Urban Growth and Convergence Dynamics after COVID-19

30 Pages Posted: 12 Jan 2021

See all articles by Stefano Magrini

Stefano Magrini

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Dipartimento di Economia

Marco Di Cataldo

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment; Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics

Margherita Gerolimetto

Ca Foscari University of Venice

Date Written: January 12, 2021

Abstract

Internet and near-instant communication services have had a strong impact on the way people communicate and exchange information since the end of the 1990s. The COVID-19 pandemic shock is likely to provide a dramatic boost to this phenomenon. In the world that will emerge from lockdown, digital communication and videoconferencing will be integral part of daily working and social life to a much higher extent than before. This will have a disproportionally strong impact on knowledge based activities, and therefore on research. This paper presents a theoretical model of endogenous economic growth with the aim of providing hints on the possible consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic shock on income per capita growth and disparities within a system of integrated urban areas. In the model, abstract technological knowledge flows at no cost across space. In contrast, flows of tacit knowledge arise from the interaction between researchers and hence tends to be hampered by distance. Within this framework, the diffusion of broadband technology, high-speed connections and videoconferencing takes the form of a reduction of the “cost of distance” for flows of tacit knowledge. This reinforces productive specialization that, in turn, yields an increase in the system-wide, common growth rate and an increase in income per capita disparities across areas. On the other hand, social distancing is likely to yield an asymmetric negative impact on the productivity of urban research systems thus leading to a decrease in the growth rate.

Keywords: COVID-19, social distancing, videoconferencing, innovation, growth, disparities

JEL Classification: O31, O41, O51, R12

Suggested Citation

Magrini, Stefano and Di Cataldo, Marco and Gerolimetto, Margherita, Urban Growth and Convergence Dynamics after COVID-19 (January 12, 2021). University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dept. of Economics Research Paper Series No. 18/WP/2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3764497 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3764497

Stefano Magrini (Contact Author)

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Dipartimento di Economia ( email )

Cannaregio 873
Venice, 30121
Italy

Marco Di Cataldo

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics ( email )

Cannaregio 873
Venice, Veneto 30121
Italy

Margherita Gerolimetto

Ca Foscari University of Venice ( email )

Dorsoduro 3246
Venice, Veneto 30123
Italy

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
63
Abstract Views
862
Rank
627,735
PlumX Metrics