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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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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)

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