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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.
Abstract:
After 1980, larger US cities experienced substantially faster wage growth than smaller ones. We show that this urban bias mainly reflected wage growth at large Business Services firms. These firms stand out through their high per-worker expenditure on information technology and disproportionate presence in big cities. We introduce a spatial model of investment-specific technical change that can rationalize these patterns. Using the model as an accounting framework, we find that the observed decline in the investment price of information technology capital explains most urban-biased growth by raising the profits of large Business Services firms in big cities.
Link to the paper:
Bio:
Fabian Eckert is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego, specializing in spatial economics, macroeconomics, international economics, and urban economics. His research explores how geography, urban development, and economic policy shape inequality and growth. He serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of International Economics and is a partner at UCSD’s Prosperity and Globalization Lab. Fabian holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.
Speakers and Presenters
Fabian Eckert, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego