Buzz: Face-to-face contact and the urban economy

Anthony Venables , Michael Storper (1)

1 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)

This paper argues that existing models of urban concentrations are incomplete unless grounded in the most fundamental aspect of proximity; face-to-face contact. Face-to-face contact has four main features; it is an efficient communication technology; it can help solve incentive problems; it can facilitate socialization and learning; and it provides psychological motivation. We discuss each of these features in turn, and develop formal economic models of two of them. Face-to-face is particularly important in environments where information is imperfect, rapidly changing, and not easily codified, key features of many creative activities.

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Economics and Finance

Anthony Venables, Michael Storper. Buzz: Face-to-face contact and the urban economy. Stefano Breschi; Franco Malerba. Clusters, Networks and Innovation, Oxford University Press, pp.319 - 342, 2006, 9780199275564. ⟨hal-03397764⟩