ABSTRACT
Second-rank cities are back on the academic scene, capturing the interest of scholars with
their unexpected recent performance with respect to first-rank cities. In the data on average
urban GDP growth in 139 European cities since 1996, the relatively strong position of
large cities (over 1.5 million inhabitants) in national growth coincides with periods of
fastest expansion, while at times of slowdown second-rank cities prevail (Camagni
et al., 2014a). Especially in the recent period of economic downturn, second-rank cities
have recorded annual GDP growth rates that are much less negative than those of
capital cities; and in some European countries, like Austria and Germany, all cities
have outperformed their capitals (Parkinson et al., 2014). This trend is not confined to
Europe alone. In the USA, between 1969 and 2007, the largest eight Metropolitan Statisti-
cal Areas (now on MSAs) grew by only one-third of the rate of the other three smaller
MSA categories. Moreover, after 1990, the performance of the large MSAs was only
slightly better, since their growth rates were still only about one-half of the average
rates for the three smaller MSA size categories. The Big MSAs’ growth rate barely
exceeded those of non-metropolitan areas: indeed, they even trailed the average growth
rate of non-metropolitan areas (Partridge, 2010).
