Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries

Abstract

Original citation:Cheshire, Paul and Magrini, Stefano (2008) Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries.

How to make the metropolitan area work? Neither big government, nor laissez-faire

“…Metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 inhabitants are divided, on average, into 74 local jurisdictions, while local governments in the OECD raise about 13 percent of total tax revenue. Empirical works by Glaeser and Kahn (2001) and Cheshire and Magrini (2009) con…rm the idea that the institutional structure of a metropolitan area has a signi…cant impact on both the e¢ ciency of its local public services and the welfare of its residents by in ‡uencing the distribution of jobs and the level of housing costs.…”

Evaluating spatial policies

“…For many spatial issues the correct unit of analysis is difficult to define, but administrative boundaries are likely to provide poor substitutes (Cheshire and Magrini, 2009). Sampled data creates additional problems, particularly at smaller spatial scales.…”

Institutions of Higher Education and the Regional Economy: A Long‐Term Spatial Analysis

“…Both studies find evidence suggesting that the connection between human capital and city growth occurs largely because skilled cities are becoming more economically productive rather than because they are becoming more attractive place to live. Cheshire and Magrini [49] measure local human capital with the ratio of university students to population and find it to be an important factor in explaining the differential growth rates in real GDP per capita across EU urban areas.…”