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Amenities can still let larger cities dominate when scale benefits outweigh density costs, and skilled and less skilled households may prefer different long-run spatial forms.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/urban-networks-connecting-markets-people-and-ideas/297130/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/urban-networks-connecting-markets-people-and-ideas/297130.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Eliana","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-09-18",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What central question does the paper address?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Whether China should build mega-cities or instead develop networks of linked mid-sized cities, and whether Europe can use stronger inter-urban links as a substitute for large-scale agglomeration.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What determines the trade-off between networks and mega-cities in the model?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Three factors: local returns to scale in innovation, the elasticity of housing supply, and the importance of local amenities.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Why might housing supply elasticity make networks more appealing?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Inelastic housing supply makes it harder to provide more space in dense city areas, which helps explain why networks are more popular in regulated Europe than in the American Sunbelt.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},297130,1790379962,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146,"preview_page_count":4},4398048949847,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/400002536579ef2da7f?_k=1778318612642679267","Urban Networks: Connecting Markets, People, and Ideas  \nEdward L . Glaeser  \nGiacomo A . M . Ponzetto  \nYimei Zou  \nThis version: December 2015  \n(September 2015)  \nBarcelona GSE Working Paper Series Working Paper nº 841  \nUrban Networks:  \nConnecting Markets, People, and Ideas 􀀃  \nEdward L. Glaeser  \nHarvard University  \nGiacomo A. M. Ponzetto  \nCREI, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Barcelona GSE  \nYimei Zou  \nUniversitat Pompeu Fabra  \nDecember 4, 2015  \nAbstract  \nShould China build mega-cities or a network of linked middle-sized metropolises? Can Europeís mid-sized cities compete with global agglomeration by forging stronger inter-urban links? This paper examines these questions within a model of recombinant growth and endogenous local amenities. Three primary factors determine the trade-o§ between networks and big cities: local returns to scale in innovation, the elasticity of housing supply, and the importance of local amenities. Even if there are global increasing returns, the returns to local scale in innovation may be decreasing, and that makes networks more appealing than mega-cities. Inelastic housing supply makes it harder to supply more space in dense conÖnes, which perhaps explains why networks are more popular in regulated Europe than in the American Sunbelt. Larger cities can dominate networks because of amenities, as long as the beneÖts of scale overwhelm the downsides of density. In our framework, the skilled are more likely to prefer mega-cities than the less skilled, and the long-run beneÖts of either mega-cities or networks maybe quite di§erent from the short-run beneÖts.  \n JEL codes: R10, R58, F15, O18  Keywords: Cities, Networks, Growth, Migration  \n􀀃 Glaeser acknowledges Önancial support from the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. Ponzetto acknowledges Önancial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC- 2013-13838 and ECO-2014-59805-P), the Government of Catalonia (2014-SGR-830) and the Barcelona GSE. Zou acknowledges Önancial support from the La Caixa-Severo Ochoa International Doctoral Fellowship. E-mail: [eglaeser@harvard.edu](eglaeser@harvard.edu), [gponzetto@crei.cat](gponzetto@crei.cat), [yimei.zou@upf.edu](yimei.zou@upf.edu).  \n1 Introduction  \nShould rapidly urbanizing nations, like China, build mega-cities or disperse their population into networks of smaller urban centers linked by high-speed transit? Should Europe, which is historically tied to its smaller cities, work to cultivate urban networks as a substitute for large scale agglomeration? What factors determine whether mega-cities dominate urban networks?  \nWhile the United State has long accepted the unbridled growth of regionally dominant metropolitan areas, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, Europe and China more seriously question whether networks can be a substitute for mega-city growth. Chinaís interest in urban networks is motivated by scale. Urban population growth is so immense that mega-cities seemed doomed to terrible diseconomies of density, such as crowding and tra¢ c congestion. Europeís interest is motivated by history. Since Europe urbanized when transport costs where high, the continent has an abundance of smaller cities that it does not wish to abandon. Busanóthe second largest city in South Koreaówould also be the second largest city in Western Europe. Section 2 brieáy discusses the history and current state of discussion on networks of cities.  \nThis paper investigate the welfare economics of urban networks, deÖned as groups of cities that enable the exchange of goods, people and ideas. In our framework, networks enable the movement of skilled workers and ideas. They di§er from cities in three ways. While local entrepreneurs can draw inspiration from the wider network, they particularly depend on their home city for intellectual resources. Less skilled workers are able to move readily across employers within a city, but not within a wider network. This distinction follows ","cbCairbKM5TeLbBD","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairbKM5TeLbBD","pdf",501876,62,"English","# Abstract\n# 1 Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What central question does the paper address?\",\"answer\":\"Whether China should build mega-cities or instead develop networks of linked mid-sized cities, and whether Europe can use stronger inter-urban links as a substitute for large-scale agglomeration.\"},{\"question\":\"What determines the trade-off between networks and mega-cities in the model?\",\"answer\":\"Three factors: local returns to scale in innovation, the elasticity of housing supply, and the importance of local amenities.\"},{\"question\":\"Why might housing supply elasticity make networks more appealing?\",\"answer\":\"Inelastic housing supply makes it harder to provide more space in dense city areas, which helps explain why networks are more popular in regulated Europe than in the American Sunbelt.\"}]","Urban Networks - Connecting Markets, People, and Ideas | PDF",1789740921,156]