On the parametric description of the French, German, Italian and Spanish city size distributions

Puente-Ajovin, Miguel and Ramos, Arturo (2014): On the parametric description of the French, German, Italian and Spanish city size distributions.

Abstract

We study the parametric description of the city size distribution of four European countries: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The parametric models used are the lognormal, the double Pareto lognormal, the normal-Box-Cox (defined in this paper) and the threshold double Pareto Singh--Maddala (introduced in a cited recent paper when studying US city size).

The results are quite regular. The preferred model is always the threshold double Pareto Singh--Maddala in the four countries. However, the dPln is not rejected always for the case of France, and in the case of Italy the dPln is the runner-up distribution. These results complement those obtained in a cited recent paper which study the US places' city size distribution.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: European city size distributions, population thresholds, lower and upper tails, new statistical distribution
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C13 - Estimation: General; ; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R0 - General > R00 - General

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