TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glaeser,Edward L.
AU  - Resseger,Matthew G.
TI  - The Complementarity between Cities and Skills
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15103
PY  - 2009
Y2  - June 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15103
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15103.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Edward L. Glaeser
Department of Economics
315A Littauer Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-0575
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: eglaeser@harvard.edu

Matthew G. Resseger
Harvard University
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Cambridge, MA 02138
E-Mail: resseger@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - There is a strong connection between per worker productivity and metropolitan area population, which is commonly interpreted as evidence for the existence of agglomeration economies.  This correlation is particularly strong in cities with higher levels of skill and virtually non-existent in less skilled metropolitan areas.  This fact is particularly compatible with the view that urban density is important because proximity spreads knowledge, which either makes workers more skilled or entrepreneurs more productive.   Bigger cities certainly attract more skilled workers, and there is some evidence suggesting that human capital accumulates more quickly in urban areas.
ER  -