Population, light, and the size distribution of cities
Population, light, and the size distribution of cities
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DOI：
10.1111/jors.12507
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发表时间：
2020-07-27
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Krause, Melanie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dueben, Christian;Krause, Melanie
我们提供了关于世界各国城市规模分布的新见解。我们使用通过地理空间数据和全球一致的城市识别方案划定的10，000多个城市，调查了所有国家的分布形状。在人口方面，我们发现齐普夫定律适用于许多国家，但不是所有国家。通过对比城市间的人口分布和经济活动分布（用夜间灯光来衡量），我们揭示了集聚经济的全球变化幅度。偏离齐普夫定律在很大程度上是由于过度集中在最大的城市。它们受益于似乎通过面积而不是密度发挥作用的聚集效应。考察城市规模分布的跨国异质性，我们的模型选择方法表明，历史因素发挥了重要作用，符合时间的发展假说。
We provide new insights on the city size distribution of countries around the world. Using more than 10,000 cities delineated via geospatial data and a globally consistent city identification scheme, we investigate distributional shapes in all countries. In terms of population, we find that Zipf's law holds for many, but not all, countries. Contrasting the distribution of population with the distribution of economic activity, measured by nighttime lights, across cities we shed light on the globally variant magnitude of agglomeration economies. Deviations from Zipf's law are to a large extent driven by an undue concentration in the largest cities. They benefit from agglomeration effects which seem to work through area rather than through density. Examining the cross-country heterogeneity in the city size distribution, our model selection approach suggests that historical factors play an important role, in line with the time of development hypothesis.