Are American-style megacities or European-style urban networks the best development path for urbanizing countries like China? Can Europe’s relatively smaller cities compete with the world’s megacities by improving the transportation and communication links between them? Edward Glaeser, Giacomo Ponzetto, and Yimei Zou develop a theory of the flow of ideas within and between cities and discuss the factors that may favor consolidation into a dominant megalopolis over the balanced growth of a network of smaller cities.

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