Corporate Service Linkages in Large Metropolitan Areas

Some urban analysts contend that suburbs provide the same economic functions as the central city, and others argue that they lack the agglomeration economies necessary for high-level corporate activities, especially financial, business, and professional services. The author compares the suburbs and central cities of the nation's three largest consolidated metropolitan statistical areas-New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago-as providers of several corporate services, analyzing where the largest companies obtain accounting, actuarial, banking, investment banking, and legal services. Both central-city-and suburban-based companies rely mostly on central-city-based service providers, and this reliance increases with company size.