Population growth among U.S. regions and metropolitan areas: a test for causality

ABSTRACT This paper explores theories of population growth, and implied economic growth, among the major U.S. metro areas and regions. One set of theoretical arguments favor the growth of large cities, while an alternative set of arguments favor the growth of the smaller urban areas. Still another set of arguments combine economic space and urban size in the concept of regional growth centers as the engines of regional growth. Granger causality tests are applied to determine the role of urban size or growth centres as engines of regional growth. The test results indicate no causal relationship exists.