Scale economies and cities
Scale economies and cities
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DOI：
10.1093/wbro/lkp022
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发表时间：
2010-08
影响因子：
8.1
通讯作者：
I. Gill;C. Goh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
I. Gill;C. Goh
这是总结了一代规模经济研究的政策相关的见解。生产的规模经济有三种类型：与大型工厂相关的内部经济，来自投入和基础设施共享以及公司之间更大竞争的本地化经济，以及通过多样性和知识溢出产生的城市化经济。本地化和城市化的利益（和成本）一起被称为“外部（非）经济”，因为它们是由于任何单一家庭，农场或公司之外的因素而产生的。经验文献产生了一些程式化的事实。内部规模经济在轻工业中较低，在重工业中较高。外部规模经济因经济密度而扩大，并随着与经济活动集中地区的距离而消散。规模经济在城镇最为明显。简单地说，城镇允许企业和农场利用内部规模经济，中等城市帮助行业企业利用本地化经济，大城市和大都市为那些位于城市内部或附近的人提供城市化经济。规模经济对政策制定者有影响。第一，因为城市住区的兴起和繁荣是因为市场代理人需要他们的服务，所以他们应该被视为市场的产物，而不是国家的产物。第二，由于不同规模的定居点提供不同的服务，城镇，城市和大都市往往是相互补充，而不是替代。第三，作为一个必然结果，政策制定者应该致力于改善城市住区的功能，而不是专注于其规模。
This is summarizes the policy-relevant insights of a generation of research on scale economies. Scale economies in production are of three types: internal economies associated with large plants, localization economies that come from sharing of inputs and infrastructure and from greater competition among firms, and urbanization economies that are generated through diversity and knowledge spillovers. The benefits (and costs) of localization and urbanization are together called 'external (dis) economies' because they arise due to factors outside any single household, farm or firm. The empirical literature yields some stylized facts. Internal scale economies are low in light industries and high in heavy industries. External scale economies are amplified by economic density and dissipate with distance from places where economic activity is concentrated. Scale economies are most visibly manifest in towns and cities. To simplify somewhat, towns allow firms and farms to exploit internal scale economies, medium-sized cities help firms in an industry exploit localization economies, and large cities and metropolises provide urbanization economies to those who locate within or nearby. Scale economies have implications for policy makers. The first is that because urban settlements rise and thrive because market agents demand their services, they should be seen as creatures of the market, not creations of the state. The second is that because settlements of different sizes provide differing services, towns, cities, and metropolises are more often complements for one another, not substitutes. Third, as a corollary, policymakers should aim to improve the functioning of urban settlements, and not become preoccupied with their size.