Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries

Paul Cheshire and Stefano Magrini

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

Abstract: We investigate urban GDP per capita growth across the EU12 using data for functionally defined cities—rather than administrative regions. We test hypotheses on the role of human capital, EU integration and fragmentation of urban government and explore spatial dependence and mechanisms of spatial interaction. Results are acceptable on standard econometric tests without measures of spatial interaction but there is spatial dependence. If variables reflecting spatial adjustment are included, they are statistically significant and eliminate spatial dependence. Not only do the results now provide consistent estimates of parameters, but they also support relevant theoretical insights and show national borders are still significant barriers to economic adjustment. People in Europe are sticky so it is unreasonable to assume spatial disparities will disappear. Our findings also imply that cities in Europe form national rather than a single continental system.

Keywords: Growth; cities; local public goods; spatial adjustment; local economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 H73 O18 R11 R50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-10
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Journal of Economic Geography, October, 2008, 9(1), pp. 85-115. ISSN: 1468-2702

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/30774/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries (2009)
Working Paper: Urban Growth Drivers in a Europe of Sticky People and Implicit Boundaries (2008)
Working Paper: Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:30774

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