Prime locations

Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Thilo N. H. Albers and Kristian Behrens

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We develop a method for delineating prime locations—ultradense clusters of economic activity—within cities and apply it to comprehensive establishment data covering all US metropolitan areas. We further use big data to extend the analysis to a global context where administrative data are sparse. Many cities in the United States and around the world are dominated by a small number of prime locations that can concentrate up to one-half of tradable services jobs on tiny shares of land and are dominant centers of economic gravity. In cities with fewer prime locations, a larger tradable services share concentrates in them.

JEL-codes: C50 R23 R32 R38 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2026-09-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in American Economic Review: Insights, 1, September, 2026, 8(3), pp. 374 - 392. ISSN: 2640-205X

Downloads: (external link)
https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/140851/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:140851

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().