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

Abstract: The importance of cities to economic dynamism and growth cannot be emphasized enough. It is crucial for our understanding of what drives economic growth to understand how cities emerge, develop and prosper. This paper investigates the emergence of cities from a spontaneous order and urban economics perspective. The analysis focus on agglomeration effects, externalities and regional clustering as explanations of cities and regional growth. Factors such as local knowledge and dispersion of knowledge are identified as important growth factors. With origin in Hayek’s famous citation “particular circumstances of time and place” these factors are thoroughly discussed in a spontaneous order framework.

Keywords: Spontaneous orders; cities; urban economics; dynamic externalities; knowledge-flows

JEL-codes: B25; B53; O18; R10; R12

23 pages, May 24, 2013

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