The origin of urban productivity scaling laws: mathematical model and new empirical evidence

@article{Yang2017TheOO,
  title={The origin of urban productivity scaling laws: mathematical model and new empirical evidence},
  author={Vicky Chuqiao Yang and Andrew V. Papachristos and Daniel M. Abrams},
  journal={arXiv: Physics and Society},
  year={2017}
}
Bigger cities are associated with higher per-capita productivity -- in positive aspects, such as inventions, and negative ones, such as crimes. A difficulty in understanding the origin of this phenomenon, superlinear scaling, is that similar quantities exhibit different scaling behaviors. We develop a first-principles formulation for the origin of superlinear scaling that also explains these differences. Our model suggests that superlinear scaling can be an outcome of the increased likelihood… 
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