Trade and Circuses: Explaining Urban Giants

@article{Beaulieu1994TradeAC,
  title={Trade and Circuses: Explaining Urban Giants},
  author={J. Joseph Beaulieu and Edward L. Glaeser},
  journal={ERN: Urban Economics \& Public Policy (Topic)},
  year={1994}
}
Using theory, case studies, and cross-country evidence, we investigate the factors behind the concentration of a nation's urban population in a single city. High tariffs, high costs of internal trade, and low levels of international trade increase the degree of concentration. Even more clearly, politics (such as the degree of instability) determines urban primacy. Dictatorships have central cities that are, on average, 50 percent larger than their democratic counterparts. Using information… 
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417 Citations

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