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Lognormal city size distribution and distance

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  • González-Val, Rafael

Abstract

This paper analyses whether the size distribution of nearby cities is lognormally distributed by using a distance-based approach. We use data from three different definitions of US cities in 2010, considering all possible combinations of cities within a 300-mile radius. The results indicate that support for the lognormal distribution decreases with distance, although the lognormal distribution cannot be rejected in most of the cases for distances below 100 miles.

Suggested Citation

  • González-Val, Rafael, 2019. "Lognormal city size distribution and distance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 7-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:181:y:2019:i:c:p:7-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.04.026
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    1. Jan Eeckhout, 2004. "Gibrat's Law for (All) Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1429-1451, December.
    2. Reed, William J., 2001. "The Pareto, Zipf and other power laws," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 15-19, December.
    3. Ioannides, Yannis & Skouras, Spyros, 2013. "US city size distribution: Robustly Pareto, but only in the tail," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 18-29.
    4. Rosen, Kenneth T. & Resnick, Mitchel, 1980. "The size distribution of cities: An examination of the Pareto law and primacy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 165-186, September.
    5. Rafael González-Val, 2019. "US city-size distribution and space," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 283-300, July.
    6. Ferdinand Rauch, 2014. "Cities as spatial clusters," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 759-773.
    7. Giesen, Kristian & Zimmermann, Arndt & Suedekum, Jens, 2010. "The size distribution across all cities - Double Pareto lognormal strikes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 129-137, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Space; City size distribution; Distance-based approach; Lognormal distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • 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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