City size, quality of life, and the urbanization deflator of the GNP: 1910-1984.
The authors attempt to determine the net effect of city size on quality of life by developing a welfare measure of urbanization.  "The estimation procedure suggested in the theoretical part of the paper (section II) is implemented in the empirical part (section III) using 1980 census data from the [U.S.] PUMS (Public Use Micro Data Sample).  The results indicate there is no single optimal city size, but rather a worst city size, and about 90 percent of the U.S. population reside in cities smaller than worst city size.  If quality of life is related to the degree of urbanization, then long-term trends in the locational distribution of the population should be accounted for in any welfare-oriented measure of national income.  One application of our results is, as indicated, the derivation of a GNP welfare deflator reflecting changes in the degree of urbanization (section IV).  The findings suggest an urban deflator on the order of six to seven percentage points, which is steadily increasing at a rate of about half a percentage point per decade."
Clark
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Kahn
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Ofek
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D000569:Americas; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D005843:Geography; D009656:North America; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012106:Research; D012107:Research Design; D012946:Social Welfare; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013995:Time; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D014507:Urbanization
Americas; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; Estimation Technics; Geographic Factors; Gross National Product; Longterm Effects; Macroeconomic Factors; Measurement; North America; Northern America; Optimum Population; Population; Population Characteristics; Population Dynamics; Population Size; Production; Quality Of Life; Research Methodology; Research Report; Social Welfare; Spatial Distribution; Time Factors; United States; Urban Population; Urban Spatial Distribution; Urbanization