On Alternative Growth Patterns.

This paper discusses three aspects of urbanization: the effect of urbanization (that is, aggregate urban population growth) on agglomeration, the discontinuity of urban population partition among urban areas, and the failure of laissez-faire to induce the emergence of new urban areas (abandonment of established urban areas) at an appropriate point in time.Conflicting findings, which are based on different specifications, are reported in the literature. The present paper synthesizes two of these specifications and extends them to highlight the underlying assumptions that yield the opposing implications.