The course considers the economics of urban and regional 
markets with an emphasis on location decisions of people and 
firms, growth and development of cities, optimal city size, 
transportation, housing markets, social problems, amenities, 
and quality of life. Public regulation and spending – including 
land use regulation, taxation, and local public services – will 
be studied from the perspective of local governments. Students 
will have the opportunity to use the tools of microeconomics to 
explain a variety of local economic phenomena; incorporate 
geography, maps, and spatial analysis into an economics class; 
apply the principles of the class to analyze real local 
policies and urban problems faced by specific cities around the 
world; and ponder why some people believe cities are our 
greatest invention.

Review of microeconomics and statistics
Location theory
The economic function of cities
Economic rents
The monocentric city model and empirical tests (The 
Alonso/Muth/Mills model)
Urban growth
Agglomeration 
City size
Economic development
Economic geography 
Real estate markets
Housing and housing policies
The hedonic approach to housing
Local labor markets
Sorting, quality of life and amenities (The Rosen/Robak/Albouy 
model)
Tiebout sorting
Zoning and regulations
The property tax
Local public finance
Municipal tax competition
Urban infrastructure
Urban transportation 
Urban social problems/poverty
Crime in urban areas
Empirical urban and regional economics