From data on French cities' population covering almost two centuries, the viability of rank-size parameters for describing the evolution of city size distributions is tested. We first demonstrate the sensitivity of the Pareto's exponent to the variations of city sample size. The population threshold for which the adjustment of the city size distribution remains stable appears considerably lower than usually admitted. Then it is shown that the non-Paretian behaviour of city size distributions which appears in some censuses can be linked to the particular growth process of middle-sized cities. It can be explained in terms of deviations of Gibrat's law of proportionate effect and modelled in a simple way.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, G.R. (1954) The 'courbe des populations': a further analysis , Bulletin of the Oxford University Institute of Statistics , 16, pp. 179-189.
2.
Berry, B.J.L. (1961) City size distribution and economic development , Economic Development and Cultural Change, 9, pp. 573-587.
3.
Dziewonski, K. (1972) General theory of rank-size distributions in regional settlement systems: reappraisal and reformulation of the rank-size rule, Papers and Proceedings of the Regional Science Association, 29, pp. 73-86.
4.
Frankhauser, P. and Guérin-Pace, F. (forthcoming) Measuring the Hierarchical Organisation of an Urban System .
5.
Gibrat, R. (1931) Les inégalités économiques. Paris: Sirey.
6.
Guérin-Pace, F. (1991) Quelques aspects de la repartition spatiale de la croissance urbaine entre 1831 et 1982, in: D. Pumain (Ed.) Spatial Analysis and Population Dynamics . Paris: J. Libbey & INED.
7.
Guerin-Pace, F. (1993) Deux siècles de croissance urbaine. Paris: Economica.
8.
Haran, E.G.P. and Vining, D.R. (1973) A modified Yule-Simon model allowing for intercity migration and accounting for the observed form of the size distribution of cities, Journal of Regional Science, 3, pp. 421-437.
9.
Ined (1984) L'urbanisation de la France de 1831 à 1982. Base de donnees informatisée.
10.
Ijiri, Y. and Simon, H. (1974) Interpretations of departures from the Pareto curve firm size distributions, Journal of Political Economy, 82, pp. 315-331.
11.
Janelle, D.G. (1969) Spatial reorganization: a model and concept, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, pp. 348-368.
12.
Lasuen, J.R., Lorca, A. and Oria, J. (1967) City size distribution and economic growth, Ekistics, 24(14), pp. 221-226.
13.
Lotka, A.J. (1924) Elements of Physical Biology, Baltimore. (New edn: Elements of Mathematical Biology. New York, 1965).
14.
Malecki, E.J. (1980) Growth and change in the analysis of rank-size distribution: empirical findings, Environment and Planning , 12, pp. 41-52.
15.
Moore, F.T. (1958) A note on city-size distribution, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 7(1), pp. 465-466.
16.
Parr, J.B. (1976) A class of deviations from rank-size regularity: three interpretations, Regional Studies, 19, pp. 535-546.
17.
Parr, J.B. (1985) A note on the size distribution of cities over time, Journal of Urban Economics, 18, pp. 199-212.
18.
Pumain, D. (1982) La dynamique des villes. Paris : Economica.
19.
Rosen, K.T. and Resnick, M. (1980) The size distribution of cities: an examination of the Pareto law and primacy, Journal of Urban Economics , 8, pp. 165-186.
20.
Simon, H. (1968) On judging the plausibility of theories, in: Van Root-Selaar and Stall (Eds) Logic, Methodology andPhilosophy of Science, 3, pp. 440-459. Amsterdam.
21.
Singer, H.W. (1936) The 'courbe des populations': a parallel to Pareto's law, Economic Journal, 46, pp. 254-263.
22.
Steindl, J. (1968) Size distributions in economics, in: Silks (Ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 14. New York: Macmillan and the Free Press.
23.
Vining, D.R. (1974) On the sources of instability in the rank-size rule: some simple tests of Gibrat's law, Geographical Analysis , 4, pp. 313-329.
24.
Vining, D.R. (1976) Autocorrelated growth rates and the Pareto law: a further analysis, Journal of Political Economy, 84, pp. 369-380.
