Cities, Agglomeration, and Spatial Equilibrium

by Glaeser, Edward L.

• ISBN13: 9780199290444
• ISBN10: 019929044X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

220 million Americans crowd together in the 3% of the country that is urban. 35 million people live in the vast metropolis of Tokyo, the most productive urban area in the world. The central city of Mumbai alone has 12 million people, and Shanghai almost as many. We choose to live cheek byjowl, in a planet with vast amounts of space. Yet despite all of the land available to us, we choose to live in proximity to cities. Using economics to understand this phenomenon, the urban economist uses the tools of economic theory and empirical data to explain why cities exist and to analyzeurban issues such as housing, education, crime, poverty and social interaction.Drawing on the success of his Lindahl lectures, Edward Glaeser provides a rigorous account of his research and unique thinking on cities. Using a series of simple models and economic theory, Glaeser illustrates the primary features of urban economics including the concepts of spatial equilibrium andagglomeration economies. Written for a mathematically inclined audience with an interest in urban economics and cities, the book is written to be accessible to theorists and non-theorists alike and should provide a basis for further empirical work.

Author Biography

Edward L. Glaeser is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. He teaches urban and social economics and microeconomic theory, and has published dozens of papers on cities, economic growth, and law and economics. He is a Faculty Research Fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, and has also been a consultant for numerous international international institutions.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
What is this book?	p. 10
A quick overview of the influences on this book	p. 11
The plan of this book	p. 14
The spatial equilibrium within the city	p. 18
Spatial equilibrium in the Alonso-Muth-Mills model	p. 18
Transport technologies	p. 23
Endogenizing land areas	p. 25
Building housing	p. 29
Income heterogeneity	p. 33
Endogenous and exogenous amenities	p. 37
Job decentralization within the metropolitan area	p. 40
Using the model to understand urban history	p. 44
The spatial equilibrium across cities	p. 47
The static model and the Rosen-Roback framework	p. 49
The dynamic framework and urban growth	p. 68
Multiple skill levels and the rise of the skilled city	p. 80
Housing supply heterogeneity and urban decline	p. 99
High frequency housing price dynamics	p. 111
Agglomeration economies	p. 116
Income and density	p. 117
Measuring concentration: Natural advantage vs. agglomeration	p. 125
Reducing transport costs	p. 131
The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market	p. 138
Labor market pooling	p. 141
Matching in cities	p. 144
Learning in cities	p. 148
Testing different theories: The coagglomeration evidence	p. 154
The evolution of agglomeration economies	p. 156
Urban distress	p. 165
The causes of urban poverty: Housing, spillovers and transportation	p. 166
Racial segregation	p. 175
Neighborhood effects, social interactions, crime and riots	p. 188
Cities, crime and ritos	p. 195
Cities and public policy	p. 204
Urban political economy	p. 204
Optimal place-based policies	p. 221
Local tax policy	p. 236
Land use controls	p. 238
Proofs of propositions	p. 245
References	p. 251
Index	p. 259
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