Skip to main content
Log in

Gibrat’s law for countries

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Population Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A reassessment of Gibrat’s Law in the context of country size is carried out in this paper. In addition, how similarly population is distributed in cities and countries is analyzed from a temporal perspective. Although evidence of Gibrat’s Law is found, it is weaker than that previously established in Rose (J Money Credit Bank 38(8):2225–2246, 2006). This is due to the methodology applied and is especially appreciable in very small countries. Nonetheless, we observe that the population growth process in countries is similar to that of cities. As a result, the similarities between how the population is distributed in these two geographical categories have increased over time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alesina A, Spaolare E, Waczierg R (2005) Trade, growth and the size of countries. In: Aghion P, Durlauf SN (eds) Handbook of economic growth 1B. North-Holland Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp 1499–1542

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson G, Ge Y (2005) The size distribution of Chinese cities. Reg Sci Urban Econ 35(6):756–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee A, Massimiliano M, Osbat C (2005) Testing for PPP: should we use panel methods? Empir Econ 30(1):77–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black D, Henderson HV (2003) Urban evolution in the USA. J Econ Geogr 3(4):343–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosker EM, Brakman S, Garretsen H, Schramm M (2008) A century of shocks: the evolution of the German city size distribution 1925–1999. Reg Sci Urban Econ 38(4):330–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheshire PC, Magrini S (2006) Population growth in European cities: weather matters—but only nationally. Reg Stud 40(1):23–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi I (2001) Unit root tests for panel data. J Int Money Financ 20(2):249–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, Stabler JC (1991) Gibrat’s law and the growth of Canadian cities. Urban Stud 28(4):635–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Córdoba JC (2008) A generalized Gibrat’s Law for cities. Int Econ Rev 49(4):1463–1468

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis DR, Weinstein DE (2002) Bones, bombs, and break points: the geography of economic activity. Am Econ Rev 92(5):1269–1289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Guilmi C, Gaffeo E, Gallegati M (2003) Power law scaling in the world income distribution. Econ Bull 15(6):1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Eaton J, Eckstein Z (1997) Cities and growth: theory and evidence from France and Japan. Reg Sci Urban Econ 27(4–5):443–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eeckhout J (2004) Gibrat’s law for (all) cities. Am Econ Rev 94(5):1429–1451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eeckhout J (2009) Gibrat’s Law for (all) Cities: reply. Am Econ Rev (in press)

  • Ehrlich I, Lui F (1997) The problem of population and growth: a review of the literature from malthus to contemporary models of endogenous population and endogenous growth. J Econ Dyn Control 21(1):205–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furceri D (2008) Zipf’s Law and world income distribution. Appl Econ Lett 15(12):921–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabaix X (1999) Zipf’s law for cities: an explanation. Q J Econ 114(3):739–767

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabaix X, Iaonnides YM (2004) The evolution of city size distributions. In: Henderson JV, Thisse, JF (eds) Handbook of urban and regional economics 4A. North-Holland Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp 2341–2378

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabaix X, Ibragimov R (2007) Rank-1/2: a simple way to improve OLS estimation of tail exponents. NBER technical working paper no 342

  • Gibrat R (1931) Les inégalités économiques. Librairie du Recueil Sirey, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Guérin-Pace F (1995) Rank-Size distribution and the process of urban growth. Urban Stud 32(3):551–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson JV, Wang HG (2007) Urbanization and city growth: the role of institutions. Reg Sci Urban Econ 37(3):283–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Im K, Pesaran MH, Shin Y (2003) Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels. J Econom 115(1):53–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ioannides YM, Overman HG (2003) Zipf’s law for cities: an empirical examination. Reg Sci Urban Econ 33(2):127–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaeger K, Kuhle W (2009) The optimum growth rate for population reconsidered. J Popul Econ 22(1):23–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanaspa L, Pueyo F, Sanz F (2003) The evolution of Spanish urban structure during the twentieth century. Urban Stud 40(3):567–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ng S, Perron P (2001) Lag length selection and the construction of unit root tests with good size and power. Econometrica 69(6):1519–1554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran MH (2004) General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels. CESifo working paper series no 1229

  • Pesaran MH (2007) A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence. J Appl Econ 22(2):265–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrakos GP, Mardakis P, Caraveli H (2000) Recent developments in the Greek system of urban centres. Environ Plann B Plann Des 27(2):169–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quah DT (1993) Empirical cross-section dynamics in economic growth. Eur Econ Rev 37(2–3):426–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Resende M (2004) Gibrat’s law and the growth of cities in Brazil: a panel data investigation. Urban Stud 41(8):1537–1549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose AK (2006) Cities and countries. J Money Credit Bank 38(8):2225–2246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soo KT (2005) Zipf’s law for cities: a cross-country investigation. Reg Sci Urban Econ 35(3):239–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soo KT (2007) Zipf’s law and urban growth in malaysia. Urban Stud 44(1):1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zipf GK (1949) Human behaviour and the principle of least effort: an introduction to human ecology. Addison-Wesley, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafael González-Val.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Junsen Zhang

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

González-Val, R., Sanso-Navarro, M. Gibrat’s law for countries. J Popul Econ 23, 1371–1389 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-009-0246-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-009-0246-7

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation