Crescimento das Cidades Brasileiras na Década de Noventa

This paper is an empirical study on the determinants of economic growth and population growth in Brazilian cities in the nineties. For this objective, it is used variables that represent the initial characteristics of these cities as Glaeser et alii (1995) and Glaeser e Shapiro (2003) papers. The chosen variables follow the theoretical contributions from the new growth theories and the new economic geography. The results reinforce that human capital is an important promoter of positive externalities, Knowledge Spillovers, which generate economic growth. The paper also shows that negative externalities, such as congestion and poverty, reduce the economic growth. Another contribution of the paper is to study the effects of transport costs in economic growth. The results show a non-linearity in the relationship in that cities near state capitals grew more than cities far from capitals and capitals. Population growth results show that the Brazilian cities population growth is affected positively by measures of income and life quality and show that the urbanization process continues. There was a movement to urban areas where the wages and quality of life are greater.