Determinants of City Growth in Brazil

49 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2005 Last revised: 27 Feb 2022

See all articles by Daniel Da Mata

Daniel Da Mata

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - Sao Paulo School of Economics

Uwe Deichmann

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

J. Vernon Henderson

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Somik V. Lall

World Bank

Hyoung Gun Wang

Brown University

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2005

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the determinants of Brazilian city growth between 1970 and 2000. We consider a model of a city, which combines aspects of standard urban economics and the new economic geography literatures. For the empirical analysis, we constructed a dataset of 123 Brazilian agglomerations, and estimate aspects of the demand and supply side as well as a reduced form specification that describes city sizes and their growth. Our main findings are that increases in rural population supply, improvements in inter-regional transport connectivity and education attainment of the labor force have strong impacts on city growth. We also find that local crime and violence, measured by homicide rates impinge on growth. In contrast, a higher share of private sector industrial capital in the local economy stimulates growth. Using the residuals from the growth estimation, we also find that cities who better administer local land use and zoning laws have higher growth. Finally, our policy simulations show that diverting transport investments from large cities towards secondary cities do not provide significant gains in terms of national urban performance.

Suggested Citation

Da Mata, Daniel and Deichmann, Uwe and Henderson, J. Vernon and Lall, Somik V. and Wang, Hyoung Gun, Determinants of City Growth in Brazil (August 2005). NBER Working Paper No. w11585, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=795269

Daniel Da Mata

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - Sao Paulo School of Economics ( email )

Rua Itapeva 474
São Paulo, São Paulo 01332-000
Brazil

Uwe Deichmann

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States

J. Vernon Henderson (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Somik V. Lall

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
United States

HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/slall

Hyoung Gun Wang

Brown University ( email )

Box 1860
Providence, RI 02912
United States

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