TY - UNPB

T1 - Zipf's Law and urban growth in Malaysia

AU - Soo, K T

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - This paper performs a test of Zipf's Law (the size distribution of cities follows a Pareto distribution with shape parameter equal to 1) using data for Malaysian cities from five population censuses (1957, 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2000). We reject Zipf's Law for all periods except 1957, in favour of a city size distribution that is more unequal than would be predicted by Zipf's Law. We also find evidence against Gibrat's Law of proportional growth: smaller cities grow faster, as do state capitals and cities in the states of Sabah and Selangor.

AB - This paper performs a test of Zipf's Law (the size distribution of cities follows a Pareto distribution with shape parameter equal to 1) using data for Malaysian cities from five population censuses (1957, 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2000). We reject Zipf's Law for all periods except 1957, in favour of a city size distribution that is more unequal than would be predicted by Zipf's Law. We also find evidence against Gibrat's Law of proportional growth: smaller cities grow faster, as do state capitals and cities in the states of Sabah and Selangor.

KW - Zipf's Law

KW - city size

KW - city growth

KW - Malaysia

M3 - Working paper

T3 - Economics Working Paper Series

BT - Zipf's Law and urban growth in Malaysia

PB - The Department of Economics

CY - Lancaster University

ER -