Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We apply higher-order information measures to urban growth across borders and spatial units. We analyse 8,808 functional urban areas using gridded GDP estimates allocated from national accounts. Negative estimated O-information occurs in 29.93% of cross-border triplets and 2.00% of domestic triplets. This fifteen-fold contrast falls to fourfold at comparable dependence strength and persists under data-quality restrictions. Target-specific decompositions show how information overlaps or combines across cities. Administrative subdivisions have mean O-information within matched random-map ranges inside countries. These findings show why interpreting geographic dependence requires specifying comparison cities and spatial units, while economic connections remain to be established independently.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Hourican, Cillian, Roy, Debraj
Institution: University of Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223283313