Elsevier

Journal of Urban Economics

Volume 62, Issue 2, September 2007, Pages 252-272
Journal of Urban Economics

Determinants of city growth in Brazil

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2006.08.010Get rights and content

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the determinants of Brazilian city growth between 1970 and 2000. We consider a model of a city, which combines aspects of standard urban economics and the new economic geography literature. For the empirical analysis, we constructed a dataset of 123 Brazilian agglomerations, and estimate aspects of the demand and supply side as well as a reduced form specification that describes city sizes and their growth. Our main findings are that decreases in rural income opportunities, increases in market potential for goods and labor force quality and reduction in intercity-transport costs have strong impacts on city growth. We also find that local crime and violence, measured by homicide rates impinge on growth.

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A preliminary version of the paper was presented at the World Bank/IPEA Urban Research Symposium in Brasilia (April 2005) and a more complete version at a conference at Irvine in honor of Ken Small. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of IPEA or the views of the World Bank, its Executive Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

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