In the paper we analyse, ten years after the German unification, the relevance of modern theoretical developments on trade, location and growth for East Germany using sectoral and regional data. Given our discussion of stylized facts about industry growth, economies of scale and differences in...

In this paper we find evidence that the new economic geography approach is able to describe and explain the spatial characteristics of an economy, in our case the German economy. Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by...

Based on a new economic geography model by Puga (1999), we use the equilibrium wage equation to estimate two key structural model parameters for the NUTS II EU regions. The estimation of these parameters enables us to come up with an empirically based free-ness of trade parameter. We then...

The evolution of city growth is usually studied for relatively short time periods. The rise and decline of cities is, however, typically a process that takes many decades or even centuries. In this article we study the evolution of Italian cities over the period 1300–1861. Using an existing...

This paper uses empirical evidence on the evolution and structure of the West-German city size distribution to assess the relevance of three different theories of urban growth. The West-German case is of particular interest as Germany's urban system has been subject to some of history's largest...

China’s Hukou system poses severe restrictions on labor mobility. This paper assesses the possible consequences of relaxing these restrictions for China’s internal economic geography. We base our analysis on a new economic geography (NEG) model. First, we estimate the important model...