Nber Working Paper Series Historical Perspectives on U.s. Economic Geography

We review historical patterns of "economic geography" for the United States from the colonial period to the present day. The analysis is framed in terms of two geographic scales: regions and cities. The compelling reason for studying geographic areas of different scales is that models that explain the location of economic activities at one scale many not apply to other scales. We consider the process of settling the "frontier"; the development of national markets in goods and factors and, more generally, the convergence (and divergence) of regional economies; the growth of cities and the relationship between urbanization and trends in aggregate economic structure, such as industrialization; and changes in the internal spatial structure of cities. Sukkoo Kim Robert A. Margo Department of Economics Department of Economics Washington University 412 Calhoun One Brookings Drive Vanderbilt University St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Nashville, TN 37235 and NBER and NBER [email protected] [email protected]