The field of “urban economics” is an elusive object whose US-based origins, development, and internationalization we attempt to document in this paper. To flesh out urban economists’ territory, we rely on a mix of quantitative analysis (networks of authors most cited alongside the foundational contributions of William Alonso, Richard Muth, and Edwin Mills) and archival research. We identify several periods in the development of American urban economics, including a taking-off in the 1960s, fueled by scholarly contributions, urban riots, and foundations’ grants; a marginalization in the 1980s; and a recent renewal where urban economists grappled with the theoretical legacy of the New Economic Geography, and with the transfer of new empirical techniques from neighboring fields.
Cherrier et al. (Wed,) studied this question.