SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
ECN 741 – Urban Economics
Spring 2022
Professor Yinger
426 Eggers Hall
Phone: 315-443-9062
Email: joyinger@syr.edu
Class Location: Eggers 112
Class Time: 5:15-6:45 MW
Office Hours: 3:00-4:00 MW & Online by appointment
Class Slides
Basic Urban Model Exercises
References to Urban Models with More General Assumptions
Course Overview and Requirements
This course is an introduction to urban economics for Ph.D. students in economics. Models of urban residential structure form the core of the field of urban economics. A large share of the course, particularly at the beginning, is devoted to these models. The rest of the course covers conceptual and empirical literature on three other central topics in urban economics: urban housing markets, local public finance, and racial and ethnic discrimination in housing. Ph.D. level microeconomics is a prerequisite.
This course is part of a two-course sequence designed to prepare students for the comprehensive examination in urban and regional economics, although students are obviously welcome to take the course even if they do not plan to take this exam. The other half of this sequence is Economics 745, Regional Economics. Roughly speaking, this class examines economic issues within an urban area and ECN 745 examines economic issues that cut across urban areas along with selected topics in housing finance.
This course will be taught following the Syracuse University COVID guidelines. When this syllabus was prepared, the policy was to teach all classes in person with masks and social distancing for both students and teachers. All students will be expected to meet these guidelines—or future guidelines that replace them. online.
The required reading for this course is available on the internet either through links indicated in the syllabus or through the class’s Blackboard page.
Every student must (1) write a literature review on an urban topic, (2) submit a draft research paper on a topic of his or her choice, (3) submit a revised research paper, (4) present his or her research paper to the class, and (5) take a final exam. A student’s overall grade will be based on his or her grades for these five assignments, weighted as follows:
Literature review – 15%
Draft paper – 10%
Revised paper – 40%
Presentation – 15%
Final – 20%
Students are expected to meet the highest standards of academic integrity. For further guidance, please refer to the Syracuse University Academic Integrity Policy at: http://class.syr.edu/academic-integrity/policy/.
Any student requiring special arrangements because of a disability should make an appointment to see the professor. If you would like further information about the disability services offered by Syracuse University, please go to http://disabilityservices.syr.edu.
Reading List:
Key readings (i.e., readings important for the class exam or the comprehensive exam) are denoted with an asterisk (*). Other readings are for reference. They consist of examples of good recent research in urban economics, classic articles and books, survey articles, and articles by people connected with Syracuse. They also provide one good source of ideas for student research papers.
Many of the readings come from one of following five sources, each of which is listed with the abbreviation used on the reading list below:
- Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Vol. V., edited by G. Duranton, J.V. Henderson and W.C. Strange (Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2015), abbreviated HRUE-V.
- Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Vol. II, Urban Economics, edited by E.S. Mills (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1988), abbreviated HRUE-II;
- Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Vol. III, Applied Urban Economics, edited by P. Cheshire and E.S. Mills (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1999), abbreviated HRUE-III;
- Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Vol. IV, Cities and Geography, edited by J.V. Henderson and J. F. Thisse (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006), abbreviated HRUE-IV;
- Journal of Urban Economics, abbreviated JUE;
- Regional Science and Urban Economics, abbreviated RSUE;
Most of the articles on the reading list are available through e-journals at the Syracuse University Library web site. In addition, several articles are available through one of the e-books on my web site, particularly the e-book called Housing and Commuting: The Theory of Urban Residential Structure.
As it turns out Housing and Commuting has been published by World Scientific Publishers, and several chapters that are not published articles have been revised or added to this version. All the new or revised chapters are available on Blackboard. Do not read the old versions posted on my web site.
All the references in the reading list to Housing and Commuting refer to the published version, not the version on my website. Some perspective on both the journal articles and the previously unpublished material in Housing and Commuting is provided in its “Introduction,” which is available on the class Blackboard page.
An alternative but complementary look at urban models is provided by E.L. Glaeser in Cities, Agglomeration, and Spatial Equilibrium (Oxford University Press, 2008). The relevant sections (abbreviated by E.L. Glaeser, CASE) are indicated on the reading list below. (This book also contains material on agglomeration economies, which may prove useful for ECN745.)
The Urban Economics Association has posted a series of lectures by leading urban economists. These lectures can be found at: https://urbaneconomics.org/workshops/.
Readings
This reading list also serves as a (rough) class schedule, but some topics will spill over into two classes.
Topic 1: Urban Models 1: Basic Model of Urban Residential Spatial Structure
*J. Yinger. Housing and Commuting, Chapter 2, “The Basic Urban Model,” pp. 39-68. Available on the class Blackboard page.
J. Yinger. Housing and Commuting, Chapter 1, “Introduction to Urban Models,” pp. 3-38. Available on the class Blackboard page.
E.L. Glaeser, CASE, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, pp. 18-33.
G. Duranton and D. Puga. “Urban Land Use,” HRUE-V pp. 467-560
Some classics:
R.F. Muth, Cities and Housing (University of Chicago Press, 1969).
W. Alonso. Location and Land Use (Harvard University Press, 1964).
Topic 2: Urban Models 2: Comparative Static Analysis of the Basic Urban Model
*J. Yinger. Housing and Commuting, Chapter 2, “The Basic Urban Model,” pp. 68-71. Available on the class Blackboard page.
Y. Kwon. 2005. “Urban Comparative Statics When Commuting Cost Depends on Income,” Journal of Housing Economics, (March), pp. 48-56 (based on his Ph.D. Dissertation, Syracuse University, 2000). Available through e-journals at the SU library.
Topic 3: Urban Models 3: More General Treatment of the Demand for Housing
*J. Yinger, Housing and Commuting, Chapter 3, “The Demand for Housing,” pp. 89-96. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J.K. Brueckner. 1987. “The Structure of Urban Equilibria: A Unified Treatment of the Muth-Mills Model,” in HRUE-II, pp. 821-845.
W.C. Wheaton. 1974. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Urban Spatial Structure,” Journal of Economic Theory, pp. 223‑237.
Topic 4: Estimating the Demand for Housing
*J. Yinger, Housing and Commuting, Chapter 1.3, “The Demand for Housing,” pp. 96-104. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J.A. Zabel. 2004. “The Demand for Housing Services,” Journal of Housing Economics, (March), pp. 16-35. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
E.O. Olsen. 1987. “The Demand and Supply of Housing Services: A Critical Survey of the Empirical Literature,” in HRUE-II, pp. 989-1022.
A. Saiz, 2007. “Immigration and Housing Rents in American Cities,” JUE, (March), pp. 345-371. Available through the e-journals at the SU library.
Y.M. Iaonnides and J.E. Zabel. 2003. “Neighborhood Effects and Housing Demand,” Journal of Applied Econometrics, (September/October), pp. 563-584.
C. Rapaport. 1997. “Housing Demand and Community Choice: An Empirical Analysis,” JUE, (September), pp. 243-260.
J.V. Henderson and Y.M. Ioannides. 1989. “Dynamic Aspects of Consumer Decisions in Housing Markets,” JUE, (September), pp. 212-230.
A.C. Goodman. 1988. “An Econometric Model of Housing Price, Permanent Income, Tenure Choice, and Housing Demand,” JUE, (May), pp. 327‑53.
Topic 5: Estimating the Supply of Housing (Not covered in class)
A.C. Goodman. 2005. “Central Cities and Housing Supply: Growth and Decline in U.S. Cities,” Journal of Housing Economics, (December), pp. 315-333. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
J.P. Harding, S.S. Rosenthal and C.F. Sirmans. 2007. “Depreciation of Housing Capital, Maintenance, and House Price inflation: Estimates from a Repeat Sales Model,” JUE, (March), pp. 193–217. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
D. Epple, B. Gordon, and H. Sieg. 2010. “A New Approach to Estimating the Production Function for Housing,” American Economic Review, (June), pp. 905-924.
W.C. Wheaton, 1974. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Urban Spatial Structure,” Journal of Economic Theory, (October), pp. 223‑37.
E.L. Glaeser and J. Gyourko. 2005. “Urban Decline and Durable Housing,” Journal of Political Economy, (April), pp. 345-376.
D.P. Sims. 2007. “Out of control: What Can We Learn from the End of Massachusetts Rent Control?” JUE, (January), pp. 129-151.
S.S. Rosenthal and R.W. Helsley. 1994. “Redevelopment and the Urban Land Price Gradient,” JUE, (March), pp. 182-200. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
A.C. Helms. 2003. “Understanding Gentrification: An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Urban Housing Renovation,” JUE, (November), pp. 474-498. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
J.M. Gyourko and A. Saiz. 2004. “Reinvestment in the Housing Stock: the Role of Construction Costs and the Supply Side,” JUE, (March), pp. 238-256.
Y.M. Ioannides. 2002. “Residential Neighborhood Effects,” RSUE, (March), pp. 145-166.
N. Kutty. 1995. “A Dynamic Model of Landlord Reinvestment Behavior,” JUE, (March), pp. 212-238 (based on her PhD. Dissertation, Syracuse University, 1991).
R. Arnott. 1987. “Economic Theory and Housing,” in HRUE-II, pp. 959-988.
Topic 6: Urban Models 4: More General Treatment of the Urban Transportation System
*J. Yinger. 1993. “Around the Block: Urban Models with a Street Grid,” JUE, (May), pp. 305-330. Available on the class Blackboard page.
M.J. Delventhal, E. Kwon and A. Parkhomenko. Forthcoming. “JUE Insight: How Do Cities Change When We Work from Home?” Journal of Urban Economics.
Y. Kwon. 2002. “Rent-Commuting Cost Function Versus Rent-Distance Function,” Journal of Regional Science, (November), pp. 773-791 (based on his Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 2000). Available through e-journals at the SU library.
W.C. Wheaton. 1998. “Land Use and Density in Cities with Congestion,” JUE, (March), pp. 258-272.
N. Baum-Snow. 2007. “Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, (May), pp. 775-805. Available on the class Blackboard page.
A. Anas and L.M. Moses, 1979. “Mode Choice, Transport Structure and Urban Land Use,” JUE, (April), pp. 228‑46.
Topic 6: Discussion Class.
F. Ostermeijer, H. Koster, L. Nunes and J. van Ommeren. 2022. “Citywide Parking Policy and Traffic: Evidence from Amsterdam. Journal of Urban Economics 128 (March): 103418.
M. Tarduno. 2021. “The Congestion Costs of Uber and Lyft. Journal of Urban Economics 122 (March): 103318.
Topic 7: Urban Models 6: Urban Labor Markets and Suburban Employment
*M.J. White. 1999. “Urban Areas with Decentralized Employment: Theory and Empirical Work,” in HRUE-III, pp. 1375-1412. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J.J. Yankow. 2006. “Why Do Cities Pay More? An Empirical Examination of Some Competing Theories of the Urban Wage Premium,” JUE, (September), pp. 139-161. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
E.L. Glaeser. CASE, Chapter 2, pp. 40-46.
C.H. Wheeler. 2006. “Cities and the Growth of Wages Among Young Workers: Evidence from the NLSY,” JUE, (February), pp. 162-184. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
R.E. Lucas, Jr. and E. Rossi-Hansberg. 2002. “On the Internal Structure of Cities,” Econometrica, (July), pp. 1445-1476.
D. Timothy and W. C. Wheaton. 2001. “Intra-Urban Wage Variation, Employment Location, and Commuting Times,” JUE, (September), pp. 338-366.
S.L. Ross. 1996. “The Long-Run Effect of Economic Development Policy on Resident Welfare in a Perfectly Competitive Urban Economy,” JUE, (November), pp. 354-380 (based on one essay from his Ph.D. Dissertation, Syracuse University, 1994).
S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 1995. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Open Urban Models with a Full Labor Market and Suburban Employment,” RSUE, (October), pp. 575-605. Available on the class Blackboard page.
J. Yinger. 1992. “City and Suburb: Urban Models with More than One Employment Center,” JUE, (March), pp.181-205.
Topic 8: Urban Models 5: Household Heterogeneity and Sorting
*J. Yinger, Housing and Commuting, Chapter 7, “Normal Sorting.” Available on the class Blackboard page.
* Yinger, John. 2021. “The Price of Access to Jobs: Bid-Function Envelopes for Commuting Costs.” Journal of Housing Economics 51 (March): 1-14. Read pages 1-3.
*E.L. Glaeser, M.E. Kahn and J. Rappaport. 2008. “Why Do the Poor Live in Cities? The Role of Public Transportation,” JUE, (January), pp. 1-24. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
N. Baum-Snow and D. Hartley. 2020. “Accounting for Central Neighborhood Change, 1980–2010,” JUE 117.
E.L. Glaeser. CASE, Chapter 2, pp. 18-33, and Chapter 5, pp. 165-175.
A. Hardman and Y.M. Ioannides. 2004. “Neighbors Income Distribution: Economic Segregation and Mixing in US Urban Neighborhoods,” Journal of Housing Economics, (December), pp. 368-382.
S.S. Rosenthal and S.L. Ross, “Change and Persistence in the Economic Status of Neighborhoods and Cities,” HRUE-V, pp. 1047-1119.
Topic 9: Empirical Tests of Urban Models
* Yinger, John. 2021. “The Price of Access to Jobs: Bid-Function Envelopes for Commuting Costs.” Journal of Housing Economics 51 (March): 1-14. Read pages 3-13.
N.E. Coulson. 1991. “Really Useful Tests of the Monocentric Model,” Land Economics, (August), pp.299-307. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
E.L. Glaeser and M.E. Kahn. 2006. “Sprawl and Urban Growth,” in HRUE IV, pp 2481-2527.
K.A. Small and S. Song. 1994. “Population and Employment Densities: Structure and Change,” JUE, (November), pp. 292-313.
D.P. McMillen.1996. “One Hundred Fifty Years of Land Values in Chicago: A Nonparametric Approach,” JUE, (July), pp. 100-124.
Topic 10: Urban Models 7: Neighborhood Amenities
*A.M. Polinsky and S. Shavell. 1976. “Amenities and Property Values in a Model of an Urban Area,” Journal of Public Economics, (January/February), pp. 119-129. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J. Yinger. 1976. “Racial Prejudice and Racial Residential Segregation in an Urban Model,” JUE, (October), pp. 383-396. Available on the class Blackboard page.
E.L. Glaeser. CASE, Chapter 2, pp. 37-40, and Chapter 4, pp. 188-203.
K.A. Kiel and M. Williams. 2007. “The Impact of Superfund Sites on Local Property Values: Are all Sites the Same?” JUE, (January), pp. 170-192. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
D.P. McMillen. 2004. “Airport Expansions and Property Values: The case of Chicago O’Hare Airport,” JUE, (May), pp. 627-640.
K.Y. Chay and M. Greenstone. 2005. “Does Air Quality Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market,” Journal of Political Economy, (April), pp. 376-425.
Topic 11: Local Government Finance 1: Bidding
*S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance,” in HRUE-III, Read pages. 2002-2006. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J. Yinger. Housing and Commuting, Chapter 13, “Bidding and Sorting,” Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J. Yinger. 2015. “Hedonic Markets and Sorting Equilibria: Bid Function Envelopes for Public Services and Amenities,” JUE, (March), pp. 1-11. Available at https://joyinger.expressions.syr.edu/
J. Yinger, Video Explanation of Bidding and Sorting. Available at: https://joyinger.expressions.syr.edu/videos/
Here are some classics:
C. Tiebout. 1956. “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures,” Journal of Political Economy, (October), pp. 416-424.
W.E. Oates. 1969. “The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: An Empirical Study of Tax Capitalization and the Tiebout Hypothesis,” Journal of Political Economy, (November/December), pp. 957-971. (See also the exchange between Pollakowski and Oates, JPE, July/August 1973.)
Topic 12: Local Government Finance 2: Sorting
*S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance,” in HRUE-III, pp. 2006-2030 and 2042-2053. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J. Yinger. 2015. “Hedonic Markets and Sorting Equilibria,” JUE, (March), pp. 11-13. Available at https://joyinger.expressions.syr.edu/
J. Yinger. 2015. “Hedonic Equilibria in Housing Markets: The Case of One-to-One Matching,” Journal of Housing Economics 29 (September), pp. 1-11.
E.L. Glaeser. CASE, Chapter 6.
C.A.M. de Bartolome and S.L. Ross. 2003. “Equilibria with Local Governments and Commuting: Income Sorting vs Income Mixing,” JUE, (July), pp. 1-20.
D. Epple, R. Filimon, and T. Romer. 1984. “Equilibrium among Local Jurisdictions: Toward an Integrated Treatment of Voting and Residential Choice,” Journal of Public Economics, (August), pp. 281-308.
D. Epple and G. Platt. 1998. “Equilibrium and Local Redistribution in an Urban Economy When Households Differ by Preferences and Income,” JUE, (January), pp. 23-51.
Topic 13. Hedonic Models: Step 1.
*S. Rosen. 1974. “Hedonic Markets and Implicit Prices,” Journal of Political Economy, (January/February), pp. 34-55.
*Review Yinger (2015) under topics 11 and 12.
S. Sheppard. 1999. “Hedonic Analysis of Housing Markets,” in HRUE-III. Available on the class Blackboard page.
Topic 14: Hedonic Models: Step 2.
*J. Yinger. 2015. “Hedonic Markets and Sorting Equilibria,” JUE, (March), pp. 14-15. Available at https://joyinger.expressions.syr.edu/
*J. Yinger and P. Nguyen-Hoang. 2016. “Hedonic Vices: Fixing Inferences about Willingness to Pay in Recent House-Value Studies,” Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 7 (Summer). Available on the class Blackboard page.
L.O. Taylor. 2008. “Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Developments in Hedonic Modeling,” In Hedonic Methods in Housing Markets: Pricing Environmental Amenities and Segregation, edited by Andrea Baranzini, José Ramirez, Caroline Schaerer, and Philippe Thalmann (New York: Springer), pp. 15-54.
A. Shertzer, T. Twinam and R.P. Walsh. 2018. “Zoning and the Economic Geography of Cities,” Journal of Urban Economics 105 (May): 20–39
P. Bayer, F. Ferreira, R. McMillan. 2007. “A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods,” Journal of Political Economy, (August), pp. 558-638.
P. Bajari and M.E. Kahn. 2005. “Estimating Housing Demand with an Application to Explaining Racial Segregation in Cities,” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, (January), pp. 20-33.
D. Epple, M. Peress, and H. Sieg. 2010. “Identification and Semiparametric Estimation of Equilibrium Models of Local Jurisdiction,” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 2, 2(4) (November), pp. 195–220.
Topic 15: Local Government Finance 3: Property Tax Capitalization
*J. Yinger. Housing and Commuting, Chapter 14, “Property Tax Capitalization.” Available on the class Blackboard page.
*S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance,” in HRUE-III, pp. 2030-2033. Available on the class Blackboard page.
S.S. Rosenthal and C. deBartolomé. 1999. “Property Tax Capitalization in a Model with Tax Deferred Assets and Standard Deductions,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, (February), pp. 85-95.
J. Yinger, H.S. Bloom, A. Boersch‑Supan, and H.F. Ladd. 1988. Property Taxes and House Values: The Theory and Estimation of Intrajurisdictional Property Tax Capitalization, (Academic Press).
Topic 16: Local Government Finance 4: Public Service Capitalization
*P. Nguyen-Hoang and J. Yinger. 2011. “The Capitalization of School Quality into House Values: A Review,” Journal of Housing Economics, (March), pp. 30-48. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*J. Yinger. 2015. “Hedonic Markets and Sorting Equilibria,” JUE, (March), pp. 15-24. Available at https://joyinger.expressions.syr.edu/
S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance,” in HRUE-III, pp. 2033-37. Available on the class Blackboard page.
Read at least one of the following:
V. La. 2015. “Capitalization of School Quality into Housing Prices: Evidence from Boston Public School District Walk Zones,” Economics Letters 134: 102–106.
C.A. Collins and E.K. Kaplan. 2017. “Capitalization of School Quality in Housing Prices: Evidence from Boundary Changes in Shelby County, Tennessee,” American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 107 (5): 628–632.
A. Bogin and P. Nguyen-Hoang. 2014. “Property Left Behind: An Unintended Consequence of a No Child Left Behind ‘Failing’ School Designation,” Journal of Regional Science, (November), pp. 788-805. Available on the class Blackboard page.
P. Dhar and S.L. Ross. 2012. “School District Quality and Property Values: Examining Differences along School District Boundaries,” JUE, (January), pp. 18-25. Available on the class Blackboard page.
S. Gibbons, S. Machin, and O. Silva. 2013. “Valuing School Quality using Boundary Discontinuities,” JUE, (May), pp. 15-28. Available on the class Blackboard page.
E. Brunner, S. Cho, and R. Reback. 2012. “Mobility, Housing Markets, and Schools: Estimating the Effects of Inter-district Choice Programs,” Journal of Public Economics, (August), pp. 604-614. Available on the class Blackboard page.
J.M. Clapp, A. Nanda, and S.L. Ross. 2008. “Which school attributes matter? The influence of school district performance and demographic composition on property values,” JUE, (March), pp. 451-466.
J. Ries, T. Somerville. 2010. “School Quality and Residential Property Values: Evidence from Vancouver Rezoning,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, (November), pp. 928-944. (Available on journal web site.)
E. Andreyeva and C. Patrick. 2017. “Paying for Priority in School Choice: Capitalization Effects of Charter School Admission Zones,” JUE 100 (July): 19-32.
Topics 13 through 16: Discussion Class
Davis, Lucas W. 2004. “The Effect of Health Risk on Housing Values: Evidence from a Cancer Cluster,” The American Economic Review 94 (5) (December): 1693-1704.
Taylor, Laura O. , Daniel J. Phaneuf , and Xiangping Liu. 2016. “Disentangling Property Value Impacts of Environmental Contamination from Locally Undesirable Land Uses: Implications for Measuring Post-Cleanup Stigma,” Journal of Urban Economics 93: 85–98.
Kiel, Katherine A., and Michael Williams. 2007. “The Impact of Superfund Sites on Local Property Values: Are All Sites the Same? Journal of Urban Economics 61 (2007): 170–192.
Topic 17: Local Government Finance 5: Cost/Efficiency Equations (Not covered in class)
W. Duncombe and J. Yinger. 2011. “Are Education Cost Functions Ready for Prime Time? An Examination of their Validity and Reliability,” Peabody Journal of Education, 86(1), pp. 28-57. Available on the class Blackboard page.
W. Duncombe and J. Yinger. 2005. “How Much More Does a Disadvantaged Student Cost?” Economics of Education Review, (October), pp. 513-532. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
A. Reschovsky and J. Imazeki. 2003. “Let No Child Be Left Behind: Determining the Cost of Improving Student Performance,” Public Finance Review, (May), pp. 263-290.
T. Downes and T. Pogue. 1994. “Adjusting School Aid Formulas for the Higher Cost of Educating Disadvantaged Students,” National Tax Journal, (March), pp. 89-110.
D. Bradford. R. A. Malt, W. E. Oates. 1969. “The Rising Cost of Local Public Services: Some Evidence and Reflections,” National Tax Journal, (June), pp. 185-202. Available on the class Blackboard page.
Topic 18: Local Government Finance 6: Demand Equations (Not covered in class)
P. Nguyen-Hoang and J. Yinger. 2020. “The Flypaper Effect: Methods, Magnitudes, and Mechanisms.” Journal of Education Finance 46 (2) (Fall): 158-188.
S.L. Ross and J. Yinger, 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance,” in HRUE-III, pp. 2037-2042. Available on the class Blackboard page.
T.H. Eom, W. Duncombe, P. Nguyen-Hoang, J. Yinger. 2014. “The Unintended Consequences of Property Tax Relief: New York State’s STAR Program,” Education Finance and Policy, (Fall), pp. 446-480.
W. Duncombe and J. Yinger, 1998. “School Finance Reform: Aid Formulas and Equity Objectives,” National Tax Journal, (June), pp. 239-262. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
G.S. Goldstein and M.V. Pauly, 1981. “Tiebout Bias on the Demand for Local Public Goods,” Journal of Public Economics, (October), pp. 131-143.
Topic 19: Race and Ethnicity 1: Discrimination in Housing
*S. J. Oh and J. Yinger. 2015. “What Have We Learned from Paired Testing in Housing Markets?” Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research 17 (3), pp. 15-60.
P. Bayer, M. Casey, F. Ferreira, and R. McMillan. 2017. “Racial and Ethnic Price Differentials in the Housing Market,” JUE, 102(November) pp. 91-105.
J. Murchie and J. Pang. 2018. “Rental Housing Discrimination across Protected Classes: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 73 (November): 170–179.
K. Ihlanfeldt and T. Mayock. 2009. “Price Discrimination in the Housing Market, JUE, (September), pp. 125-140.
A. Hanson and Z. Hawley, 2011. “Do Landlords Discriminate in the Rental Housing Market? Evidence from an Internet Field Experiment in U.S. Cities,” JUE, (September-November), pp. 99-114.
B. Zhao. 2005. “Does the Number of Houses a Broker Shows Depend on a Homeseeker’s Race?” JUE, (January), pp. 128-147. (Based on an essay in his Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 2004)
J. Yinger. 1995. Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination, (Russell Sage), especially Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 7.
B. Zhao, J. Ondrich, and J. Yinger. 2006. “Why Do Real Estate Brokers Continue to Discriminate? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study,” JUE, (May), pp. 394-419. Available through e-journals at the SU library.(Based on an essay in B. Zhao’s Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 2004).
S.J. Choi, J. Ondrich, and J. Yinger. 2005. Do Rental Agents Discriminate Against Minority Customers? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study,” Journal of Housing Economics, (March), pp. 1-26. (Based on an essay in S. J. Choi’s Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 2004).
For background on the concept of race.
Ivan Couronne. 2020. “Dark history of Transatlantic Slavery Traced through DNA Study,” Yahoo! Finance, July 23.
[Skim] Bergstrom, Garratt, and Sheehan-Connor. 2009. “One Chance in a Million: Altruism and the Bon Barrow Registry,” American Economic Review, (September), pp. 1309-1334.
W. Saletan. 2008. “Unfinished Race: Race, genes and the future of medicine,” SLATE, August 27. Available on the class Blackboard page.
H.L. Gates Jr. 2009. Michelle’s Great-Great-Great-Granddady and Yours,” The Root (http://theroot.com), October 8. Available on the class Blackboard page.
Topic 20: The Causes of Discrimination in Housing
*J. Ondrich, S.L. Ross, and J. Yinger. 2003. “Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Why Do Real Estate Agents Withhold Houses from Black Customers?” Review of Economics and Statistics, (November), pp. 854-873.
J. Murchie, J. Pang and D.J. Schwegman. 2021. “Can Information Help Lakisha and Jamal Find Housing? Evidence from a Low-cost Online Experiment of Landlords,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 90.
Topic 21: Race and Ethnicity 2: Residential Segregation
*K.R. Ihlanfeldt and B. Scafidi. 2004. “Whites’ Neighborhood Racial Preferences and Neighborhood Racial Composition in the United States: Evidence from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality,” Housing Studies, (May), pp. 325-359. Available on the class Blackboard page.
*L. Boustan, 2010. “Was Postwar Suburbanization ‘White Flight’? Evidence from the Black Migration,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (February).
L. Boustan, 2011. “Racial Residential Segregation in American Cities,” in Handbook of Urban Economics and Planning, eds. Nancy Brooks, Kieran Donaghy and Gerrit Knaap. Oxford University Press.
E.L. Glaeser. CASE, Chapter 5, pp. 175-188.
A. Shertzer and R.P. Walsh. 2019. “Racial Sorting and the Emergence of Segregation in American Cities,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 101 (3) (July): 415–427.
D. Aaronson, D. Hartley and B. Mazumder. 2019. “The Effects of the 1930s HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps,” Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Working Paper 2017-12 (Revised February 2019).
K. Ihlanfeldt and T. Mayock. 2018. “School Segregation and the Foreclosure Crisis,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 68 (January): 277–290.
P. Bayer, H. Fang, R. McMillan. 2014. “Separate When Equal? Racial Inequality and Residential Segregation,” JUE, (July), pp.32-48.
J.K. Hellerstein, D. Neumark, and M. McInerney. 2008. “Spatial Mismatch or Racial Mismatch?” JUE, (September), pp. 464-479.
P. Bayer, R. McMillan, and K.S. Rueben. 2004. “What Drives Racial Segregation? New Evidence Using Census Microdata,” JUE, (November), pp. 514-535.
D.M. Cutler, E.L. Glaeser, and J.L. Vigdor. 1999. “The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto,” Journal of Political Economy, (June), pp. 455-506.
D.M. Cutler and E.L. Glaeser. 1997. “Are Ghettos Good or Bad?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, (August), pp. 827-872.
J. Yinger. 1995. Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination, (Russell Sage), Chapter 7.
R. Rothstein. 2017. The Color of Law (Liveright).
Topic 22: Race and Ethnicity 3: The Black-White Homeownership Gap
*S.A. Gabriel and S.S. Rosenthal. 2005. “Homeownership in the 1980s and 1990s: Aggregate Trends and Racial Gaps,” JUE, (January), pp. 101-127. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
*Y. Deng, S.L. Ross, and S.M. Wachter. 2003. “Racial Differences in Homeownership: The Effect of Residential Location,” RSUE, (September), pp. 517-556. Available through e-journals at the SU library.
Z. Yu and D. Myers. 2010. “Misleading Comparisons of Homeownership Rates when the Variable Effect of Household Formation is Ignored: Explaining Rising Homeownership and the Homeownership Gap between Blacks and Asians in the US,” Urban Studies, (May), pp. 1-26. Available on the class Blackboard page.
E. Fesselmeyer, K.T. Le and K.Y. Seah. 2012. “A Household-Level Decomposition of the White-Black Homeownership Gap,” RSUE, (January), pp. 52-62.T.P. Boehm and A.M. Schlottman. 2004. “The Dynamics of Race, Income, and Homeownership,” JUE, (January), pp. 113-130.
G. Painter, S. Gabriel, and D. Myers. 2001. “Race, Immigrant Status, and Housing Tenure Choice,” JUE, (January), pp. 150-167.
Topics 19-22: Discussion Class
A. Hanson and M. Santas. 2014. “Field Experiment Tests for Discrimination Against Hispanics in the U.S. Rental Housing Market,” Southern Economic Journal 81 (1): 135–167.
M. Ewens, B. Tomlin, and L. Choon Wang. 2014. “Statistical Discrimination or Prejudice? A Large Sample Field Experiment,” Review of Economics and Statistics 96 (1): 119–134.
J. Murchie and J. Pang. 2018. “Rental Housing Discrimination across Protected Classes: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 73 (November): 170-179.
Topic 23: Predatory Lending
* L. Goodman, J. Parrott, B. Ryan and M. Zandi. 2020. “The Mortgage Market Has Caught the Virus,” The Urban Institute, May 14.
J.M. Griffin. 2021. “Ten Years of Evidence: Was Fraud a Force in the Financial Crisis?” Journal of Economic Literature 59 (4): 1293–1321.
A. Mian and A. Sufi. 2009. “The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (Nov.) (4): 1449-1496.
S.J. Newman and C.S. Holupka. 2016. “Is Timing Everything? Race, Homeownership and Net Worth in the Tumultuous 2000s,” Real Estate Economics 44 (2): 307–354.
Topic 24: Discrimination in Mortgage Lending
R. Bartlett, A. Morse, R. Stanton, and N. Wallace. 2021. “Consumer-lending Discrimination in the FinTech Era,” Journal of Financial Economics.
*S.L. Ross and J. Yinger. 2002. The Color of Credit: Mortgage Lending Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair-Lending Enforcement, MIT Press, 2002, Chapters 1 (“Introduction”), 2 (“The Mortgage Market and the Definition of Mortgage Lending Discrimination”), and 6 (“Accounting for Variation in Underwriting Standards Across Lenders”). Available on the class Blackboard page.
* J. Yinger. 2021. “Detecting Disparate-Impact Discrimination in The Big-Data Era,” Loyola Consumer Law Review 33: 386-404.
*S.L. Ross, M. Austin Turner, E. Godfrey, R.R. Smith. 2008. “Mortgage Lending in Chicago and Los Angeles: A Paired Testing Study of the Pre-application Process,” JUE, (May), pp. 902-919.
A. Hanson, Z. Hawley, H. Martin, and B. Liu. 2016. “Discrimination in Mortgage Lending: Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment,” JUE 92 (March), pp. 48-65.
A.C. Ghent, R. Hernández-Murillo, M, T. Owyang, 2014. “Differences in Subprime Loan Pricing across Races and Neighborhoods,” RSUE 48 (September), pp. 199-215.
A.H. Munnell, L.E. Browne, J. McEneaney, and G.M.B. Tootell. 1996. “Mortgage Lending in Boston: Interpreting HMDA Data,” American Economic Review, (March), pp. 25-53. Available through http://www.jstor.org.