1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910693595003321

Autore

Glaeser Edward

Titolo

Learning in Cities / / Edward Glaeser

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Mass, : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1997

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white);

Collana

NBER working paper series ; no. w6271

Classificazione

J24

O15

Soggetti

Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity

Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

November 1997.

Sommario/riassunto

Alfred Marshall argues that industrial agglomerations exist in part because individuals can" learn skills from each other when they live and work in close proximity to one another.  An" increasing amount of evidence suggests that the informational role of cities is a primary reason for" their continued existence.  This paper formalizes Marshall's theory in a model where individuals" acquire skills by interacting with one another, and dense urban areas increase the speed of" interactions.  The model predicts that cities will have a higher mean and higher variance of skills." Cities will attract young people who are not too risk averse and who benefit most from learning" (e.g. more patient people).  Older, more skilled workers will stay in cities only if they can" internalize some of the benefits that their presence creates for young people.  The level of" urbanization will rise when the demand for skills rises, when the ability to learn by imitation rises or when the level of health in the economy rises.  Empirical evidence on urban wages supports the" learning view of cities and a variety of other implications of the theory are corroborated" empirically.