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Aaron Arnold's avatar

Wonderful review. The economist Ed Glaeser wrote 2 interesting papers that bear on some of the points you discuss:

Re: Boston (footnote 1), its ability to maintain its prominence over the centuries has been due to exactly the kind of trade dynamics you mention: https://www.nber.org/papers/w10166

Re: American centralization (footnote 3), one major reason why the economic fortunes of Chicago and Buenos Aires diverged so dramatically during the 20th century after being very similar in the 19th was that BA was also the political capital whereas Chicago was insulated from political shocks: https://www.nber.org/papers/w15104

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Kian Locke's avatar

Incredible review. I wonder, does this concept of import replacement apply to online communities and international corporations as well? Could this concept be the foundation of a generalized theory of the rise, decline, and fall of units of economic activity beyond cities?

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