URBAN ECONOMICS
MID-TERM EXAM
SOURCES: If you rely on sources other than the
textbooks for the course, you must give complete bibliographic citations.
PART A: Answer
any 5 of the questions A.1 – A.7. Do not answer additional questions. This part
is worth 15% of the exam.
Briefly define
and give a specific example of:
A.1. Scale
economies in connection with urban economics (i.e., related to land use,
housing, or firm location)
A.2. Pecuniary
agglomeration economies
A.3.
Technological agglomeration economies
A.4. Retail
agglomeration economies
A.5.
Externalities
A.6. ceteris
paribus assumption
A.7. A numeraire
good
PART B: Answer
any 3 of the questions B.1 – B.5. Do not answer additional questions. This part
is worth 30% of the exam.
B.1. Derive
(using graphical or algebraic methods) the housing-price curve in the standard
[textbook] case.
B.2. What
conclusions about the shape of the housing price curve, the slope of the
housing price curve, and total expenditures on housing (total rent) are
supported by the Simple Urban Model?
B.3. Explain how
the edge of the city is determined in the Simple Urban Model.
B.4. What is the
effect of a higher t (marginal cost of commuting) on the allocation of land to
housing and farming in Brueckner’s Simple Urban Model?
B.5. Why do the
poor reside closer to the CBD in Brueckner’s Simple Urban Model?
B.6. What
externalities do water projects exhibit?
Does this justify the high degree of government intervention in water
projects? Explain.
PART C: Answer
only 1 of the questions C.1 – C.4. Do not answer additional questions. This
part is worth 55% of the exam.
C.1. Glaeser
suggests that there is a correlation between productivity and the size of a
metropolitan area. How would you go about testing this claim? Be specific about
the data and methods you would apply. Identify the potential weaknesses in the
approach you suggest.
C.2. Glaeser says
that “Cities thrive when they have many small firms and skilled citizens.” How
would you go about testing this claim? Be specific about the data and methods
you would apply. Identify the potential weaknesses in the approach you suggest.
C.3. How does
Florida define the “creative class”? How can members of the creative class be
empirically identified? That is, can you describe members of the creative class
with observable characteristics, such as educational attainment, occupation,
income, etc. What would such a measure
of membership in the creative class look like?
C.4. Ehrenhalt
describes the transformation of Gwinnett County (suburban Atlanta) in the 1990s
(Chapter 4 “The New Suburbia”) into an enclave of immigrants. What forces led to the creation of the
enclave and what forces sustained the emergent enclave?
