IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eco/journ1/2020-04-14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Urban Concentration on Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation for a Sample of Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Maha Al-Jebouri

    (Department of Business Economics, School of Business, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.)

  • Ahmad F. Oran

    (Department of Business Economics, School of Business, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.)

  • Ghazi Al-Assaf

    (Department of Business Economics, School of Business, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.)

Abstract

Researchers have recently shown widespread interest in the urban concentrations and the resulting economic impacts on global cities. Opinions differ among researchers as some believe in the existence of such effect while the others do not. The study investigates the impact of urban concentration on economic growth by using panel data for 16 countries during 1970-2014. In order to verify the strength of the results, this paper uses two measures for urban concentration, namely urban primacy and urban density. Results show that urban concentration has a positive impact on economic growth and no evidence was found that support the non-linear effect of urban concentration on economic growth. This finding supports many previous empirical studies that highlight the importance of agglomeration economies on economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Maha Al-Jebouri & Ahmad F. Oran & Ghazi Al-Assaf, 2020. "The Impact of Urban Concentration on Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation for a Sample of Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 116-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:eco:journ1:2020-04-14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/download/10012/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/view/10012/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frick, Susanne A. & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2018. "Change in urban concentration and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 156-170.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    3. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    4. John M. Quigley, 2008. "Urbanization, Agglomeration, and Economic Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28042.
    5. Ji Kim, 2005. "Convergence hypothesis of regional income in Korea," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(7), pages 431-435.
    6. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    7. BERTINELLI, Luisito & STROBL, Eric, 2003. "Urbanization, urban concentration and economic growth in developing countries," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2003076, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Fujita,Masahisa & Thisse,Jacques-François, 2013. "Economics of Agglomeration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107001411, January.
    9. Moomaw, Ronald L. & Shatter, Ali M., 1996. "Urbanization and Economic Development: A Bias toward Large Cities?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 13-37, July.
    10. Xavier Sala-I-Martin & Gernot Doppelhofer & Ronald I. Miller, 2004. "Determinants of Long-Term Growth: A Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE) Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 813-835, September.
    11. Vito Albino & Umberto Berardi & Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2015. "Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 3-21, January.
    12. J. Vernon Henderson, Zmarak Shalizi, and Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "Geography and development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 81-105, January.
    13. Brülhart, Marius & Sbergami, Federica, 2009. "Agglomeration and growth: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 48-63, January.
    14. Christiaensen, Luc & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2014. "Poverty Reduction During the Rural–Urban Transformation – The Role of the Missing Middle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 43-58.
    15. Pholo Bala, Alain, 2009. "Urban concentration and economic growth: checking for specific regional effects," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2009038, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    16. Xavier X. Sala-i-Martin, 1997. "I Just Ran Four Million Regressions," NBER Working Papers 6252, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Castells-Quintana, David, 2017. "Malthus living in a slum: Urban concentration, infrastructure and economic growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 158-173.
    18. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    19. Henderson, Vernon, 2003. "The Urbanization Process and Economic Growth: The So-What Question," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 47-71, March.
    20. Wheaton, William C & Shishido, Hisanobu, 1981. "Urban Concentration, Agglomeration Economies, and the Level of Economic Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 17-30, October.
    21. Henderson, Vernon, 2000. "How urban concentration affects economic growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2326, The World Bank.
    22. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "I Just Ran Two Million Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 178-183, May.
    23. Nazrul Islam, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-1170.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus & Schünemann, Johannes, 2024. "Health and economic growth: Reconciling the micro and macro evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    2. Christian Düben & Melanie Krause, 2021. "Population, light, and the size distribution of cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 189-211, January.
    3. Khalid Sekkat, 2017. "Urban Concentration and Poverty in Developing Countries," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 435-458, September.
    4. Frick, Susanne A. & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2018. "Change in urban concentration and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 156-170.
    5. Rup Singh, 2015. "Forces of economic growth in China, India, and other Asian countries," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 29(1), pages 62-81, May.
    6. Maciej Stefański, 2020. "To What Extent does Convergence Explain the Slowdown in Potential Growth of the CEE Countries Following the Global Financial Crisis?," KAE Working Papers 2020-058, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
    7. Adrian Penalver, 2003. "Capital flows to emerging markets," Bank of England working papers 183, Bank of England.
    8. Altinok, Nadir & Aydemir, Abdurrahman, 2017. "Does one size fit all? The impact of cognitive skills on economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 176-190.
    9. C. Alper & S. Cakici, 2009. "Financial Liberalization, Fiscal Prudence and Growth: Panel Evidence from 1980–2003," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 509-524, September.
    10. Folster, Stefan & Henrekson, Magnus, 2001. "Growth effects of government expenditure and taxation in rich countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1501-1520, August.
    11. Chen, Binkai & Lin, Justin Yifu, 2021. "Development strategy, resource misallocation and economic performance," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 612-634.
    12. Bloom, David E. & Chen, Simiao & Kuhn, Michael & McGovern, Mark E. & Oxley, Les & Prettner, Klaus, 2020. "The economic burden of chronic diseases: Estimates and projections for China, Japan, and South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    13. Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 2013. "Asia-phoria meet regression to the mean," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov, pages 1-35.
    14. Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2005. "Growth Empirics Under Model Uncertainty: Is Africa Different?," IMF Working Papers 2005/018, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Brock,W.A. & Durlauf,S.N., 2000. "Growth economics and reality," Working papers 24, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    16. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Do Large Agglomerations Lead To Economic Growth? Evidence From Urban India," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 176-200, November.
    17. Cem Karayalcin & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2015. "Trade and Cities," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 523-549.
    18. Schneider Ulrike & Wagner Martin, 2012. "Catching Growth Determinants with the Adaptive Lasso," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 71-85, February.
    19. Maurice Catin & Xubei Luo & Christophe van Huffel, 2005. "Openness, industrialization and geographic concentration of activities in China," Post-Print hal-01295839, HAL.
    20. Xanthippi Chapsa & Athanasios L. Athanasenas & Nikolaos Tabakis, 2019. "Real Convergence in EU-15: A Comparative Analysis of North versus South Europe," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 3-21.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban concentration; externalities; urban primacy; urban density; economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eco:journ1:2020-04-14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ilhan Ozturk (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econjournals.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.