Urban economics / Arthur O'Sullivan.

"International edition"--Cover.

Introduction and axioms of urban economics : What is urban economics? ; What is a city? ; Why do cities exist? ; The five axioms of urban economics ; What's next? ; Appendix : Census definitions : Urban population; Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas; Principal city -- Part I. Market forces in the development of cities : Why do cities exist? : A region without cities: backyard production ; A trading city ; Trading cities in urban history ; A factory city ; The industrial revolution and factory cities ; A system of factory cities ; Resources-oriented firms and processing cities ; Innovative cities ; Appendix : Location decisions of transfer-oriented firms: Resource-oriented firms; Market-oriented firms; The principle of median location; Transshipment points and port cities -- Why do firms cluster? : Sharing intermediate inputs ; Self-reinforcing effects cause industry clusters ; Sharing a labor pool ; Labor matching ; Knowledge spillovers ; Evidence of localization economies ; Urbanization economies ; Other benefits of urban size -- City size : Utility and city size ; A system of cities ; Specialized and diverse cities ; Differences in city size ; The size distribution of cities -- Appendix : Applying the concepts -- Urban growth : Economic growth: increase in per-capita income ; City-specific innovation and income ; Human capital and economic growth ; The urban labor market ; Employment growth and decline of the U.S. manufacturing belt ; Public policy and equilibrium employment ; Projecting changes in total employment ; Who benefits from increased employment? ; Appendix : The regional context of urban growth : The neoclassical model; Regional concentration and dispersion in the United States -- Part II. Land rent and land-use patterns : Urban land rent : Introduction to land rent ; Bid-rent curves for the manufacturing sector ; Bid-rent curves for the information sector ; Office bid-rent curves with factor substitution ; Housing prices ; The residential bid-rent curve ; Relaxing the assumptions: time costs, public services, taxes, amenities ; Land=use patterns ; Henry George and the single tax on land -- Appendix : Consumer and factor substitution : Consumer choice and the law of demand ; Input choice and factor substitution -- Land-use patterns : The spatial distribution of employment ; The spatial distribution of population ; The rise of the monocentric city ; The demise of the monocentric city ; Urban sprawl ; Are skyscrapers too tall? ; Appendix : The monocentric model and applications ; The monocentric model; Income and location; A general equilibrium model of a monocentric city -- Neighborhood choices : Diversity versus segregation ; Sorting for local public goods ; Neighborhood externalities ; Neighborhood choice ; Neighborhood choices: the roles of education and crime ; Racial segregation ; The consequences of segregation -- Zoning and growth controls : Land-use zoning ; The legal environment of zoning ; A city without zoning? ; Growth control: urban growth boundaries ; Other growth-control policies ; Housing regulations and housing prices.

Part III. Urban transportation : Autos and highways : Congestion externalities ; The congestion tax ; Practicalities of the congestion tax ; Alternatives to a congestion tax ; The road capacity decision ; Autos and air pollution ; Motor vehicle accidents ; Automobiles and poverty -- Urban transit : Commuting and transit ridership ; The cost of travel and modal choice ; The efficient volume of ridership ; Designing a transit system ; Deregulation: contracting an paratransit ; Transit and land-use patterns -- Part IV. Education and crime in cities : Education : Spending and educational achievement ; The education production function ; School inputs: the importance of teachers ; Innovation: charter schools ; Innovation: charter schools ; Spending inequalities and public policy ; Education in central cities -- Crime : Crime facts ; The rational criminal ; The equilibrium quantity of crime ; Legal opportunities and education ; Applications: big-city crime and the crime drop ; How much crime? ; The role of prisons -- Part V. Housing : Why is housing different? : Heterogeneity and hedonics ; Durability, deterioration, and maintenance ; Moving costs and consumer disequililbrium ; The filtering model of the housing market -- Housing policy : Public housing ; Housing vouchers ; Community development and urban renewal ; Which housing policy is best? ; Subsidies for mortgage interest ; Rent control and rent regulation -- Part VI. Local government : The role of local government : The role of local government ; Local public goods: equilibrium versus optimum ; Natural monopoly ; Externalities ; Federalism and metropolitan government ; A closer look and the median voter result -- Local government review : Who pays the residential property tax? ; From models to reality ; The Tiebout model and the property tax ; Limits on property tax ; Intergovernmental grants ; Appendix : Tools of microeconomics.

"Like the seven previous editions, this edition provides a clear and concise presentation of the economic forces that: (a) cause the development of cities; (b) determine the spatial form of cities; (c) cause urban economies to grow or shrink; (d) generate urban problems such as poverty, crime, and congestion; (e) make the market for urban housing unique; and (f) shape the tax and spending policies of local government. In addition to developing the basic concepts of urban economics, the book uses economic analysis to evaluate the merits of policies designed to address our most vexing urban problems. The text is designed for use in undergraduate courses in urban economics and urban affairs. It could also be used for graduate courses in urban planning, public policy, and public administration. All of the economic concepts used in the book are covered in the typical intermediate microeconomics course, so students who have completed such a course will be able to move through the book at a rapid pace"--Publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.