IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v98y2023ics016604622200076x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learners in cities: Agglomeration and the spatial division of cognition

Author

Listed:
  • Bacolod, Marigee
  • Blum, Bernardo S.
  • Rangel, Marcos A.
  • Strange, William C.

Abstract

This paper uses new psychometric data to reconsider the composition of cities, the role of sorting in urban learning, and the generation of agglomeration economies more generally. The analysis establishes that individuals in large cities tend to have greater learning capacity. The spatial distribution of learning capacity is most strongly related to the age composition of cities, specifically to the location choices of young workers with high learning capacity. This indicates that observed patterns of dynamic agglomeration economies are influenced by the sorting of learners into cities. This, in turn, has implications for placed-based and other policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Bacolod, Marigee & Blum, Bernardo S. & Rangel, Marcos A. & Strange, William C., 2023. "Learners in cities: Agglomeration and the spatial division of cognition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s016604622200076x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016604622200076X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103838?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. B. Devlin & Michael Daniels & Kathryn Roeder, 1997. "The heritability of IQ," Nature, Nature, vol. 388(6641), pages 468-471, July.
    2. Berry, Christopher R. & Glaeser, Edward L., 2005. "Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Working Paper Series rwp05-057, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    4. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Enrico Moretti, 2019. "Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 1-39, April.
    5. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    6. Gibbons, Stephen & Silva, Olmo, 2008. "Urban density and pupil attainment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 631-650, March.
    7. Jonah B. Gelbach, 2016. "When Do Covariates Matter? And Which Ones, and How Much?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 509-543.
    8. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2003. "Geography, Industrial Organization, and Agglomeration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 377-393, May.
    9. Rebecca Diamond, 2016. "The Determinants and Welfare Implications of US Workers' Diverging Location Choices by Skill: 1980-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 479-524, March.
    10. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    11. Jorge De La Roca & Diego Puga, 2017. "Learning by Working in Big Cities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(1), pages 106-142.
    12. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Ronni Pavan, 2012. "Understanding the City Size Wage Gap," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 88-127.
    13. Jeffrey Lin, 2011. "Technological Adaptation, Cities, and New Work," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 554-574, May.
    14. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    16. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December.
    17. Marigee Bacolod & Bernardo S. Blum & William C. Strange, 2010. "Elements Of Skill: Traits, Intelligences, Education, And Agglomeration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 245-280, February.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    20. Marigee Bacolod & Bernardo S. Blum & William C. Strange, 2009. "Urban interactions: soft skills versus specialization," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 227-262, March.
    21. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent, 2008. "Spatial wage disparities: Sorting matters!," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 723-742, March.
    22. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2020. "How Close Is Close? The Spatial Reach of Agglomeration Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 27-49, Summer.
    23. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The divergence of human capital levels across cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 407-444, August.
    24. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2091, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    25. Nina Cesare & Hedwig Lee & Tyler McCormick & Emma Spiro & Emilio Zagheni, 2018. "Promises and Pitfalls of Using Digital Traces for Demographic Research," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1979-1999, October.
    26. Lu, Jackson G. & Akinola, Modupe & Mason, Malia F., 2017. "“Switching On” creativity: Task switching can increase creativity by reducing cognitive fixation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 63-75.
    27. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels Across Cities," NBER Working Papers 11617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Niebuhr, Annekatrin & Peters, Jan Cornelius & Roth, Duncan H.W., 2024. "Dynamic agglomeration effects of foreigners and natives – The role of experience in high-quality sectors, tasks and establishments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    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. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2020. "The Economics of Urban Density," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 3-26, Summer.
    2. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 247-348, Elsevier.
    3. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent & Roux, Sébastien, 2012. "Sorting and local wage and skill distributions in France," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 913-930.
    4. De la Roca, Jorge, 2017. "Selection in initial and return migration: Evidence from moves across Spanish cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 33-53.
    5. Diego Puga, 2017. "The changing distribution of firms and workers across cities," Development Working Papers 418, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    6. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 2011. "Entrepreneurs and cities: Complexity, thickness and balance," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 550-559.
    7. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    8. Jorge De la Roca & Gianmarco I P Ottaviano & Diego Puga, 2023. "City of Dreams," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 690-726.
    9. Raoul van Maarseveen, 2021. "The urban–rural education gap: do cities indeed make us smarter? [Educational investment responses to economic opportunity: evidence from Indian road construction]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(5), pages 683-714.
    10. Rudiger Ahrend & Emily Farchy & Ioannis Kaplanis & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2015. "What Makes Cities More Productive? Agglomeration Economies and the Role of Urban Governance: Evidence from 5 OECD Countries," SERC Discussion Papers 0178, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Ahrend, Rudiger & Farchy, Emily & Kaplanis, Ioannis & Lembcke, Alexander C., 2016. "What Makes Cities More Productive? Evidence from 5 OECD Countries on the Role of Urban Governance," Beiträge zur Jahrestagung 2016 (Witten/Herdecke) 175187, Verein für Socialpolitik, Ausschuss für Wirtschaftssysteme und Institutionenökonomik.
    12. Rudiger Ahrend & Emily Farchy & Ioannis Kaplanis & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2017. "What Makes Cities More Productive? Evidence From Five Oecd Countries On The Role Of Urban Governance," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 385-410, June.
    13. Jorge De La Roca & Diego Puga, 2017. "Learning by Working in Big Cities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(1), pages 106-142.
    14. Giulia Faggio & Olmo Silva & William C. Strange, 2017. "Heterogeneous Agglomeration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(1), pages 80-94, March.
    15. Eliasson, Kent & Haapanen, Mika & Westerlund, Olle, 2019. "Regional concentration of university graduates: The role of high school grades and parental background," Umeå Economic Studies 966, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    16. Chauvin, Juan Pablo, 2024. "Local Education Spending and Migration: Evidence from a Large Redistribution Program," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13497, Inter-American Development Bank.
    17. Peter Mayerhofer & Peter Huber, 2019. "Notwendigkeit und Möglichkeiten kooperativer Raum- und Wirtschaftsentwicklung in der Metropolregion Wien. Problemfelder, Handlungsoptionen, Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69764.
    18. Marigee Bacolod & Bernardo S. Blum & William C. Strange, 2010. "Elements Of Skill: Traits, Intelligences, Education, And Agglomeration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 245-280, February.
    19. Moretti, Enrico, 2011. "Local Labor Markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 14, pages 1237-1313, Elsevier.
    20. Edward L. Glaeser & Naomi Hausman, 2019. "The Spatial Mismatch between Innovation and Joblessness," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20, pages 233-299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:eee:regeco:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s016604622200076x. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    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.