Syllabus
EC 137: Urban and Regional Economics
Prof. Walker Hanlon
Fall 2015
DETAILS:
Class: Monday, Wednesday 2:00-3:15
My email:
[email protected]Email for assignments:
[email protected]My office: 9357 Bunche Hall
Office hours: Monday 4-5pm, Tuesday 4-5pm
OVERVIEW:
Why do cities exist? What do cities look like? What forces shape the structure and size of
cities? The goal of this course is to attempt to answer some of these questions by analyzing
cities as economic systems. This course will be taught at a high level. It will make use of
algebra as well as some calculus. Econometrics is not a prerequisite, but will be helpful. To
be successful, you will not only have to understand the concepts we discuss, you will also
have to apply them to understand real-world issues.
GRADING:
1. Homeworks (30% of grade - 10% each)
2. Midterm (30% of grade)
3. Final (40% of grade)
4. Class Participation (bonus up to 5%)
HOMEWORKS
There will be four homework assignments during the course. You only need to turn in three
of them and only three will count towards your grade. If you turn in four, the fourth will
not be graded. This means that you can use one in case some emergency arises, etc. Use
this freebie carefully if you decide not to turn a homework in and then an emergency
arises, I will not make an exception for the second missing homework.
Homeworks must be turned in electronically via email to
[email protected].
Your homework must be a single PDF file attached to the email. The file name on the
PDF should be yourname EC137 HWx where x is the number of the homework. If you
want to write-out your homework by hand, then you need to scan it to turn it in. Homework
must be received by midnight. LATE HOMEWORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. That
includes cases in which you accidentally forgot to attach the homework to the email,
etc. This is non-negotiable. Due to the large class size, we will not be able to return
homeworks, but I will post solutions, let you know your scores, and I will try to address
common mistakes in class.
READINGS
Each week we will have a short reading that will come with some questions. The readings
are required. We will discuss the weekly reading at the beginning of class and students can
earn bonus points by participating in the discussion. Students can earn up to 5% of their
grade in bonus points by participating in discussions. I will try to give as many students a
chance to participate as possible. The class will also build on a number of recent academic
papers. These are not required reading, but they will be available on the class webpage for
interested students.
COURSE MATERIALS
This course will not use a textbook. If you do want a reference, the text that comes closest
to covering the material in the course is Jan Brueckners Lectures on Urban Economics. An
electronic version is available on the library website at:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ucla/docDetail.action?docID=10509210
It is limited to five users at a time. Two other small and inexpensive books will also be
repeatedly cited in the course and I highly recommend them to people interested in the
topic: (1) The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs and (2) Regional Advantage by Annalee
Saxenian. Also, two other great books on urban economics not discussed directly in this
course are The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and Triumph of
the City by Edward Glaeser.
CONTACTING ME
The best way to contact me with questions is to come to office hours. If you have a question
but you cant make it to office hours, you can send me an email. I will try to respond to all
student emails in 1-2 days, but this is a large class, so if I gat many emails it may take more
time. Also, in the past Ive had some issues with student emails getting sent to the spam
folder, though I will try to check periodically to make sure this isnt happening. Finally, if
you send me an email full of questions a day or two before the exam, there is a good chance
I wont be able to get back to you in time. DONT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!
SCHEDULE
Sept. 28: Introduction: Why do cities exist?
Sept. 30: Agglomeration - Natural amenities
References: Rappaport & Sachs (2003), Davis & Weinstein (2002), Bleakley & Lin (2012)
Oct. 5: Agglomeration: Increasing returns, external economies, input-output linkages
References: Brueckner, Chapter 1, Krugman & Venables (1995), Fujita et al. (1999)
Oct. 7: Agglomeration: Labor markets and human capital spillovers
References: Moretti (2010), Moretti (2004)
Oct. 12: Technological spillovers and testing agglomeration theories
References: Rosenthal & Strange (2004), Hidalgo et al. (2007)
Oct. 14: City density
References: Brueckner, Chapter 4, Burchfield et al. (2006)
Oct. 19: Competition, corporate culture, and city growth
References: Saxenian Chapter 1-3, Porter (1990) (Ch 3-4), Glaeser et al. (1992), Chinitz
(1961)
Oct. 21 Introduction to the monocentric city model
References: Brueckner, Chapter 2
Oct. 26: Using the monocentric city model
References: Brueckner, Chapter 3
Oct. 28: Transportation in the monocentric city
References: Brooks & Lutz (2013), Duranton & Turner (forthcoming)
Nov. 2: Midterm
Nov. 4: System of cities model
Nov. 9: Public policy and urban structure
References: Arzaghi & Henderson (2008) , Kerr & Kominers (2010), Glaeser & Kahn (2008),
Schiff (2012), Diamond (2012), Brueckner, Chapter 7.
Nov. 11: No Class - Veterans Day
Nov. 16: Rosen-Roback model
Nov. 18 Taxes
Nov. 23: Local public goods and municipal competition
References: Brueckner, Sections 8.1-8.3, Tiebout (1956), Hoxby (2000), Greenstone &
Moretti (2004)
Nov. 25: Housing markets
Nov. 30: Health in Cities
References: Kesztenbaum & Rosenthal (2012), Cain & Hong (2009), Kesztenbaum & Rosenthal (2011), Ferrie & Troesken (2008)
Dec. 2: Class cancelled
Dec. 4: Optional final review session NOTE THAT THIS IS A FRIDAY Time and
Location TBA
References
Arzaghi, Mohammad, & Henderson, J. Vernon. 2008. Networking off Madison Avenue. Review of Economic
Studies, 75, pp. 10111038.
Bleakley, Hoyt, & Lin, Jeffrey. 2012. Portage: Path Dependence and Increasing Returns in U.S. History.
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127(May), 587644.
Brooks, Leah, & Lutz, Byron. 2013 (March). Vestiges of Transit: Urban Persistence at a Micro Scale.
Burchfield, Marcy, Overman, Henry G., Puga, Diego, & Turner, Matthew A. 2006. Causes of Sprawl: A
Portrait from Space. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), pp. 587633.
Cain, Louis, & Hong, Sok Chul. 2009. Survival in 19th century cities: The larger the city, the smaller your
chances. Explorations in Economic History, 46(4), 450 463.
Chinitz, Benjamin. 1961. Contrasts in Agglomeration: New York and Pittsburgh. The American Economic
Review, 51(2), pp. 279289.
Davis, Donald R, & Weinstein, David E. 2002. Bones, bombs, and break points: The geography of economic
activity. American Economic Review, 92(5), 12691289.
Diamond, Rebecca. 2012 (November). The Determinants and Welfare Implications of US Workers Diverging
Location Choices by Skill: 1980-2000.
Duranton, Gilles, & Turner, Matthew. forthcoming. Urban Growth and Transportation. Review of Economic
Studies.
Ferrie, Joseph P., & Troesken, Werner. 2008. Water and Chicago mortality transition, 1850-1925. Explorations in Economic History, 45(1), 1 16.
Fujita, Masahisa, Krugman, Paul, & Venables, Anthony. 1999. The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and
International Trade. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Glaeser, Edward L, & Kahn, Matthew E. 2008 (August). The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions
and Urban Development.
Glaeser, Edward L, Kallal, Hedi D, Scheinkman, Jose A, & Shleifer, Andrei. 1992. Growth in Cities. Journal
of Political Economy, 100(6), 11261152.
Greenstone, Michael, & Moretti, Enrico. 2004. Bidding for Industrial Plants: Does Winning a Million
Dollar Plant Increase Welfare? MIT Department of Economics Working Paper No. 04-39.
Hidalgo, C. A., Klinger, B., Barabasi, A.-L., & Hausmann, R. 2007. The Product Space Conditions the
Development of Nations. Science, 317(5837), 482487.
Hoxby, Caroline M. 2000. Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers? The
American Economic Review, 90(5), pp. 12091238.
Kerr, William R, & Kominers, Scott D. 2010 (October). Agglomeration Forces and Cluster Shapes. Harvard
Business School Working Paper No. 11-044.
Kesztenbaum, Lionel, & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent. 2011. The health cost of living in a city: The case of
France at the end of the 19th century. Explorations in Economic History, 48(2), 207 225.
Kesztenbaum, Lionel, & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent. 2012 (April). The Democratization of Longevity: How
the Poor Became Old in Paris 1870-1940. Mimeo.
Krugman, Paul, & Venables, Anthony. 1995. Globalization and the Inequality of Nations. Quarterly Journal
of Economics, 110(4), pp. 857880.
Moretti, E. 2004. Workers education, spillovers, and productivity: Evidence from plant-level production
functions. American Economic Review, 94(3), 656690.
Moretti, E. 2010. Local Labor Markets.
Porter, Michael E. 1990. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Rappaport, Jordan, & Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2003. The United States as a Coastal Nation. Journal of Economic
Growth, 8(1), 5 46.
Rosenthal, S., & Strange, W. 2004. Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics. Elsevier. Chap. Evidence
on the Nature and Sources of Agglomeration Economies.
Schiff, Nathan. 2012 (July). Cities and Product Variety.
Tiebout, Charles M. 1956. A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures. Journal of Political Economy, 64(5), pp.
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