Since 1980, US wage growth has been fastest in large cities. Empirically, we show that most of this urban-biased growth reflects wage growth at large Business Services firms, which are also the most intensive users of information and communications technology (ICT) capital in the US economy. We...

Virtually all theories of economic growth predict a positive relationship between population size and productivity. In this paper I study a particular historical episode to provide direct evidence for the empirical relevance of such scale effects. In the aftermath of the Second World War about...

Gotland is Sweden’s largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. While Sweden has numerous Islands, Gotland’s development trajectory is unique in Sweden. It is the smallest region in the country in population size and economic base, and it is located the furthest from the...

We examine impacts of market integration on the development of American manufacturing, as railroads expanded through the latter half of the 19th century. Using new county-by-industry data from the Census of Manufactures, we estimate substantial impacts on manufacturing productivity from relative...

How much of the spatial distribution of economic activity today is determined by history rather than by geographic fundamentals? And if history matters for the distribution, does it also affect overall efficiency? This paper develops a tractable theoretical and empirical framework that aims to...

OECD's Territorial Review of the Vienna/Bratislava region. The Vienna-Bratislava region on the Austrian-Slovak border rapidly increased its competitiveness after 1989, following a 40 year separation by the Iron Curtain. As a result of the removal of many national and international barriers,...

OECD's Territorial Review of Canada. It finds that Canada is composed of three macroregions: a southern ribbon with all the important metropolitan areas, a zone of rural and non-metropolitan adjacent regions and a sub-continent of remote northern territories. Disparities between these...

OECD's territorial review of Hungary. It finds that ater a period of decline Hungary has returned on a satisfactory growth track. However, benefit and cost have not been evenly distributed during the transition. This report points to the persisting disparities between the West and the East, the...

This review outlines the key issues which will be important in shaping the future development of Athens, identifies trends in governmental policies and highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the Athens Region. Three policy areas identified as requiring particular...

OECD's territorial review of the Tzoumerka region of Greece. The Tzoumerka is a mountainous area in Northwestern Greece that presents considerable development challenges with respect to economic growth, social cohesion and governance. The area is highly dependent on traditional agricultural...