Author: Levy, Moshe

Source: The American Economic Review, Volume 99, Number 4, September 2009 , pp. 1672-1675(4)

Publisher: American Economic Association

Abstract:

Jan Eeckhout (2004) reports that the empirical city size distribution is lognormal, consistent with Gibrat's Law. We show that for the top 0.6 percent of the largest cities, the empirical distribution is dramatically different from the lognormal, and follows a power law. This top part is extremely important as it accounts for more than 23 percent of the population. The empirical hybrid lognormal-power-law distribution revealed may be characteristic of other key distributions, such as the wealth distribution and the income distribution. This distribution is not consistent with a simple Gibrat proportionate effect process, and its origin presents a puzzle yet to be answered.

Document Type: Short communication

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.4.1672

Publication date: 2009-09-01

More about this publication?

• The American Economic Review is a general-interest economics journal. The journal is published quarterly and contains articles on a broad range of topics. Established in 1911, the AER is among the nation's oldest and most respected scholarly journals in the economics profession.
• Editorial Board
• Information for Authors
• Subscribe to this Title
• Membership Information
• Terms & Conditions
• e-Publications for AEA Members
• AEAweb
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Economics
• By this author: Levy, Moshe

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers