González-Val, RafaelOlmo Arriaga, José Luis del2017-10-132017-10-132011https://hdl.handle.net/2445/116590This article analyzes empirically the main existing theories on income and population city growth: increasing returns to scale, locational fundamentals and random growth. To do this we implement a threshold nonlinearity test that extends standard linear growth regression models to a dataset on urban, climatological and macroeconòmic variables on 1,175 U.S. cities. Our analysis reveals the existence of increasing returns when per-capita income levels are beyond $19; 264. Despite this, income growth is mostly explained by social and locational fundamentals. Population growth also exhibits two distinct equilibria determined by a threshold value of 116,300 inhabitants beyond which city population grows at a higher rate. Income and population growth do not go hand in hand, implying an optimal level of population beyond which income growth stagnates or deteriorates.38 p.application/pdfengcc-by-nc-nd, (c) González-Val et al., 2011http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/Desenvolupament urbàPoblació urbanaRiquesaModels multinivell (Estadística)Urban developmentCity dwellersWealthMultilevel models (Statistics)info:eu-repo/semantics/workingPaperinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess