Notes on the Theory of Urban Residential Structure:
The Basic Urban Model
Professor Yinger
References
Note: JUE stands for Journal of Urban Economics.
William Alonso. 1964. Location and Land Use. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
N. Edward Colson. 1991. “Really Useful Tests of the Monocentric Model.” Land Economics, August, pp. 299-307.
John F. MacDonald. 1989. “Econometric Studies of Urban Population Density: A Survey.” JUE, November, pp. 361-85.
Edwin S. Mills. 1967. “An Aggregative Model of Resource Allocation in a Metropolitan Area.” American Economic Review, May, pp. 197-210.
Edwin S. Mills. 1972. Studies in the Structure of the Urban Economy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
Edwin S. Mills and Bruce Hamilton. Urban Economics, 4th Edition. Scott Foresman, 1988.
Richard F. Muth. 1969. Cities and Housing: The Spatial Pattern of Urban Residential Land Use. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
John Yinger. 1979. “Estimating the Relationship between Location and the Price of Housing.” Journal of Regional Science, August, pp. 271-89.
John Yinger, Howard Bloom, Axel Boersch-Supan, and Helen F. Ladd. 1988. Property Taxes and House Values: The Theory and Estimation of Intrajurisdictional Property Tax Capitalization. Boston: Academic Press.
John Yinger and Sheldon Danziger. 1978. “An Equilibrium Model of Urban Population and the Distribution of Income.” Urban Studies, May, pp. 201-214.
References to Urban Models with More General Assumptions
HURE-II stands for Edwin S. Mills, editor, Handbook of Urban and Regional Economics, Vol. II, Urban Economics. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1988.
HURE-III stands for Paul Cheshire and Edwin S. Mills, editors, Handbook of Urban and Regional Economics, Vol. III, Applied Urban Economics. Amsterdam, North-Holland, 1999.
JUE stands for Journal of Urban Economics.
Assumption 1
(Utility Function Takes Cobb-Douglas Form with Housing and Composite Good)
William C. Wheaton. 1974. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Urban Spatial Structure.” Journal of Economic Theory, pp. 223-37. (Provides complete comparative static analysis of urban model with land but no housing and with general functional form for utility function.)
Jan K. Brueckner. 1983. “The Economics of Urban Yard Space: An ‘Implicit‑market’ Model for Housing Attributes.” JUE, March, pp. 216-34. (Solves and urban model with explicit housing attributes instead of housing services.)
Joseph H. DeSalvo. 1985. “A Model of Urban Household Behavior with Leisure Choice.” Journal of Regional Science, 11, pp. 99-111. (Solves an urban model with leisure in the utility function.)
Jan K. Brueckner. 1988. “The Structure of Urban Equilibria: A Unified Treatment of the Muth-Mills Model.” in HURE-II. (Provides complete comparative static analysis of urban model with general functional form for utility function.)
Assumption 2
(Housing Supply is Cobb-Douglas with Absentee Landlords)
A. Studies with More General Functional Forms
Jan K. Brueckner. 1988. “The Structure of Urban Equilibria: A Unified Treatment of the Muth-Mills Model.” in HURE-II. (Provides comparative static analysis of urban model with general functional form for housing production.)
B. Studies with Explicit Models of the Construction Decision
David Harrison and John F. Kain. 1974. “Cumulative Urban Growth and Density Functions,” JUE, January, pp. 61-98. (Introduces the possibility that the spatial development of cities occurs in time-based phases and in successive spatial rings.)
Alex Anas. 1978. “Dynamics of Urban Residential Growth.” JUE, January, pp. 66-87.(Provides a model of urban growth with durable housing capital and myopic foresight.)
Jan K. Brueckner. 1980. “A Vintage Model of Urban Growth.” JUE, November, pp. 389-402. (Provides a model of urban growth with durable capital and perfect foresight.)
William C. Wheaton. 1982. “Urban Spatial Development with Durable but Replaceable Capital.” JUE, July, pp. 53-67. (Provides a model of urban growth with long-lived but replaceable capital and perfect foresight.)
C. Models with local land ownership
David Pines, and Efraim Sadka.1986. “Comparative Static Analysis of a Fully Closed City. JUE, July, pp. 1-20. (Solves a closed urban model in which land rents are redistributed to residents.)
Komei Sasaki. 1987. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Urban Structure in the Setting of Endogenous Income. JUE, 22, pp. 53-72. (Solves a closed urban model in which land rents are redistributed to residents.)
Masahisa Fujita. 1989. Urban Economic Theory. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. (Solves an open urban model in which all rents above the agricultural rate are distributed to residents.)
Assumption 3
(Commuting is in a straight line with a constant cost per mile)
A. Articles generalizing assumptions about the transportation network
Alex Anas and L.M. Moses. 1979. “Mode Choice, Transport Structure and Urban Land Use.” JUE, April, pp. 228-46. (Solves urban models with more than one mode of transportation, assuming radial and circular streets.)
John Yinger. 1993. “Around the Block: Urban Models with a Street Grid.” JUE, May, pp. 305-330. (Solves urban models with a wide range of assumptions about the street network, all based on a street grid.)
B. Articles introducing traffic congestion
Robert M. Solow. 1972. “Congestion and the Use of Land in Transportation.” Swedish Journal of Economics (March): 602-18. (Solves a highly simplified urban model with congestion, assuming radial streets.)
Edwin S. Mills. 1972. Studies in the Structure of the Urban Economy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. (Simulates an urban model with congestion, assuming radial streets.)
John Yinger. 1993. “Bumper to Bumper: A New Approach to Congestion in an Urban Model.” JUE, September, pp. 249-274. (Solves an urban model with congestion, assuming a street grid and one commuting artery.)
William C. Wheaton. 1998. “Land Use and Density in Cities with Congestion.” JUE, March, pp. 258-272. (Shows how congestion raises optimal central density in a standard urban model.)
Stephen L. Ross and John Yinger. 2000. “Timing Equilibria in an Urban Model with Congestion.” JUE, May, pp. 390-413. (Proves that all existing urban models with congestion do not have a timing equilibrium, that is, an equilibrium in which no commuter has an incentive to change the time at which she commutes.)
Assumption 4
(Access to work is the only locational characteristic that matters)
A. Mitchell Polinsky and Stephen Shavell. 1976. “Amenities and Property Values in a Model of an Urban Area.” Journal of Public Economics, January/February, pp.119-30. (Solves an urban model with a neighborhood amenity.)
John Yinger. 1976. “Racial Prejudice and Racial Residential Segregation in an Urban Model.” JUE, October, pp. 383-9. (Solves an urban model with different racial groups and with racial composition as an endogenous neighborhood amenity.)
Assumption 5
(All households are alike)
Martin J. Beckman. 1969. “On the Distribution of Urban Rent and Residential Density.” Journal of Economic Theory, 1969, pp. 60-7. (Solves an urban model with a continuous income distribution.)
A. Montesanto. 1972. “A Restatement of Beckman’s Model on the Distribution of Urban Rent and Residential Density,” Journal of Economic Theory, pp. 329-54. (Fixes a problem in Beckman’s article.)
John Hartwick, U. Schweizer, and P. Varaiya. 1976. “Comparative Statics of a Residential Economy with Several Classes.” Journal of Economic Theory, 1976, pp. 396-413. (Provides comparative statics results for an urban model with more than one income class.)
Assumption 6
(Income is fixed and all households have one CBD worker)
Michelle J. White. 1976. “Firm Suburbanization and Urban Subcenters.” JUE, October, pp. 129-52. (Solves an urban model with a suburban employment ring.)
Jan K. Brueckner. 1979. “A Model of Noncentral Production in a Monocentric City.” JUE, October, pp. 444-63. (Provides comparative statics for an urban model with local employment in addition to employment in the CBD.)
Kenneth F. Wieand. 1987. “An Extension of the Monocentric Urban Spatial Equilibrium Model to a Multicenter Setting: The Case of the Two‑Center City.” JUE, May, pp. 259-71. (Partially solves an urban model with a suburban business district (SBD), assuming radial streets out of the CBD and the SBD.)
John Yinger. 1992. “City and Suburb: Urban Models with More than One Employment Center.” JUE, March, pp. 181-205. (Solves an urban model with an SBD, assuming circular streets plus radial streets emanating from the CBD; sketches the solution to models with more than one SBD.)
John Yinger. 1993. “Around the Block: Urban Models with a Street Grid.” JUE, May, pp. 305-330. (Solves an urban model with an SBD, assuming a street grid.)
Komei Sasaki and Michihiro Kaiyama,. 1990. “The Effects of Urban Transportation Costs on Urban Spatial Structure with Endogenous Wage Income,” RSUE, September 1990, pp. 223-244. (Provides comparative statics for a standard closed urban model with endogenous wages and firm competition for land.)
Stephen L. Ross and John Yinger. 1995. “A Comparative Static Analysis of Open Urban Models with a Full Labor Market and Suburban Employment.” Regional Science and Urban Economics, October, pp. 575-605. (Provides comparative statics for open urban models in which employment, wages, and the boundary of the CBD are endogenous; models with a suburban business district are also examined.)
Yang Zhang and Komei Sasaki, “Effects of Subcenter Formation on Urban Spatial Structure,” RSUE, June 1997, pp. 297-324. (Provides comparative statics for a standard closed model with a suburban employment center.)
Masahisa Fujita, Jacque-FranHois Thisse, and Yves Zenou, 1997, “On the Endogenous Formation of Secondary Employment Centers in a City,” JUE, May, pp. 337-357. (Presents a model of subcenter formation in a linear city.)
Stephen 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. (Shows how some key comparative static results–and related policy implications–can change with a complete labor market and endogenous CBD boundaries.)
Michelle J. White. 1999. “Urban Areas with Decentralized Employment: Theory and Empirical Work,” in HURE-III, pp. 1375-1412. (A good survey of the literature.)
Assumption 7
(Households are perfectly mobile)
Susan Rose-Ackerman. 1975. “Racism and Urban Structure.” JUE, pp. 85-103. (Solves and urban model with racial segregation and racial prejudice.)
John Yinger. 1976. “Racial Prejudice and Racial Residential Segregation in an Urban Model.” JUE, October, pp. 383-396. (Solves an urban model with prejudice and endogenous racial composition; shows the role of discrimination.)
Paul N. Courant and John Yinger. 1977. “On Models of Racial Prejudice and Urban Residential Structure.” JUE, July, pp. 272-291. (Solves an urban model with segregation and prejudice; shows that discrimination is needed to sustain segregation.)
Clifford Kern. 1981. “Racial Prejudice and Residential Segregation: The Yinger Model Revisited.” JUE, September, pp. 164-73. (Shows how the role of discrimination in a Yinger model with prejudice depends on assumptions about the supply of housing.)
Assumption 8
(There are no local governments)
Richard J. Arnott and James G. MacKinnon. 1977. “The effects of the property tax: A general equilibrium simulation.” JUE, October, pp. 389-407. (Simulates a closed urban model with a single local government funded by a property tax.)
A. Mitchell Polinsky and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. 1978. “The Long Run Effects of a Residential Property Tax and Local Public Services.” JUE, April, pp. 241-262. (Analyzes an open urban model with a single local government funded by a property tax.)
Stephen L. Ross and John Yinger. 1999. “Sorting and Voting: A Review of the Literature on Urban Public Finance.” In HURE-III, pp. 2001-2060. (Reviews models with both multiple local governments and housing – but without commuting.)