Do they contribute to the productivity advantage of large cities and the toughness of competition in cities? The short answers are: no; yes; and it depends.

Keywords: Trade frictions; Urban frictions; City-size distribution; Productivity; Markups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F12 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Spatial frictions (2014)
Working Paper: Spatial Frictions (2013)
Working Paper: Spatial Frictions (2011)
Working Paper: Spatial frictions (2011)
Working Paper: Spatial frictions (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juecon:v:97:y:2017:i:c:p:40-70

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2016.11.003

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