This paper compares the size distribution of cities when they are measured in both demographic and economic terms. In doing so, we have exploited more recent and accurate nighttime lights data than those previously used to proxy urban economic activity. Our results for a sample covering 12,852...

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 fi ndings suggest that the effects of this shock were permanent, which sharply contrasts with previous results regarding World War II for Japanese...