Cross sectional evolution of the US city size distribution

Henry Overman and Yannis Ioannides

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

Abstract: We report nonparametrically estimated stochastic transition kernels for the evolution of the distribution of US metropolitan area populations, for the period 1900 to 1990. These suggest a fair amount of uniformity in the patterns of mobility during the study period. The distribution of city sizes is predominantly character-sed by persistence. Additional kernel estimates do not reveal any stark differences in intra-region mobility patterns. We characterise the nature of intra-size distribution dynamics by means of measures that do not require discretisation of the city size distribution. We employ these measures to study the degree of mobility within the US city size distribution and, separately, within regional and urban subsystems. We find that different regions show different degrees of intra-distribution mobility. Second-tier cities show more mobility than top-tier cities.

Keywords: City size distribution; cross-sectional evolution; intradistribution mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2000-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/20137/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Cross-Sectional Evolution of the U.S. City Size Distribution (2001)
Working Paper: Cross-sectional evolution of the U.S. city size distribution (2001)
Working Paper: Cross Sectional Evolution of the US City Size Distribution (2000)
Working Paper: Cross-Sectional Evolution of the U.S. City Size Distribution (1999)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:20137

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