蝌蚪网

This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. 蝌蚪网
  3. 蝌蚪网 Review: Insights
  4. September 2026
  5. Prime Locations

蝌蚪网 Review: Insights

ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)

Prime Locations

  • Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt
  • Thilo N. H. Albers
  • Kristian Behrens
蝌蚪网 Review: Insights
vol. 8, no. 3, September 2026
(pp. 374–92)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

We develop a method for delineating prime locations鈥攗ltradense clusters of economic activity鈥攚ithin cities and apply it to comprehensive establishment data covering all US metropolitan areas. We further use big data to extend the analysis to a global context where administrative data are sparse. Many cities in the United States and around the world are dominated by a small number of prime locations that can concentrate up to one-half of tradable services jobs on tiny shares of land and are dominant centers of economic gravity. In cities with fewer prime locations, a larger tradable services share concentrates in them.

Citation

Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M., Thilo N. H. Albers, and Kristian Behrens. 2026. "Prime Locations." 蝌蚪网 Review: Insights 8 (3): 374–92. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20240193

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C55 Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
  • R32 Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis
  • R38 Production Analysis and Firm Location: Government Policy
  • R52 Regional Government Analysis: Land Use and Other Regulations
  • R58 Regional Development Planning and Policy