Category: 2952-338 Urban Economics and Policy

Our last meeting is today on campus. The plan is to finish lecture topic 13, “Congestion and urban transit.” The final topic is  urban crime.  In the second half of class, if there is time, we discuss the readings from Rees and Kahn.

• • I will send you the questions for the final exam by Friday. You will have two weeks to finish the exam. Due date will be Friday, December 9th by 20:00.
  • Your second essay should be published on Project Pathumwan by Friday, December 2nd.
  • Online comments for Project Pathumwan should be finished by Friday, 16th of December.
  • Steven D. Levitt, “Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol.18, No.1, Winter 2004, pp. 163-190(28)
  • William W. Goldsmith, “The Drug War and Inner-city Neighborhoods,” Chapter 11 in The Oxford Handbook of Urban Economics and Planning.
  • Video: “The War on Our Citizens: Ex-Baltimore Cop Takes Jesse Ventura Inside the World of Police Corruption“
  • Slides: “Social Issues: Urban Poverty and Crime“
  • Street Design Taipei Buses 2019

Today we will be meeting online [via Teams]. The plan is to cover the lecture topic 13, “Congestion and urban transit.” Next week will be our last meeting and I plan to cover the final topic which is on urban crime. Since we did not discuss the readings from last week (Rees and Kahn), we will spend some time on those in the second half of class next week, if there is time.

• • Your second essay should be published on Project Pathumwan by Friday, December 2nd. If you would like to have some feedback on your second outline and you would like to have enough time to review and incorporate the feedback into your essay, try to get it to me by this week sometime, so I can get it back to you by the  23rd of November along with the feedback from your first essay.
  • If you have not received a response from me related to the second outline by the 23rd, please message me, because there is a chance it was overlooked or it was missing somehow.
  • Some additional slides on “Externalities from Automobiles.”
  • The Nation, “Bangkok ‘congestion charge’ in pipeline as traffic study nears completion,” September 26, 2022.
  • “We are determined to promote the widespread use of electric-powered transportation throughout the nation and continue developing a full-range EV business to become a future EV ecosystem leader,” said Suchat Ramarch, president of PTT Oil and Retail Business. Read Bangkok Post: “GWM partners with PTT to build EV charger network,” October 21, 2022.

Some articles on this subject from me:

• • “The Wrong Priority Placed on Public Subsidies for Personal EVs in Thailand,” Project Pathumwan, May 30, 2022.
  • “Suggested Principles for Rationing Road Space in Bangkok to Deal with Congestion,” Project Pathumwan, December 9 2018.

Dutch Cycling Embassy: “How to Get Cycling on the Agenda? Bikenomics!” August 17, 2022.

 

We will start today by discussing the paper by William Rees and chapter 8 by Matt Kahn. Both of these are related to urban sustainability and offer opposing perspectives: Rees comes from the ecological economics perspective, while Kahn comes more from the neoclassical tradition. Here are the discussion questions for Rees and Kahn. We will proceed with the lecture material on housing and then get into traffic congestion and urban transit.

• • Reminder that next week we will meet online using Microsoft Teams.

We will begin today with a brief discussion of Ding and Zhao’s chapter on Urbanization in Japan, South Korea, and China. Here are the discussion questions. Then we will continue with lecture material.

• • Finish topic 10: Local Public Goods
  • Begin topic 11 on “Housing Markets and Tenure Choice.” I would like to cover housing markets, but I will skip the part on tenure choice for the time being. Time permitting, we will come back to it next week. The reason why is because the notes I have may be too US-specific and not of much interest to you other than to provide a simple example, but one that requires a bit of time to explain all the variables.  Based on a simple benefit-cost analysis, I am just not sure whether the benefits justify the time costs for now.
  • For next week, please read the paper by William Rees and chapter 8 by Matt Kahn. Both of these are related to urban sustainability and offer opposing perspectives: Rees comes from the ecological economics perspective, while Kahn comes more from the neoclassical tradition. Here are the discussion questions for Rees.
  • Next week we will cover topic 12:  “housing policies” which will cover subsidies and rent-control.
  • Video: “The Cost of China’s Millionaire Migration” | SBS Dateline – a look at the housing situation in Vancouver. Effect on local affordability (6:43-10:32) ; Immigarant Visa Program (16:17-18:30); effect on neighborhood (18:30-21:56)

Frequency	6	3	8	2	3	1	2	0
Cutoff (>)	91	87	79	75	67	63	55
GRADE	A	B+	B	C+	C	D+	D	F

Mean	82.7
St. Dev	11.5
Max	100
Median	86
Min	57

Identifying your score is based on three numbers of your student ID in reverse order.

• • For example, if your student ID is 604 58 xyz 29, you will use #zyx to find your score.
  • For example, if your student ID is 604 59 abc 29, you will use #cba to find your score.

#231	100	A
#392	97	A
#142	93	A
#250	93	A
#706	93	A
#091	92	A
#532	91	B+
#301	89	B+
#960	89	B+
#814	87	B
#994	87	B
#015	86	B
#064	86	B
#833	86	B
#045	85	B
#570	82	B
#180	80	B
#373	79	C+
#630	79	C+
#354	73	C
#123	70	C
#096	69	C
#335	67	D+
#443	57	D
#585	57	D

We will start today with a discussion of the Nechya and Walsh paper on Urban Sprawl and chapter 7 of Green Cities. We will then continue with lecture material.

• • The  discussion questions for Nechyba & Walsh. and the discussion questions for Kahn chapter 7.
  • Lecture Topic 9: Neighborhood Choice
  • Lecture Topic 10: Local Public Goods

For next week, please read Ding and Zhao’s chapter on Urbanization in Japan, South Korea, and China. Here are the discussion questions.

Today we will continue with lecture material only. We will attempt to get through as many of these listed topics as possible.

• • Topic 8: Urban Sprawl and Spatial Growth Controls
  • Topic 9: Neighborhood Choice
  • Topic 10: Local Public Goods (most likely covered next week)

Next week we will discuss the paper by Nechya and Walsh on Urban Sprawl and chapter 7 of Green Cities. Here are the  discussion questions for Nechyba & Walsh. You should already have the discussion questions for Kahn chapter 7.

 

Welcome back from the midterm period. There is no reading discussion for today so we will devote the entire three hours to completing topics 6 and 7.

• • We will continue the lecture material from last meeting covering the monocentric city (urban spatial structure part 1) and the begin some of the extensions of the basic urban model in urban spatial structure part 2.
    • Optional: you may find it useful and/or interesting to read Anas, Arnott, and Small (1999) and Brueckner (1987), both of which focus on urban spatial structure.
  • In two weeks we will discuss the paper by Nechya and Walsh on Urban Sprawl and chapter 7 of Green Cities.
    • Here are the  discussion questions for Nechyba & Walsh. You should already have the discussion questions for Kahn chapter 7.
  • Within the next three weeks, please read Ding and Zhao’s chapter on Urbanization in Japan, South Korea, and China.
    • Here are the discussion questions for Ding and Zhao.
  • Our final reading assignment and discussion will be the paper by William Rees and chapter 8 by Matt Kahn. Both of these are related to urban sustainability and offer opposing perspectives: Rees comes from the ecological economics perspective, while Kahn comes more from the neoclassical tradition.
    • Here are the discussion questions for Rees.