Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326798 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
UNU-MERIT Working Papers No. 2021-039
Publisher: 
United Nations University (UNU), Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht
Abstract: 
We study the link between subnational capital cities and urban development using a global data set of hundreds of first-order administrative and capital city reforms from 1987 until 2018. We show that gaining subnational capital status has a sizable effect on city growth in the medium run. We provide new evidence that the effect of these reforms depends on locational fundamentals, such as market access, and that the effect is greater in countries where urbanization and industrialization occurred later. Consistent with both an influx of public investments and a private response of individuals and firms, we document that urban built-up, population, foreign aid, infrastructure, and foreign direct investment in several sectors increase once cities become subnational capitals.
Subjects: 
capital cities
administrative reforms
economic geography
urban primacy
JEL: 
H10
R11
R12
O1
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-sa Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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