Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
971283 | Journal of Urban Economics | 2010 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
Using un-truncated settlement size data from eight countries, we show that the “double Pareto lognormal” (DPLN) distribution provides a better fit to actual city sizes than the simple lognormal (LN) distribution. The DPLN has a lognormal body and features a power law in both the lower and the upper tail. It emerges in the steady-state of a stochastic urban growth process with random city formation. Our findings reconcile a recent debate on the Zipfian rank-size rule for city sizes.
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Authors
Kristian Giesen, Arndt Zimmermann, Jens Suedekum,