美国rice大学的一个城市经济学课程大纲.doc

美国rice大学的一个城市经济学课程大纲，该课程由著名城市经济学家Peter Mieszkowski 主持

Text:
Arthur O'Sullivan, Urban Economics, 6th edition (at bookstore). Earlier editions are good substitutes. They may be
available online.
(AS henceforth)
Reference Books (on reserve)
1. William Bogart, The Economics of Cities and Suburbs (B henceforth)
2. Edwin Mills and Bruce Hamilton, Urban Economics, 4th edition. (M-H henceforth)
3. Peter Mieszkowski and M. Straszheim, Current Issues in Urban Economics. (Peter M henceforth)
4. William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago.
5. Paul Krugman, Geography and Trade. (2 copies)
6. Paul Bairoch, Cities and Economic Development.
7. Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier.
8. Joel Garreau, Edge City.
9. William Fischel, The Economics of Zoning Laws.
10. Anthony Downs, Stuck in Traffic.
11. William Fischel, Regulatory Takings.
12. Denise Di Pasquele and William Wheaton, Urban Economics and Real Estate Markets.
Course Outline and Readings:
PDF copies of required articles will be put on class web page.
Go to Econ Department, click on Undergraduates. Find course web pages.
*Indicates optional readings.
Call No. for Urban Economics at Library: HT 100-400. Urban Transportation: HE 300.
Students can download journals from J. Storr. Go to Fondren, Click on to collections and go to Journal indexes and
databases. Click in to Journal. You can also go to journals online. Another valuable site is National Bureau of
Economic Research, NBER. Org. Go to work paper series.

1. Introduction and Course Overview:
Brief description of course.
(a) AS: Ch. 1.
(b) *WB: Ch. 1.

2. Why and Where Do Cities Develop:
Comparative Advantage, Scale Economics, Agglomerative Economics in Production, Economies of localization
(a) AS: Ch. 2, 3.

3. Cities In History: The History of Western Urbanization
Producing areas.
(a) Edward Glaeser “Reinventing Boston: 1640-2003”, NBER 10166.
(b) Edward Glaeser “Urban Colossus: Why New York America’s Largest City”, NBER 11398.
(c) *WB: Ch. 2.
(d) *William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West.

(e) Paul Bairoch, Cities and Economic Development.
(f) *Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier.

4. Introduction to Economic Geography and Regional Growth:
The concept of economic regions, the export base model, comparative advantage of regions and models of
interregional trade and development; trends in interregional income differentials and cost considerations in
interregional shifts; does the population follow jobs or do jobs follow population movements? Economic-Base
Theory.
(a) AS: Ch. 5.
(b) WB: Ch. 4, 7, 8.
(c) Paul Krugman, "Cities in Space: Three Simple Models."
(d) Edward Glaeser, “Cities, regions and the Decline of Transportation Costs”, NBER 9886.
(e) Paul Krugman, Geography and Trade, sections to be assigned.
(f) M-H, Ch. 2.
(g) *P. Mieszkowski, "Recent Trends in Regional Development"; in Peter M, p. 3.

5. System of Cities and the Urban Hierarchy (Central Place Theory and A Hierarchy of Central Places):
Determinates of relative size of urban areas; the rank-size rule
(a) AS: Ch. 4.
(b)*WB: Ch. 3.

6. Optimal City Size - Pollution and Congestion:
Are large cities too large?; reasons for very large cities in developing countries; the relationship between city size
and the quality of life.
(a) M-H: Ch. 16.
(b) Edward Glaeser, “Are Cities Dying?”
(c) AS: Ch. 4.
(d) Alberto Ades and Edward Glaeser, “Trade Circuses: Explaining Urban Giants”.

7. Theoretical Analysis of Urban Structure - the Monocentric Model:
Analysis of land as a factor of production and different theories of economic rent; the central business district (CBD)
and the location of firms and households relative to the CBD; the rent offer curve and an explanation of why the
land rent function is so steep; why do high-income households tend to locate in the suburbs?
(a) AS: Ch. 6, 7, 9.
(b) M-H: Ch. 5-6.

8. Multi-Centered Cities - The Suburbanization of Employment or Edge City:
A comparison with Europe.
(a) AS: Ch. 7.
(b) P. Mieszkowski and Barton Smith, "Analyzing Urban Decentralization: The Case of Houston."
(c) Edward Glaeser, “Sprawl and Urban Growth”, NBER 9733
(d) *Joel Garreau, Edge City.
(e) *Anthony Downs, "Contrasting Strategies for the Economic Development of Metropolitan Areas: A Comparison
of Europe and the United States."

9. Empirical Investigations of Changes in Urban Structure - Suburbanization:
Statistical estimates of urban population densities - emphasis is on explaining changes in density over time;
explanations include changes in technology (transportation costs) and central city decay or "blight"; analysis of
housing market, filtering models in which old housing is allowed to deteriorate; analysis of neighborhood effects.
(a) M-H: Ch. 7.
(b) P. Mieszkowski and E. Mills, "The Cause of Metropolitan Suburbanization."

10. Urban Transportation:
Relative cost of automobiles versus public transit; the effects of transportation on urban structures; congestion tolls
and efficient highway investment effects of congestion on urban form and allocation of land; studies of the benefits
of additional highway investments; analysis of the effects of federal spending on local transportation.
(a) AS: 10, 11.
(b) M-H: Ch. 1-13.
(c)* Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez and Kenneth A. Small, "Road Pricing for Congestion Management: A Survey of
International Practice."
(d) *A. Downs, "Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak Hour Traffic."
(e) Other readings to be assigned.

11. The Economics of Housing, Zoning and Urban Renewal:
Determinants of the cost of housing; rationales for land use regulation, zoning law in practice, suburban zoning and
housing supply. Public interventions in housing markets.
(a) AS: Ch. 9, 13, 14.
(b) Edward Glaeser, “Why is Manhattan So Expensive?”, NBER 10124.
(c) Edward Glaeser, “Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?”, NBER 11129..
(d) *W. Fischel, The Economics of Zoning Laws, a comprehensive book on zoning.
(e) *W. Fischel, Regulatory Takings.

12. Models of Local Government
Analysis of system of state and local governments; the fiscal problems of central cities, competition between
governments and migration between communities; zoning, economic efficiency, and the effects of the local property
tax.
(a) AS: Ch. 8, 15, 16.
(b). B. Hamilton, "Zoning and Property Taxation in a System of Local Government."

13. Education and Inequality:
The education production function, peer group effects, public versus private schools, the role of teachers, the role of
class size, decline of test scores, spending inequalities and equalization policies, desegregation and busing. The
likely effects of educational vouchers and charter schools.
(a) AS: Ch. 8.
(b) V. Henderson, "Peer Group Effects and Educational Production Function."
(c) Other readings to be assigned.

14. The Problems of Urban Poverty and Ghettoization:
Demography of poverty, race and poverty, the relationship between racial segregation in housing and black-white
earning differentials. The spatial mismatch hypothesis.
(a) AS: Ch. 13.
(b) Jeffrey Kling, “Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects”, NBER 11577.
(c) *Yinger, John, "Closed Doors Opportunities Lost: The Cost of Housing Discrimination".
(d) *P. Mieszkowski, "Studies of Prejudice and Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets," Federal Reserve Bank
of Boston Special Study.
(e) *J. Yinger, " Prejudice and Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets," in Peter M., p. 430.
(f) *J. F. Kain, "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: Three Decades Later," An important review of a large literature.
(g) Mills-Lubuele, "Inner Cities."
(h) *Cutler, David and Edward L. Glaeser, "Are Ghettos Good or Bad?", Quarterly Journal of Economics, August
1997.
(i) *U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "What We Know About Mortgage Lending
Discrimination In America", Sept. 1999.
(j) *Munnell, Alicia, "Mortgage Lending In Boston", American Economic Review, March 1996.

15. Crime and Punishment:
Crime facts, the victims of crime, crime and the price of housing, the supply of crime, victim costs and prevention
cost, unemployment and crime, police issues, evidenc of deterrence. Is Crime Lower in the Suburbs?
(a) AS: Ch. 12.
(b) *R. Freeman, “Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Can We do About It?”
Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Winter 1996), pp. 25-42.
(c) *R. Freeman, "Crime and the Economic Status of Disadvantaged Young Men." Other readings can be found in
the references provided by Sullivan.

16. Environmental Issues:
Trends in air quality - across cities. Problems and control of toxic waste, water quality - contribution of automobile
to environmental problems. Benefit - costs analysis of environmental protection.
(a) Tietenberg, Tom, "Environmental and Natural Resource Economics." Chp.18 is on regulating the automobile.
(b) M-H: Ch. 15.
(c) Matthew Kahn, “Green Cities” – on course webpage

Annotated Bibliography
1. Sections of three textbooks are used. The main text, Sullivan, has solid chapters on urban theory and is especially
good on a wide range of applied topics. Bogart, the newest book, is best on inter-metropolitan trade, agglomeration
and metropolitan growth. Chapters 7 and 8 are especially useful. Also, there are a number of interesting descriptive
tables in the first several chapters. Mills-Hamilton is strong on analysis of urban structure - consult chapters 6, 7,
and 16.
2. The short book by Paul Krugman, Geography and Trade is excellent and is required. Details on specific pages
will be provided.
3. There are a number of excellent books on urban history. Paul Bairoch's, Cities and Economic Development starts
with the beginning of urbanism in the old and new worlds, surveys the history of Europe from the fifth century,
through the industrial revolution, and beyond; and ends with a discussion of the urban explosion in developing
countries. Kenneth Jackson's, Crabgrass Frontier, studies the Suburbanization of the United States. William
Cronon's, Nature Metropolis, discusses the development of Chicago during the 19th century with emphasis on the
importance of meat, lumber, and wheat. The book is of special interest because of its emphasis on the importance of
economies of scale.
4. Persons interested in real estate should consult a recent book, Urban Economics and Real Estates Markets, by
Denise DiPasquale and William C. Weaton.
5. Joel Garreau, in Edge City discusses the new city form of large developments of commercial and industrial
buildings on the edge of metropolitan areas.
6. Books on the economic development of Houston, include Houston by Robert D. Thomas and Richard W. Murray,
and Free Enterprise City by Joe R. Feagin
7. Legal approaches to land use regulation including; The Economics of Zoning Laws, and Regulatory Takings by
William A. Fischel; Takings by Richard A Epstein and Regulation for Revenue by Alan A. Alshuler and Jose A.
Gomez-Ibanez.
8. A leading scholar on poverty and the underclass is Christopher Jencks. Consult his, Rethinking Social Policy and
The Homeless. Also, Poor Support by David T. Ellwood. On the homeless also see: Brendan O’Flaherty, Making
Room: The Economics of Homelessness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
9. The leading researcher on economics of education is Eric A. Hanushek. See his Making Schools Work.

10. For comparative work see Urban Change in the United States and Western Europe by Anita A. Summers and
Paul Cheshire.
11. A classic critique of city planning and urban renewal in the United States is Jane Jacobs', The Death and Life of
Great American Cities, 1961.
12. Anthony Downs was prominent in designing policies to deal with the "urban crisis" during the 1960's and early
1970's. See his book, Urban Problems and Prospects. More recently he has written, Stuck in Traffic, a book on
congestion and problems associated with the automobile and, New Visions, which argues for a more centralized
system of land-use regulation and a denser, more compact form of urban development for the United States.
13. Data. There are numerous sources of data on urban areas, national and local. National data can be found in the
U.S. Bureau of Census', Statistical Abstract of the United States, annual issue. Also, various issues of the County
and City Date Book, and the States and Metropolitan Area Data Book, and the decennial censuses, from which small
areas (tract) data is available for major cities.
14. The two leading journals on urban economics are Journal of Urban Economics, HT 123.A669, Journal of
Regional Science and Urban Economics, HT 390.R382. Also, see Urban Studies, HT 101.U75 and Journal of Urban
History, HT 111.J6.
15. The periodical Public Interest has numerous articles on urban issues and urban policy including the homeless,
drugs and crime, issues of race and ethnicity, welfare reform, education, and so forth.

Topics of Special Current Interest
1. The Problem of Urban Sprawl. This is closely related to the Smart Growth Movement which attempts to increase
residential densities and to stem sprawl. Closely related to Environmental Issues and Transportation Planning.
2. Improving Education. There is a wide spread movement to improve Public Schools and to provide alternatives to
Public Schools. School vouchers and Charter Schools are two such alternatives. There is vast literature on these
issues. Closely related is the literature dealing with equalizing per-pupil expenditures across rich and poor school
districts.
3. Growth in Cities. Recent theories of economic growth have stressed the role of technological spillovers in
generating growth. As knowledge spillovers are particularly effective in cities growth on industries in different cities
allow us to test some of these theories.
4. Spatial Economics and Economic Geography. During the last 10 years - Economic Geography has been
extensively studied. The first part of the course deals with some of these issues - and there are a large number of
suitable paper topics in this area.
5. Dealing with Congestion in Urban Areas. Cities throughout the world are becoming increasingly congested. A
number of cities, including Singapore and Hong Kong have introduced congestion pricing. This approach and
alternatives solution of the congestion problem is a topic of current interest.
6. Crime: Determinants and Explanation for Falling Crime Rates. Why have crime rates declined in the U.S. during
the last ten years?
7. The Effect of Zoning on Housing Price. Why are housing prices in California and New York so expensive? This
is a hot topic.

8. Houston Area Topics Include:
(a) Evaluation of Houston Rail. Also, Evaluation of Proposed Expansions of Rail System.
(b) Success of Downtown Redevelopment.
(c) Success of Redevelopment within Inner Loop.
(d) Eval