Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities

Human activities, such as research, innovation and industry, concentrate disproportionately in large cities. The ten most innovative cities in the United States account for 23% of the national population, but for 48% of its patents and 33% of its gross domestic product. But why has human activity become increasingly concentrated? Here we use data on scientific papers, patents, employment and gross domestic product, for 353 metropolitan areas in the United States, to show that the spatial concentration of productive activities increases with their complexity. Complex economic activities, such as biotechnology, neurobiology and semiconductors, concentrate disproportionately in a few large cities compared to less--complex activities, such as apparel or paper manufacturing. We use multiple proxies to measure the complexity of activities, finding that complexity explains from 40% to 80% of the variance in urban concentration of occupations, industries, scientific fields and technologies. Using historical patent data, we show that the spatial concentration of cutting-edge technologies has increased since 1850, suggesting a reinforcing cycle between the increase in the complexity of activities and urbanization. These findings suggest that the growth of spatial inequality may be connected to the increasing complexity of the economy

Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities

Human activities, such as research, innovation and industry, concentrate disproportionately in large cities. The ten most innovative cities in the United States account for 23% of the national population, but for 48% of its patents and 33% of its gross domestic product. But why has human activity become increasingly concentrated? Here we use data on scientific papers, patents, employment and gross domestic product, for 353 metropolitan areas in the United States, to show that the spatial concentration of productive activities increases with their complexity. Complex economic activities, such as biotechnology, neurobiology and semiconductors, concentrate disproportionately in a few large cities compared to less--complex activities, such as apparel or paper manufacturing. We use multiple proxies to measure the complexity of activities, finding that complexity explains from 40% to 80% of the variance in urban concentration of occupations, industries, scientific fields and technologies. Using historical patent data, we show that the spatial concentration of cutting-edge technologies has increased since 1850, suggesting a reinforcing cycle between the increase in the complexity of activities and urbanization. These findings suggest that the growth of spatial inequality may be connected to the increasing complexity of the economy

Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities

Human activities, such as research, innovation and industry, concentrate disproportionately in large cities. The ten most innovative cities in the United States account for 23% of the national population, but for 48% of its patents and 33% of its gross domestic product. But why has human activity become increasingly concentrated? Here we use data on scientific papers, patents, employment and gross domestic product, for 353 metropolitan areas in the United States, to show that the spatial concentration of productive activities increases with their complexity. Complex economic activities, such as biotechnology, neurobiology and semiconductors, concentrate disproportionately in a few large cities compared to less--complex activities, such as apparel or paper manufacturing. We use multiple proxies to measure the complexity of activities, finding that complexity explains from 40% to 80% of the variance in urban concentration of occupations, industries, scientific fields and technologies. Using historical patent data, we show that the spatial concentration of cutting-edge technologies has increased since 1850, suggesting a reinforcing cycle between the increase in the complexity of activities and urbanization. These findings suggest that the growth of spatial inequality may be connected to the increasing complexity of the economy

Made in Latin America : open access, scholarly journals, and regional innovations

Latin America distinguishes itself from other regions of the world by considering the scientific information as a common good. All the above initiatives are publicly funded and managed by the same academic community that publishes scientific journals, unlike in Europe and the United States, where much of the scientific communication mainly journals has been outsourced and commercialized. The book presented here provides the results of exploratory research and different perspectives on achievements, detected problems and challenges the region will be facing in the future, in relation to access, visibility, and scientific and social impact of research published in journals in Latin America, the evaluation of these journals by assessment systems and incentives for academic and scientific careers in the region

Hecho en Latinoamérica : acceso abierto, revistas académicas e innovaciones regionales

América Latina se distingue de otras regiones del mundo porconsiderar la información científica como un bien común, y todas lasiniciativas arriba mencionadas son financiadas con fondos públicosy gestionadas por la misma comunidad académica que publica lasrevistas científicas, a diferencia de Europa y Estados Unidos donde se han tercerizado y comercializado gran parte de las comunicaciones científicas, principalmente las revistas. El libro que aquí se presenta ofrece los resultados de investigaciones exploratorias y diversas miradas sobre los logros, los problemas detectados y los retos que enfrenta la región con miras al futuro, en relación con el acceso, la visibilidad e impacto científico y social de la investigación publicada en revistas dentro de Latinoamérica, y la evaluación de esas revistas por parte de los sistemas de evaluación e incentivos para las carreras académicas y científicas en la región