Complex Economic Activities Concentrate in Large Cities
Physics and Society
2018-07-23 v1 Social and Information Networks
Abstract
Why do some economic activities agglomerate more than others? And, why does the agglomeration of some economic activities continue to increase despite recent developments in communication and transportation technologies? In this paper, we present evidence that complex economic activities concentrate more in large cities. We find this to be true for technologies, scientific publications, industries, and occupations. Using historical patent data, we show that the urban concentration of complex economic activities has been continuously increasing since 1850. These findings suggest that the increasing urban concentration of jobs and innovation might be a consequence of the growing complexity of the economy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1807.07887,
title = {Complex Economic Activities Concentrate in Large Cities},
author = {Pierre-Alexandre Balland and Cristian Jara-Figueroa and Sergio Petralia and Mathieu Steijn and David Rigby and Cesar A. Hidalgo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.07887},
year = {2018}
}