Economics 461

Urban Economics

Fall 2007
MWF 1:00-1:50 BL 123

Peter Mieszkowski - Baker 270
(713) 348 - 3453
Office Hours: By Appointment
Email: mieszko@rice.edu

Links to: Syllabus | Course Readings

List of Supplement Notes

Introduction
1. Why Do Cities Exist? First Lecture.

Introductions to Economic Geography
2. Notes on Paul Krugman. Geography and Trade
3a. More on Krugman’s Geography and Trade
3b. Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon

Optimal City Size
4. Optimal City Size

Theoretical Analysis of Urban Structure
5. Extension of and Qualifications to Basic Monocentric Model
6. Monocentric Model of Urban Areas
7. Derivation and Interpretation of Location Equilibrium Conditions
8. Paradise Lost and Regained by Leroy and Sonstelie
9. The Relationship between Land Rents and Density
10. Questions on Monocentric Model of Urban Areas

Multi-Centered Cities
11. Differences Between Europe and the United States
12. (a) Notes on Urban Decentralization
12. (b) Notes on Employment Decentralization

Empirical Investigations of Changes in Urban Structure
13. (a) Test of and Qualifications to the Monocentric Model
13. (b) Suburbanization

Urban Transportation
14. (a) Study Guide to Suburbanization, Decentralization
14. (b) Notes on Glaeser's Decline of Transportation Costs (NBER #9886)
14. (c) Notes on Glaeser's Sprawl and Urban Growth (NBER #9733)

Economics of Housing, Zoning and Urban Renewal
15. Filtering in Housing Markets
16. Filtering in Secon-Hand Housing
17. Development of Housing Policy
18. (a) Lecture on Smart Growth
18. (b) Housing Affordability and Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?

Models of Local Government
19. Notes on Tiebout Model

Education and Inequality
20. Educational Production Functions
21. C. Hoxby on Equity Efficiency In School Finance
22. Notes and Questions on Education
23. (a) The Reform of American Education
23. (b) Based on C. Hoxby "All School Finance Equalities Are Not Equal"
23. (c) School Choice and School Productivity

The Problem of Urban Poverty
24. Prejudice and Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets
25. The Importance of Neighborhood Effects
26. The Importance of Neighborhood Effects: Empirical Evidence

28. Final Exam Fall 2005

27. Final Review Fall 2006