This paper studies population and employment growth of Korean cities in the period of 1975-2015. I document that urban growth patterns in the first 20 years of 1975-1995 are different from those in the recent 20 years of 1995- 2015. First, Zipf’s law did not hold in the first period while the distribution of city sizes have become linear lately. Second, the population growth looks independent from city sizes in the second period. In 1975-1995, on the other hands, Gibrat’s law does not hold as an inverse U pattern appears. In sum, the growth patterns in the second period support random growth theory.

Then, I focus on the period of 1995-2015 to examine market access effects on urban growth. The market access is a measure of economic advantages of urban geography. Cities have a high level of market access when they are located near a big metropolitan area. The market access, an geographical advantage, has a significant influence on employment growth. This effect is higher in Seoul metropolitan area than in the rest of South Korea. The market access effect is stronger on the employment growth of manufacturing industry than on that of service industry. This result is robust with various checks of, e.g., different definition of urban areas and different values of elasticity of transport costs. The policy makers in South Korea should consider geographical characteristics when they make policy decisions with respect to regional development.

Preface
Executive Summary

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Population Distribution and Urban Growth
　Section 1 Definition of Urban Boundaries
　Section 2 Population Distribution and Zipf’s Law
　Section 3 Population Distribution and Urban Growth Patterns

Chapter 3 Market Access of Cities
　Section 1 Theoretical Foundation of Market Access
　Section 2 Market Access of Korean Cities
　Section 3 Market Access and Urban Growth

Chapter 4 The Effect of Market Access on Urban Growth
　Section 1 Empirical Model
　Section 2 Data Description
　Section 3 Results of Analysis

Chapter 5 Conclusion

References
Appendix
ABSTRACT