Identifying agglomeration shadows: long-run evidence from ancient ports

Hornbeck, Richard, Michaels, Guy ORCID: 0000-0002-8796-4536 and Rauch, Ferdinand (2024) Identifying agglomeration shadows: long-run evidence from ancient ports. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP2013). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

We examine "agglomeration shadows" that emerge around large cities, which discourage some economic activities in nearby areas. Identifying agglomeration shadows is complicated, however, by endogenous city formation and "wave interference" that we show in simulations. We use the locations of ancient ports near the Mediterranean, which seeded modern cities, to estimate agglomeration shadows cast on nearby areas. We find that empirically, as in the simulations, detectable agglomeration shadows emerge for large cities around ancient ports. These patterns extend to modern city locations more generally and illustrate how encouraging growth in particular places can discourage growth of nearby areas.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economics Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade N - Economic History > N9 - Regional and Urban History
Date Deposited:	13 Feb 2025 15:03
Last Modified:	13 Feb 2025 15:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126770

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