Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation,
Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

Abstract: Increased urbanization, global warming and sustainable growth belong to the major contemporary policy challenges. Today cities are home to more than 50% of the world population, the largest 600 urban centers generate about 60% of global GDP, and the agglomerated areas are responsible for 75% of world carbon emissions. The UN estimates that 70% of the world's growing population will live in cities by 2050. At the same time the world population is expected to increase from 7 billion people to 9 billion. Thus, the total number of people living in cities will be almost doubled within a period of less than 4 decades. This paper discusses two hypotheses on how this will affect climate change and economic growth.

Keywords: Agglomeration economies; climate change; innovation; growth

JEL-codes: O18; O31; Q54; Q55; R11

13 pages, First version: April 27, 2012. Revised: September 26, 2012.

Full text files

cesiswp274.pdf  

Download statistics

• Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Vardan Hovsepyan ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-21 12:08:39.