Economics 341 001 Urban and Regional Economics

Economics 341 – 001

Urban and Regional Economics

Professor Bryan Snyder

Bentley University Fall 2019

General Course Information Days, Time, Location and Dates

Tuesdays & Fridays

11:00am => 12:20pm

Room: Lindsay 26B

Professor: Bryan Snyder

Office: Rm G274 Adamian

Office Hours: Mondays 11:00 => 12:20pm Thursdays 11:00 => 12:20pm

Office Phone: #781-891-2446

E-mail address: [email protected]

Website: http://blackboard.bentley.edu/

Course Overview

This course analyzes the very real economic forces that determine where and how cities

develop and grow and the subsequent issues that arise from their existence. At the nexus where

economics meets geography, we will explore the practical location decisions of individuals and

firms at length in this class as well as how land and housing prices are determined in a regional

economy. Of immediate concern will be a number of pressing issues for the City of Boston and

the State of Massachusetts in the areas of economic development, housing and transportation.

When we have established our primary analytical tools we then turn our attention to the

particularly timely and interesting areas of urban, suburban and rural growth, transportation,

housing, congestion, sustainability, poverty, and crime using economic analysis to carefully

craft policy options.

This course has a very strong policy analysis and analytic writing component which will

facilitate our analysis of current regional and urban issues. This class is highly recommended

for anyone with an interest in applied economics, environmental economics, government,

planning and urban sociology.

Prerequisites

This course necessitates the student having taken: EC111 and EC112

Readings

There are Two required books for this course! The required textbook for the course is:

Urban Economics 9th Edition

By Arthur O'Sullivan Copyright: 2019

Loose Leaf: 464 pages

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education; 9 edition (January 25, 2018)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 126046542X

ISBN-13: 978-1260465426

We then have this little “oddity” that we shall critically consume:

Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us

Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

Jan 31, 2012

by Edward Glaeser

Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (January 31, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780143120544

ISBN-13: 978-0143120544

https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/0078021782.html#authorbio-tab

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143120549/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143120549/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Paperback with free ebook

Title Planet of Slums

Author By Mike Davis

Publisher Verso - January

2017

ISBN ISBN: 9781784786618

Paperback with free ebook Title Extreme Cities

Author By Ashley Dawson

Publisher Verso - January 2019

ISBN ISBN: 9781784780395

Blackboard Postings and Resource Files

Extensive readings and case studies will be provided and or posted on

Blackboard.

Multimedia

This course will extensively utilize Blackboard for supplemental readings and Text

provided PowerPoint presentations on each chapter along with chapter notes.

McGraw-Hill has a lovely little resource site for our text:

http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0078021782/information_center_view0/index.html

Class Decorum

Punctuality: I expect you to arrive promptly for class, prepared. In fact, I will insist

upon this.

Cell phones will be turned off, as I reserve the right to answer any ringing phone in my

classroom. Texting in this class is a “CLM.” (Career Limiting Maneuver)

Laptop Computers and Tablets/Pads: I do not allow laptops or tablets to be used in

my classroom.….No Laptops. Take copious handwritten notes.

Bentley Honor Code

As a Bentley student, I promise to act honorably in my courses and my professional

endeavors, adhering to both the letter and spirit of Bentley’s academic integrity system. I will

neither take advantage of my classmates nor betray the trust of my professors. My work will

be honest and transparent, and I will hold myself and my peers accountable to the highest

ethical standards.

Grading Policy

Exams & Homework

Grades will be based on a midterm and a final exam. The Midterm will be held on: October 29th.

The Final Exam will be held on Tuesday December 17th from 8:00am =>

10:00am.

Each exam will cover the material presented up to the time of the exam from the text,

the class lecture (my own), and the readings handed out in class and or posted on

Blackboard. Students are expected to comply with the college's honor code.



Quizzes

Quizzes will only occur in a punitive fashion if students are not prepared for class and

are not covering the assigned material. I will have an initial Quiz on and O’Sullivan’s

assumptions/axioms of Urban Economics along with Bluestone’s “Tools of the

Trade.” You should also be familiar with the Tilly 8 Assumptions for perfectly

function markets.

Attendance

Is mandatory. We have a great deal of material, thus, it is vital that you

attend each and every class….prepared. There is a great amount of material

that I will be covering in this class that is not found in the textbook, and thus, your

attendance is proportionate to your desire to actually pass this course. You are permitted

THREE absences. After that I begin reducing your grade for each additional absence.

Please come to class prepared to participate. You must also have read the assigned

material BEFORE each lecture as I will be referring to the text but often times

diverging from it. You are responsible for all of the assigned reading. You don’t attend

this class. You don’t receive a passing grade. Simple as that. Disability Services:

Bentley University abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities

Act of 1990 which stipulate no student shall be denied the benefits of an education solely by reason of a disability.

If you have a hidden or visible disability which may require classroom accommodations, please call the Office of

Disability Services within the first 4 weeks of the semester to schedule an appointment The Office of Disability

Services is located in the Office of Academic Services (JEN 336, 781.891.2004).The Office of Disability

Services is responsible for managing accommodations and services for all students with disabilities.

Class Calendar Urban and Regional Economics

ECONOMICS 341-001

Fall 2019 Bentley University

Instructor: Prof. Bryan Snyder Lecture time: Tuesdays & Fridays 11:00am => 12:20pm

Tuesday Friday August 27th

Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -8th edition!

Chapter 1: Introduction and Axioms of Urban

Economics (Handout from O’Sullivan’s 8th

edition)

Analytical Assumptions & Axioms

Appendix: Tools of Microeconomics – (8th

edition)

August 30th




edition)



edition)

September 3rd




edition)



edition)

Quiz warning! Next class O’Sullivan’s

Axioms!

September 6th

Quiz- O’Sullivan’s

Axioms – (8th edition) Plus

…Bluestone’s “Tools of the Trade.”

Urban Economics - O'Sullivan Krugman – “Centripetal vs.

“Centrifugal”

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/arthur-osullivan




September 10th

Part II: Market Forces in the Development of

Cities

Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -9th! Chapter 9: First Cities

Ibn Khaldun - Cities


Cities

Chapter 3: Trading and Factory Towns

Triumph of the City: Glaeser

September 13th


Cities

Urban Economics - O'Sullivan- 9th! Chapter 4: Agglomeration Economies

Why Do Firms Cluster?

Megacities

Welcome to Megacity...

By Victor Mallet

Mike Davis

PLANET OF SLUMS Urban Involution and the Informal Proletariat – New Left Review 26 Mar./Apr. 2004

Mike Davis

Slum Ecology Poverty’s Niche in the Ecology of the City – Orion March/April 2006



September 17th

Chapter 5: Where Do Cities Develop?

Transportation Cost Model


Urban America from the Seventeenth

Century to the Early Twentieth Century:

The Dynamics of City Growth

Types of Cities.

Why Do Firms Cluster?

Where Do Firms Locate? (PDF) Arthur O’Sullivan

September 20th


Cities

Urban Economics - O'Sullivan

Chapter 6: Consumer Cities and Central

Places

Harvard General Store

Chapter 7: Cities in a Regional Economy

September 24th


Cities


Chapter 8: Urban Labor Market


Boston: What would happen to

Boston if all of the students

suddenly left?

Experts say it wouldn’t end well. November 29,

2015 | 11:50 AM By Emily Anderson

September 27th

Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing


Chapter 10: Land Rent and Manufacturing

Land

Bid Rent Curves

Introduction to Land Rent (PDF)

Arthur O’Sullivan

Cyrus Bina – Cyrus Bina

Some controversies in

the development of rent

theory: the nature of oil

rent

The Alonso Model

“Own the Alonso Bid-Rent Model!!!!”




October 1st



Chapter 10: Land Rent and Manufacturing

Land

Bid Rent Curves

Introduction to Land Rent (PDF)

Arthur O’Sullivan

Cyrus Bina – Cyrus Bina

Some controversies in

the development of rent

theory: the nature of oil

rent

The Alonso Model

October 4th



Chapter 11: Office Space and Tall Buildings

The Alonso Model – With Substitution!

(Marxian Differential Rent II)



October 8th



Chapter 12: Housing Prices and Residential

Land Use

Chapter 13: Spatial Distribution of

Employment and Residence

October 11th



Local Agriculture and The

Bid-Rent Function:

The Case of Massachusetts

October 15th

October Break!

Woooo Hooooo!

No Class!

No Class Whatsoever!

October 18th



Chapter 14: The Monocentric City and Urban

General Equilibrium

Chapter 15: Neighborhoods




October 22nd



Chapter 16: Land Use Policy

Chapter 17: Urban Housing and Public Policy

The Making of Ferguson Public

Policies at the Root of its

Troubles

By Richard Rothstein | October 15, 2014

October 25th



Chapter 16: Land Use Policy

Chapter 17: Urban Housing and Public Policy

The Making of Ferguson

Public Policies at the Root of

its Troubles

By Richard Rothstein | October 15, 2014

October 29th

Exam No.#1

Midterm “BIG

ENCHILADA” Take-home

Exam is due!!!

November 1st

Part IV: Urban Transportation


Chapter 18: Cars and Roads

Urban Transportation

Externalities from Autos

November 5th

Part IV: Urban Transportation


Chapter 19: Urban Public Transit

Urban Transportation

November 8th

Part V: Local Government, Education, and

Crime

Chapters 20 & 21: Dropped

Chapter 22: Education


http://www.epi.org/people/richard-rothstein


http://www.epi.org/people/richard-rothstein



November 12th


Crime


Chapter 23: Crime and Public Policy

Crime

Freakonomics: “Where have all the

Criminal Gone.”

November 15th


Crime


Chapter 23: Crime and Public Policy

Crime Freakonomics: “Where have all the

Criminal Gone.”

November 19th

Global Cities & BREXIT

The Global City: introducing a Concept SASKIA

SASSEN Professor of Sociology University of

Chicago

BREXIT: (Capstone by Michael Durkin)

Will London Fall? BREXIT

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/11/

world/europe/uk-london-

brexit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage

&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-

spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-

news

November 22nd


San Francisco – Gentrification



https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/11/world/europe/uk-london-brexit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news







November 26th

Green line Extension:Somerville. Spatial

Mismatch and the Mass Transit Paradox

Capstone Projects by Tom Jantz &

Bryan Hardy

November 29th

Turkey Day!

December 3rd

Urbanization and Climate

December 6th


*Casino Gambling – Massachusetts


December 10th

READING DAY!!!!!!!!!

December 17th

Tuesday from 8:00am => 10:00am

FINAL EXAM

Economics 341 001 Urban and Regional Economics

Documents

Transcript of Economics 341 001 Urban and Regional Economics