The comparative advantage of cities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Davis, Donald R.; Dingel, Jonathan, I
• 署名单位: Columbia University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2020.103291
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: agglomeration; Assignment models; cities; comparative advantage

摘要

What determines the distributions of skills, occupations, and industries across cities? We develop a theory to jointly address these fundamental questions about the spatial organization of economies. Our model incorporates a system of cities, their internal urban structures, and a high-dimensional theory of factor-driven comparative advantage. It predicts that larger cities will be skill-abundant and specialize in skill-intensive activities according to the monotone likelihood ratio property. We test the model using data on 270 US metropolitan areas, 3 to 9 educational categories, 22 occupations, and 19 industries. The results provide support for our theory's predictions. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.