Capital cities lead, while other cities lag in the EU

It is widely assumed that cities are the engines driving national and regional growth. This column analyses productivity dynamics across metropolitan regions in Europe over the past 20 years and finds that while capital cities enjoyed the highest growth in productivity between 2001 and 2021, other cities were falling behind. The findings also suggest, however, that productivity at the local level is more nuanced than simply “cities are good and other places are lagging”, and call for a tailored approach to address the distinct challenges and opportunities of different regional contexts. 

Read the full article here: https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/capital-cities-lead-while-other-cities-lag-eu