IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa11p1514.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The impact of the American Civil War on city growth

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Vera-Cabello
  • Marcos Sanso-Navarro
  • Fernando Sanz

Abstract

This paper analyzes the persistence of the shock caused by the American Civil War on the relative city size distribution of the United States. Our findings suggest that the effects of this shock were permanent, which sharply contrasts with previous results regarding World War II for Japanese and German cities. It should be taken into account that the conflict considered in this paper took place at an earlier stage of the industrialization and urbanization processes. Moreover, our results are determined by the fact that the battles were fought in the open field, not in urban areas. Some related evidence regarding the presence of a safe harbour effect is reported.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Vera-Cabello & Marcos Sanso-Navarro & Fernando Sanz, 2011. "The impact of the American Civil War on city growth," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1514, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1514
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa11/e110830aFinal01514.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rose Adam Z. & Blomberg S. Brock, 2010. "Total Economic Consequences of Terrorist Attacks: Insights from 9/11," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Nitsch, Volker, 2003. "Does history matter for urban primacy? The case of Vienna," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 401-418, July.
    3. Steven Brakman & Harry Garretsen & Marc Schramm, 2004. "The strategic bombing of German cities during World War II and its impact on city growth," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 201-218, April.
    4. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "History and Industry Location: The Case of the Manufacturing Belt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 80-83, May.
    5. Marshall Burke & John Dykema & David Lobell & Edward Miguel & Shanker Satyanath, 2010. "Climate and Civil War: Is the Relationship Robust?," NBER Working Papers 16440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Glaeser, Edward L. & Shapiro, Jesse M., 2002. "Cities and Warfare: The Impact of Terrorism on Urban Form," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 205-224, March.
    7. Goldin, Claudia D. & Lewis, Frank D., 1975. "The Economic Cost of the American Civil War: Estimates and Implications," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 299-326, June.
    8. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    9. Goldin, Claudia & Lewis, Frank D., 1978. "The Post-Bellum Recovery of the South and the Cost of the Civil War: Comment," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 487-492, June.
    10. Catherine Dehon & Marjorie Gassner & Vincenzo Verardi, 2009. "Beware of ‘Good’ Outliers and Overoptimistic Conclusions," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(3), pages 437-452, June.
    11. Donald R. Davis & David E. Weinstein, 2002. "Bones, Bombs, and Break Points: The Geography of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1269-1289, December.
    12. Bosker, Maarten & Brakman, Steven & Garretsen, Harry & Schramm, Marc, 2007. "Looking for multiple equilibria when geography matters: German city growth and the WWII shock," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 152-169, January.
    13. Gunderson, Gerald, 1974. "The Origin of the American Civil War," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(4), pages 915-950, December.
    14. Gabaix, Xavier & Ioannides, Yannis M., 2004. "The evolution of city size distributions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 53, pages 2341-2378, Elsevier.
    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. Marcos Sanso-Navarro & Fernando Sanz & María Vera-Cabello, 2015. "The impact of the American Civil War on city growth," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(16), pages 3070-3085, December.
    2. David Cuberes & Rafael González-Val, 2017. "The effect of the Spanish Reconquest on Iberian cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(3), pages 375-416, May.
    3. repec:asg:wpaper:1011 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Bosker, Maarten & Brakman, Steven & Garretsen, Harry & Schramm, Marc, 2008. "A century of shocks: The evolution of the German city size distribution 1925-1999," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 330-347, July.
    5. Miguel, Edward & Roland, Gérard, 2011. "The long-run impact of bombing Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Christine Valente, 2011. "What Did the Maoists Ever Do for Us? Education and Marriage of Women Exposed to Civil Conflict in Nepal," HiCN Working Papers 105, Households in Conflict Network.
    7. Ramos, Arturo & Sanz-Gracia, Fernando & González-Val, Rafael, 2013. "A new framework for the US city size distribution: Empirical evidence and theory," MPRA Paper 52190, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. González-Val, Rafael & Lanaspa, Luis & Sanz, Fernando, 2008. "New Evidence on Gibrat’s Law for Cities," MPRA Paper 10411, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Chunhua Wang, 2019. "Did natural disasters affect population density growth in US counties?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 62(1), pages 21-46, February.
    11. Rafael González-Val & Luis Lanaspa & Fernando Sanz-Gracia, 2014. "New Evidence on Gibrat’s Law for Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(1), pages 93-115, January.
    12. Bosker, Maarten & Brakman, Steven & Garretsen, Harry & Schramm, Marc, 2007. "Looking for multiple equilibria when geography matters: German city growth and the WWII shock," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 152-169, January.
    13. Daniel ARRIBAS-BEL & Fernando SANZ GRACIA & Domingo P. XIMENEZ-DE-EMBUN, 2012. "Kangaroos, Cities And Space: A First Approach To The Australian Urban System," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 36, pages 165-187.
    14. Hannu Tervo, 2011. "Cities, hinterlands and agglomeration shadows: spatial developments in Finland over 1880-2004," ERSA conference papers ersa10p147, European Regional Science Association.
    15. González-Val, Rafael & Lanaspa, Luis & Sanz, Fernando, 2008. "New Evidence on Gibrat’s Law for Cities," MPRA Paper 10411, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Tervo, Hannu, 2010. "Cities, hinterlands and agglomeration shadows: Spatial developments in Finland during 1880-2004," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 476-486, October.
    17. Rafael González-Val & Luis Lanaspa & Fernando Sanz, 2011. "Gibrat's Law for Cities Revisited," ERSA conference papers ersa10p199, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Rafael Gonzalez-Val & David Cuberes, 2013. "History and Urban Primacy: The Effect of the Spanish Reconquista on Muslim Cities," ERSA conference papers ersa13p60, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Stephen J. Redding, 2010. "The Empirics Of New Economic Geography," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 297-311, February.
    20. Abadie, Alberto & Dermisi, Sofia, 2008. "Is terrorism eroding agglomeration economies in Central Business Districts? Lessons from the office real estate market in downtown Chicago," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 451-463, September.
    21. Edward L. Glaeser, 2021. "Urban Resilience," NBER Working Papers 29261, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Historical 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:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1514. 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: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    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.