The ability of cities to attract economic activity has been a core theme of urban research during the last decade. In this research note, the author examines the location of retail employment in 1972, 1982, and 1987 in a sample of approximately 1,000 suburban municipalities and explores the effects of local factors on the relative success that these communities experience in fostering growth in jobs in the retail sector. Policy effects are strongly limited by the inherent long-term stability in the distribution of economic activity and in the enduring distribution of the demographic conditions that define the quality and attractiveness of the local market for private goods.
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