The paper contributes to the debate abouyt whether market incentives induce excessive concentration of the urban population in cities that are too large. It answers two related questions which have not been satisfactorily answered in the existing literature. The first is whether the very...

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...

This paper follows Hochman, Pines and Thisse (1995) in portraying metropolitan areas as a complex of spatial clubs. Adopting this perspective, the paper characterizes the role of urbanization economies in the agglomeration of non-residential activities inside metropolitan areas.

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...