Agglomeration economies in European and American cities

We consider two types of cities. In the European one the amenities are located at the city-center (like e.g. Paris or London) whereas in the American-type city the amenties are at the city-edge (like e.g. Detroit, Los Angeles). We first show that the unemployed reside at the vicinity of the city-center in the American-type city while they locate at the outskirts of the city in the European one. We then establish conditions for the endogeneous formation of monocentric European and American cities and compare them. It turns out that the employed workers are better off in European cities whereas the unemployed and firms are worse off, that land rent is cheaper in American cities and that the number of trips devoted to amenities and to work affect differently workers' utilities and firms' profits in the two cities.