Referee Reports

Boustan, L. P., Bunten, D. M., & Hearey, O. (2013). Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000 (No. w19041). National Bureau of Economic Research.
1. What is the main research question?
The main research question of the study is; as the relative advantages of rural and urban locations change from time to time, where do employees choose to settle and where do companies choose to operate?
2. What are the data sources used?
Boustan, Bunten, and Hearey (2013) used data from Census and American Community Survey, which is integrated from Public-Use Micro-data Series (IPUMS). The data was used for constructing wage series from 1940 to 2010, as well as rental services between 1930 and 2010. They also used data from the Iowa State Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Cost of Living Survey Series, and the Census of Manufacturing so that they could extend the series to 1820 for wages and also up to 1918 for rents.
3. What is the methodology used to answer the question?
Boustan, Bunten, and Hearey (2013) used a Rosen-Roback model of worker and firm location to ge...