What makes cities more productive? Agglomeration economies and the role of urban governance: evidence from 5 OECD countries

Rudiger Ahrend, Emily Farchy, Ioannis Kaplanis () and Alexander Lembcke

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

Abstract: This paper estimates agglomeration benefits across five OECD countries, and represents the first empirical analysis that combines evidence on agglomeration benefits and the productivity impact of metropolitan governance structures, while taking into account the potential sorting of individuals across cities. The comparability of results in a multi-country setting is supported through the use of a new internationally-harmonised definition of cities based on economic linkages rather than administrative boundaries. In line with the literature, the analysis confirms that city productivity increases with city size but finds that cities with fragmented governance structures tend to have lower levels of productivity. This effect is mitigated by the existence of a metropolitan governance body.

Keywords: cities; productivity; governance; agglomeration economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H23 R12 R23 R50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/64619/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: What Makes Cities More Productive?: Agglomeration economies and the role of urban governance: Evidence from 5 OECD Countries (2017)
Working Paper: What Makes Cities More Productive? Agglomeration Economies and the Role of Urban Governance: Evidence from 5 OECD Countries (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:64619

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