Globalisation and urban polarisation

Venables, Anthony J. (2020) Globalisation and urban polarisation. CEP Discussion Papers (1707). Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, London, UK.

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Abstract

External trade affects the internal spatial structure of an economy, promoting growth in some cities or regions and decline in others. Internal adjustment to these changes has often proved to be extremely slow and painful. This paper combines elements of urban and international economics to draw out the implications of trade shocks for city performance. Localisation economies in production of internationally tradable goods mean that cities divide into two types, those producing tradables and those specialising in sectors producing just for the national market (nontradables). Negative trade shocks (and possibly also some positive ones) reduce the number of cities engaged in tradable production, increasing the number producing just non-tradables. This has a negative effect across all non-tradable cities, which lose population and land value. Remaining tradable cities boom, gaining population and land value. Depending on the initial position, city size dispersion may increase, this raising the share of urban land-rents in national income and reducing the share of labour.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information:	© 2020 The Author
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
JEL classification:	F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F12 - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2021 09:39
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:53
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108479

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