Firm Sorting and Agglomeration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gaubert, Cecile
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150361
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 3117-3153
• 关键词: Heterogeneous firms; life-cycle; cities; selection; TRADE; PRODUCTIVITY; INEQUALITY; EFFICIENCY; clusters; ECONOMY

摘要

To account for the uneven distribution of economic activity in space, I propose a theory of the location choices of heterogeneous firms in a variety of sectors across cities. In equilibrium, the distribution of city sizes and the sorting patterns of firms are uniquely determined and affect aggregate TFP and welfare. I estimate the model using French firm-level data and find that nearly half of the productivity advantage of large cities is due to firm sorting, the rest coming from agglomeration economies. I quantify the general equilibrium effects of place-based policies: policies that subsidize smaller cities have negative aggregate effects.