RIETI Open BBL Webinar

The Benefits and Costs of Big Cities

Announcement

Firms are more productive on average in larger cities, and this is due to agglomeration economies raising their productivity and not tougher competition selecting the most productive firms. Individual earnings are also higher in bigger cities. This is not because workers there have greater intrinsic ability. Instead, workers obtain an immediate premium while working in bigger cities and accumulate more valuable experience, increasing their earnings faster.
While higher-ability workers benefit more from bigger cities, they are not more likely to move to one, and flawed self-assessment is partly to blame. Those in big cities enjoy the benefits from higher productivity and earnings, but also suffer from the higher costs of housing and longer and slower commutes.
Over the last few decades, important changes have made cities increasingly different from each other but more interdependent. Innovations most frequently arise in bigger and more diverse cities, which foster trial and experimentation, but those innovations can then be exploited in smaller cities to save on costs. Cities have also become less specialized by sector and more specialized by function, with management concentrated in big cities and production in smaller cities.
In this seminar, Professor Diego Puga from Spain, who specializes in spatial economics, will explain the benefits and costs of large cities.

Information

  • Time and Date: 12:15-13:15, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 (JST)
  • Venue: Online
  • Language: English
  • Admission: Free
  • Host: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)

Speakers

Speaker:
  • Diego PUGA (Professor of Economics, Center for Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI))
    Dr. Puga’s research interests include urban economics, economic geography and international trade. Born in Spain, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Economics, he obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1997. His publication includes articles in American Economic Review, Econometrica, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economic Studies, and have been cited over 6,000 times in articles included in Web of Science and over 21,000 times in Google Scholar.
    His research has been funded by two advanced grants from the European Research Council and multiple grants from national funding bodies. In 2008 he received the Sabadell-Herrero Prize (awarded annually to a Spanish researcher under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to economics or social sciences) and in 2020 the Rei Jaume I Prize in Economics for his contributions to spatial economics. He previously held academic positions at the London School of Economics, the University of Toronto, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and imdea Social Sciences.
    He is a member of Spain's Council of Economic Advisers and was part of the Multidisciplinary Workgroup providing advice and support to the Government of Spain on scientific matters related to COVID-19 and its consequences.
Commentator & Moderator:
  • SAITO Yukiko (Senior Fellow (Specially Appointed), RIETI / Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University)