Disparités de croissance d’emploi des aires urbaines françaises et processus de métropolisation. Le rôle des fonctions métropolitaines, productives et des revenus extérieurs

Empirical studies carried out over the past twenty years have emphasized the role of human capital as a driver of regional growth, and even more so of the growth of large cities. We propose a model, inspired by new approaches of the Economic Base Model, applied to French urban areas over the period 1999-2013 from a decomposition of employment in metropolitan, productive and presential functions, based on the functional classification established by Insee. We consider that the evolution of employment in urban areas can be attributed to three driving forces: the metropolitan functions, representative of the human capital and productivity effects, the productive activities, largely exporting, and the external revenues (public, residential and social) received. In the case of France, we verify the concentration of metropolitan functions and the unequal development of employment in favor of large urban areas with more than 200,000 jobs. We show the determining role of the rise of metropolitan functions in the employment growth of large urban areas, and the double facet of the process of metropolisation between Paris and large urban areas. Classification JEL: R11, R12