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Date and Location
Katelyn Merrigan
The Growth Lab's Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.
Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. The Zoom session is open to the public.
Speaker: Stephan Heblich, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto
Paper Abstract: Does industrial concentration shape the life and death of cities? We identify settlements from historical maps of England and Wales (1790–1820), isolate exogenous variation in their late 19th-century size and industrial concentration, and estimate the causal impact of size and concentration on later dynamics. Industrial concentration has a negative effect on long-run productivity—independent of industry trends and consistent with cross-industry Jacobs externalities. A spatial model quantifies the role of fundamentals, industry trends, and Jacobs externalities in shaping industry-city dynamics and isolates a new, dynamic trade-off in the design of place-based policies.
Stephan Heblich is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto. He held the Munk Chair of Economics at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. His research looks at spatial disparities in the distribution of consumptive or productive amenities that attract individuals or firms. This helps him explain spatial variation in house prices, the share of high-skilled workers, environmental (dis)amenities, innovative activities, political outcomes, or economic development.
Speakers and Presenters
Stephan Heblich, Professor in the Department of Economics