Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Gregg Huff
Author-Workplace-Name: Pembroke College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1DW, UK
Author-Email: gregg.huff@pmb.ox.ac.uk
Title: Gateway cities and urbanisation in southeast asia before world war II
Abstract: Between the 1870s and World War II, falls in world shipping costs and Western 
industrialisation gave rise to export-led Southeast Asian growth and specialization in 
a narrow range of primary commodity exports. A linked development was the emergence of 
a few dominant Southeast Asian urban centres, typically primate and always ports. 
Drawing on historical census data, this paper uses rank-size distributions and transition 
matrices to investigate the influence of commodity specialisation and exports on urban 
systems development in the region. It is argued that different commodities produced 
different spread effects, resulting in variation in degrees of urban concentration in 
the region. However, geography, path dependence and infrastructure also shaped urban 
systems development. The main cities that emerged during this period became the ‘gateways’ 
that connected frontier Southeast Asia to the global economy.
Classification-JEL: N15, N95, R11
Keywords: urbanisation; gateway cities; agglomeration effects; export-led growth; staple exports; urban systems; rank-size distributions; transition matrices
Length: 48 pages
Creation-Date: 2012-02-22
Number: _096
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/5680/huff96.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_096