Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39471226›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2024

How working from home reshapes cities.

Arjun Ramani, Joel Alcedo, Nicholas Bloom

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Why working from home varies across countries and people.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  4. Remote work - the new normal needs more research.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2025
    Article
  5. How working from home reshapes cities.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Arjun Ramani *Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142.ORCID 0009-0001-4931-4057
Joel AlcedoMastercard Economics Institute, Mastercard, Purchase, NY 10577.ORCID 0009-0008-1199-9215
Nicholas BloomDepartment of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.ORCID 0000-0002-1600-7819

Funding

Kauffman Foundation General research fundsStanford University Department of Economics General research funds
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In recent decades, economic activity has become increasingly concentrated in major global metropolises. Yet, the rise of working from home threatens this dominance of cities. Using multiple high-frequency datasets on spending, commuting, migration, and housing, we provide global evidence that remote work has dispersed economic activity away from city centers. We label this the "Donut Effect," which is much larger and more persistent in cities with high levels of remote work. Using detailed household microdata from the United States, we show that three-fifths of households that left city centers in big cities moved to the suburbs of the same city. This is likely explained by the rise of hybrid work, in which employees still commute to the office a few days a week. The enduring popularity of hybrid work into 2024 suggests that the Donut Effect will persist while also leaving broader metropolitan areas intact.

Indexed as

CitiesEmploymentHousingHumansTeleworkingTransportationUnited StatesUrban Populationcitiesconsumer spendingmigrationreal estateremote work

Identifiers

PMID39471226
PMCPMC11551397

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.