DETERMINANTS OF ECONOMIC CITY SIZE.

The attraction and economic contribution of cities differ across cities in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to look into what are the drivers of this difference. A balanced panel data set which has equal number of observations for fourteen cross-sectional units (cities), is used for analyzing determinants of economic city size. In-migration is a major factor in determining the economic as well as the physical size of a city. It not only increases the mass but also alters production by increasing labour supply and demand for production. Amenities also significantly influenced city size. Positive amenities of a city tend to increase city size while the negative ones decrease it. Further, the greater the size of the informal sector in a city, the greater it contributes to national growth and GDP. Imports and exports both tend to raise production and consumption in the city, which eventually boosts the size of the city. Finally, the effect of being a port city is also significant and positively relates to the economic size of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]