Data and Code for: "Prime Locations"

We develop a method for delineating prime locations—ultra-dense clus- ters of economic activity—within cities and apply it to comprehensive estab- lishment data covering all US metropolitan areas. We further use big data to extend the analysis to a global context where administrative data are sparse. Many cities in the US and around the world are dominated by a small number of prime locations that can concentrate up to one-half of tradable services jobs on tiny shares of land and are dominant centers of economic gravity. In cities with fewer prime locations, a larger tradable services share concentrates in them.