Urban Economics

(2.5-3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What determines how cities develop? How do governments impact the location decisions of households and firms? You use economic theories to understand the choices facing local governments on current issues such as public good provision, education, childcare, public transit, housing, crime, taxation, incentives for businesses, sustainability, and local finance. This course provides you with an insight into the structure and local expectations towards the role of the government in the economy using Copenhagen and other major European cities as case studies. PF - Paris, France (Sci Po) This is an advanced class considering the economic forces that govern the geographic distribution of economic activity and its implications for economic outcomes and public policy issues. The course is divided into two parts. In the first part, we will develop a simple theory of cities as the result of the interaction between agglomeration and congestion forces. We will proceed to study in detail the agglomeration forces that attract firms, consumers, and workers to cities, as well as the congestion forces that limit the size of cities and how to overcome them through transportation networks and housing markets. The second part of the course extends the basic model to study a system of many locations, the dynamics of city growth and decline, and to conclude, the role of cities and geography for climate change.