The Department of Economics Transportation Seminar Series presents

"Transportation, Urban, and Regional Economics Seminar"
with Alex Klein, Lecturer in Economics, Keynes College

April 9, 2014
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Social Science Plaza B, Room 3218

Klein's talk will analyze the effect of rapid urbanisation at the turn of the 20th US on labor productivity growth of US industries. Using a newly created data set on industries in the US cities at SIC 3 digit level, his research investigates the role of Marshallian and Jacobs externalities on the labor productivity growth in 1880-1930. Using an identification strategy based on heteroskedasticity, he finds a robust positive effect of Marshallian externalities on the labor productivity growth. The effect of Jacobs externalities is convex, a pattern that has not been observed in the literature so far. The convexity of Jacobian externalities imply that their productivity enhancing effect is limited to large cities only. Overall, rapid urbanization allowed industries to benefit from intra as well as inter-industry interactions which then positively influenced their productivity growth.

For further information, please contact Jennifer dos Santos, dayj@uci.edu or 949-824-5788.