TY  - JOUR
AU  - Brezis,Elise
AU  - Krugman,Paul
TI  - Technology and the Life Cycle of Cities
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4561
PY  - 1993
Y2  - December 1993
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4561
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4561.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Elise Brezis
Dept. of Economics
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan
ISRAEL
E-Mail: brezie@mail.biu.ac.il

Paul R. Krugman
Department of Economics
Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton, NJ  08544
Tel: 609/258-4570
Fax: 609/258-2809
E-Mail: pkrugman@princeton.edu
AB  - During times of major technological change leading cities are often overtaken by upstart metropolitan areas.  Such upheavals may be explained if the advantage of established urban centers rests on localized learning-by-doing.  When a new technology for which this accumulated experience is irrelevant is introduced, older centers prefer to stay with a technology in which they are more efficient. New centers, however, turn to the new technology, and are competitive despite the raw state of that technology because of their lower land rents and wages.  Over time, as the new technology matures, the established cities are overtaken.
ER  -