Economics 341 – 001
Urban and Regional Economics
Professor Bryan Snyder
Bentley University Fall 2019
General Course Information Days, Time, Location and Dates
Tuesdays & Fridays
11:00am => 12:20pm
Room: Lindsay 26B
Professor: Bryan Snyder
Office: Rm G274 Adamian
Office Hours: Mondays 11:00 => 12:20pm Thursdays 11:00 => 12:20pm
Office Phone: #781-891-2446
E-mail address: [email protected]
Website: http://blackboard.bentley.edu/
Course Overview
This course analyzes the very real economic forces that determine where and how cities
develop and grow and the subsequent issues that arise from their existence. At the nexus where
economics meets geography, we will explore the practical location decisions of individuals and
firms at length in this class as well as how land and housing prices are determined in a regional
economy. Of immediate concern will be a number of pressing issues for the City of Boston and
the State of Massachusetts in the areas of economic development, housing and transportation.
When we have established our primary analytical tools we then turn our attention to the
particularly timely and interesting areas of urban, suburban and rural growth, transportation,
housing, congestion, sustainability, poverty, and crime using economic analysis to carefully
craft policy options.
This course has a very strong policy analysis and analytic writing component which will
facilitate our analysis of current regional and urban issues. This class is highly recommended
for anyone with an interest in applied economics, environmental economics, government,
planning and urban sociology.
Prerequisites
This course necessitates the student having taken: EC111 and EC112
Readings
There are Two required books for this course! The required textbook for the course is:
Urban Economics 9th Edition
By Arthur O'Sullivan Copyright: 2019
Loose Leaf: 464 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education; 9 edition (January 25, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 126046542X
ISBN-13: 978-1260465426
We then have this little “oddity” that we shall critically consume:
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us
Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
Jan 31, 2012
by Edward Glaeser
Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (January 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780143120544
ISBN-13: 978-0143120544
Paperback with free ebook
Title Planet of Slums
Author By Mike Davis
Publisher Verso - January
2017
ISBN ISBN: 9781784786618
Paperback with free ebook Title Extreme Cities
Author By Ashley Dawson
Publisher Verso - January 2019
ISBN ISBN: 9781784780395
Blackboard Postings and Resource Files
Extensive readings and case studies will be provided and or posted on
Blackboard.
Multimedia
This course will extensively utilize Blackboard for supplemental readings and Text
provided PowerPoint presentations on each chapter along with chapter notes.
McGraw-Hill has a lovely little resource site for our text:
http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0078021782/information_center_view0/index.html
Class Decorum
Punctuality: I expect you to arrive promptly for class, prepared. In fact, I will insist
upon this.
Cell phones will be turned off, as I reserve the right to answer any ringing phone in my
classroom. Texting in this class is a “CLM.” (Career Limiting Maneuver)
Laptop Computers and Tablets/Pads: I do not allow laptops or tablets to be used in
my classroom.….No Laptops. Take copious handwritten notes.
Bentley Honor Code
As a Bentley student, I promise to act honorably in my courses and my professional
endeavors, adhering to both the letter and spirit of Bentley’s academic integrity system. I will
neither take advantage of my classmates nor betray the trust of my professors. My work will
be honest and transparent, and I will hold myself and my peers accountable to the highest
ethical standards.
Grading Policy
Exams & Homework
Grades will be based on a midterm and a final exam. The Midterm will be held on: October 29th.
The Final Exam will be held on Tuesday December 17th from 8:00am =>
10:00am.
Each exam will cover the material presented up to the time of the exam from the text,
the class lecture (my own), and the readings handed out in class and or posted on
Blackboard. Students are expected to comply with the college's honor code.
Quizzes
Quizzes will only occur in a punitive fashion if students are not prepared for class and
are not covering the assigned material. I will have an initial Quiz on and O’Sullivan’s
assumptions/axioms of Urban Economics along with Bluestone’s “Tools of the
Trade.” You should also be familiar with the Tilly 8 Assumptions for perfectly
function markets.
Attendance
Is mandatory. We have a great deal of material, thus, it is vital that you
attend each and every class….prepared. There is a great amount of material
that I will be covering in this class that is not found in the textbook, and thus, your
attendance is proportionate to your desire to actually pass this course. You are permitted
THREE absences. After that I begin reducing your grade for each additional absence.
Please come to class prepared to participate. You must also have read the assigned
material BEFORE each lecture as I will be referring to the text but often times
diverging from it. You are responsible for all of the assigned reading. You don’t attend
this class. You don’t receive a passing grade. Simple as that. Disability Services:
Bentley University abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 which stipulate no student shall be denied the benefits of an education solely by reason of a disability.
If you have a hidden or visible disability which may require classroom accommodations, please call the Office of
Disability Services within the first 4 weeks of the semester to schedule an appointment The Office of Disability
Services is located in the Office of Academic Services (JEN 336, 781.891.2004).The Office of Disability
Services is responsible for managing accommodations and services for all students with disabilities.
Class Calendar Urban and Regional Economics
ECONOMICS 341-001
Fall 2019 Bentley University
Instructor: Prof. Bryan Snyder Lecture time: Tuesdays & Fridays 11:00am => 12:20pm
Tuesday Friday August 27th
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -8th edition!
Chapter 1: Introduction and Axioms of Urban
Economics (Handout from O’Sullivan’s 8th
edition)
Analytical Assumptions & Axioms
Appendix: Tools of Microeconomics – (8th
edition)
August 30th
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -8th edition!
Chapter 1: Introduction and Axioms of Urban
Economics (Handout from O’Sullivan’s 8th
edition)
Analytical Assumptions & Axioms
Appendix: Tools of Microeconomics – (8th
edition)
September 3rd
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -8th edition!
Chapter 1: Introduction and Axioms of Urban
Economics (Handout from O’Sullivan’s 8th
edition)
Analytical Assumptions & Axioms
Appendix: Tools of Microeconomics – (8th
edition)
Quiz warning! Next class O’Sullivan’s
Axioms!
September 6th
Quiz- O’Sullivan’s
Axioms – (8th edition) Plus
…Bluestone’s “Tools of the Trade.”
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan Krugman – “Centripetal vs.
“Centrifugal”
September 10th
Part II: Market Forces in the Development of
Cities
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan -9th! Chapter 9: First Cities
Ibn Khaldun - Cities
Part II: Market Forces in the Development of
Cities
Chapter 3: Trading and Factory Towns
Triumph of the City: Glaeser
September 13th
Part II: Market Forces in the Development of
Cities
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan- 9th! Chapter 4: Agglomeration Economies
Why Do Firms Cluster?
Megacities
Welcome to Megacity...
By Victor Mallet
Mike Davis
PLANET OF SLUMS Urban Involution and the Informal Proletariat – New Left Review 26 Mar./Apr. 2004
Mike Davis
Slum Ecology Poverty’s Niche in the Ecology of the City – Orion March/April 2006
September 17th
Chapter 5: Where Do Cities Develop?
Transportation Cost Model
Triumph of the City: Glaeser
Urban America from the Seventeenth
Century to the Early Twentieth Century:
The Dynamics of City Growth
Types of Cities.
Why Do Firms Cluster?
Where Do Firms Locate? (PDF) Arthur O’Sullivan
September 20th
Part II: Market Forces in the Development of
Cities
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 6: Consumer Cities and Central
Places
Harvard General Store
Chapter 7: Cities in a Regional Economy
September 24th
Part II: Market Forces in the Development of
Cities
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 8: Urban Labor Market
Triumph of the City: Glaeser
Boston: What would happen to
Boston if all of the students
suddenly left?
Experts say it wouldn’t end well. November 29,
2015 | 11:50 AM By Emily Anderson
September 27th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 10: Land Rent and Manufacturing
Land
Bid Rent Curves
Introduction to Land Rent (PDF)
Arthur O’Sullivan
Cyrus Bina – Cyrus Bina
Some controversies in
the development of rent
theory: the nature of oil
rent
The Alonso Model
“Own the Alonso Bid-Rent Model!!!!”
October 1st
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 10: Land Rent and Manufacturing
Land
Bid Rent Curves
Introduction to Land Rent (PDF)
Arthur O’Sullivan
Cyrus Bina – Cyrus Bina
Some controversies in
the development of rent
theory: the nature of oil
rent
The Alonso Model
October 4th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 11: Office Space and Tall Buildings
The Alonso Model – With Substitution!
(Marxian Differential Rent II)
October 8th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 12: Housing Prices and Residential
Land Use
Chapter 13: Spatial Distribution of
Employment and Residence
October 11th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Local Agriculture and The
Bid-Rent Function:
The Case of Massachusetts
October 15th
October Break!
Woooo Hooooo!
No Class!
No Class Whatsoever!
October 18th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 14: The Monocentric City and Urban
General Equilibrium
Chapter 15: Neighborhoods
October 22nd
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 16: Land Use Policy
Chapter 17: Urban Housing and Public Policy
The Making of Ferguson Public
Policies at the Root of its
Troubles
By Richard Rothstein | October 15, 2014
October 25th
Part III: Urban Land Use and Housing
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 16: Land Use Policy
Chapter 17: Urban Housing and Public Policy
The Making of Ferguson
Public Policies at the Root of
its Troubles
By Richard Rothstein | October 15, 2014
October 29th
Exam No.#1
Midterm “BIG
ENCHILADA” Take-home
Exam is due!!!
November 1st
Part IV: Urban Transportation
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 18: Cars and Roads
Urban Transportation
Externalities from Autos
November 5th
Part IV: Urban Transportation
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 19: Urban Public Transit
Urban Transportation
November 8th
Part V: Local Government, Education, and
Crime
Chapters 20 & 21: Dropped
Chapter 22: Education
November 12th
Part V: Local Government, Education, and
Crime
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 23: Crime and Public Policy
Crime
Freakonomics: “Where have all the
Criminal Gone.”
November 15th
Part V: Local Government, Education, and
Crime
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
Chapter 23: Crime and Public Policy
Crime Freakonomics: “Where have all the
Criminal Gone.”
November 19th
Global Cities & BREXIT
The Global City: introducing a Concept SASKIA
SASSEN Professor of Sociology University of
Chicago
BREXIT: (Capstone by Michael Durkin)
Will London Fall? BREXIT
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/11/
world/europe/uk-london-
brexit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage
&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-
spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-
news
November 22nd
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
San Francisco – Gentrification
November 26th
Green line Extension:Somerville. Spatial
Mismatch and the Mass Transit Paradox
Capstone Projects by Tom Jantz &
Bryan Hardy
November 29th
Turkey Day!
December 3rd
Urbanization and Climate
December 6th
Urban Economics - O'Sullivan
*Casino Gambling – Massachusetts