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Title: The taller the better? Agglomeration determinants and urban structure

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: This paper explores how urban structure and building height can play an important role for agglomeration and the consequent productivity advantages, looking at the role of skyscraper in influencing the concentration of establishments in U.S. cities. In addition to productivity advantages associated to this extreme form of density, skyscraper can be a particularly attractive location for firms because of the associated gains in prestige from being located in a tall landmark building. Geological and technological instruments are used to determine the effect of skyscraper on firms’ location, exploiting a panel of 14,114 ZIPs 147 U. S. Metropolitan Areas from 2000 to 2012. One of the most important results is that the effect of newly completed skyscraper on agglomeration differs between sectors. The attraction of establishments on the ZIP codes where tall buildings will be completed has an important anticipatory component. Evidence of small congestion effects cannot be rejected. Exploiting the variation of firm’s density produced by tall buildings, my estimation suggests that agglomeration economies provided by tall buildings might provide an additional 20 percent increase in productivity.

Url: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/124742/1/ERSA2015_00991.pdf

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Authors: Curci, Federico

Conference Name: 55th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: "World Renaissance: Changing roles for people and places"

Publisher Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization

Countries: United States