The Size of Cities

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the main theoretical and empirical arguments for developing large agglomerations in Russia. The argument for the superiority of large cities in production efficiency and economic growth is made on the basis of extensive statistical data; however, it is inconclusive. This article emphasizes the need for revising regional policy so that small and medium-sized cities can fulfill their potential for growth.

English translation © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text © 2017 “EKO.” “Razmery gorodov, effektivnost’ i ekonomicheskii rost,” EKO, 2017, no. 7, pp. 5–19.

L.V. Mel’nikova is a candidate of economic sciences at the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk.

Translated by Peter Golub. Translation reprinted from Problems of Economic Transition, vol. 60, nos. 8-9. DOI: 10.1080/10611991.2018.1595838.

KEYWORDS:

• economic growth
• agglomeration effects
• city size
• efficiency

This article is the republished version of:

The Size of Cities

Notes

English translation © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text © 2017 “EKO.” “Razmery gorodov, effektivnost’ i ekonomicheskii rost,” EKO, 2017, no. 7, pp. 5–19.

L.V. Mel’nikova is a candidate of economic sciences at the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk.

Translated by Peter Golub. Translation reprinted from Problems of Economic Transition, vol. 60, nos. 8-9. DOI: 10.1080/10611991.2018.1595838.

1. For example, labor productivity is 46 percent higher inside agglomerations and innovation always originates in places where human resources are highly concentrated.

2. Metropolitan areas are urbanized areas that include cities and suburbs connected by daily labor migrations.

3. To increase comparability, labor productivity for Russia was evaluated in manufacturing (according to shipped products) for a smaller sample size of cities with more than 250,000 people, while for the European Union, productivity according to GAV was evaluated for a single employee working in manufacturing. The constructed diagrams were similar to Figures 2 and 3. The sought-after (quite weak) relationship between the indicators was determined by the position of the above capitals.

4. The Zipf’s curve describes the ideal rank-size distribution for a system of cities; that is, the value of location in the urban hierarchy according to city size.

5. The sample includes urbanized areas in OECD countries, where more than 1.5 million people live, or where 20 percent has a population density of at least 150 people/km², and where at least 10 percent of the population participates in daily labor migration.