Using two comprehensive datasets on population of cities (1800-2000) and metropolitan areas (1960-2000) for a large set of countries, I present three new empirical facts about the evolution of city growth. First, the distribution of cities growth rates is skewed to the right in most countries...

Several studies have documented a negative relationship between democracy and volatility. The latter is usually measured at high frequency - as the standard deviation of annual GDP growth rates. On the other hand, growth researchers have recently focused on the medium term and documented...

This paper develops a dynamic model that explains the pattern of population and production allocation in an economy with an urban location and a rural one. Agglomeration economies make urban dwellers benefit from a larger population living in the city and urban firms become more productive when...

In this paper we argue that in 19th century U.S, households and firms that were located in cities with banks enjoyed a higher level of both consumption and production amenities than those who were located in cities without banks. We use data on banks location and city population growth in the...

In this paper we use data on Spanish cities between 2006 and 2015 to study the Spanish urban system applying the model in Desmet and Rossi-Hansberg (2013). We decompose the determinants of the Spanish city size distribution into three main components: efficiency, amenities, and frictions. In the...