Prime Locations

Arbeitspapier

We harness big data to detect prime locations—large clusters of knowledge-based tradable services—in 125 global cities and track changes in the within-city geography of prime service jobs over a century. Historically smaller cities that did not develop early public transit networks are less concentrated today and have prime locations farther away from their historic cores. We rationalize these findings in an agent-based model that features extreme agglomeration, multiple equilibria, and path dependence. Both city size and public transit networks anchor city structure. Exploiting major disasters and using a novel instrument—subway potential—we provide causal evidence for these mechanisms and disentangle size- from transport network effects.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 8768

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Production Analysis and Firm Location: Government Policy ; Regional Government Analysis: Land Use and Other Regulations ; Regional Development Planning and Policy
• Subject: prime services ; internal city structure ; agent-based model ; multiple equilibria and path dependence ; transport networks

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Ahlfeldt, Gabriel ; Albers, Thilo N. H. ; Behrens, Kristian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/229586
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET