Dr Gabriel Ahlfeldt

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Regional And Urban Planning Studies. This course is available on the MSc Human Geography and Urban Studies (Research), MSc in Development Management, MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Local Economic Development and MSc in Urban Policy (LSE and Sciences Po). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Students must have completed Economics A (EC100).

Students should normally have completed an introductory course in economics. Students without this background will be required to attend the micro-economic section of EC100 Economics A together with the GY447.A classes.

To provide an economic framework in which to analyse the structure of economic activity within the urban and regional context; the impact of this structure on urban form; the role of government at the local level and local economic policy applications. The course aims to provide an economic framework in which to analyse the structure of economic activity within the urban and regional context; the impact of this structure on urban form; the role of government at the local level and local economic policy applications. Topics include: The determinants of industrial, commercial and residential location. The interaction between activities within a spatial context. The economics of land markets and of the development process. The determinants of rents and densities. Economic models of urban structure. Sources of market failure in the urban economy. The rationale of government intervention. Techniques of intervention in the urban and environmental context. The role of the public sector: pricing, allocation, production and investment decisions. Urban and regional economic policy issues.

15 hours of lectures and 9 hours of seminars in the MT. 1 hour and 30 minutes of lectures in the ST.

There will also be 10 classes in the MT mainly for those without a previous economic background.

1) A O'Sullivan Urban Economics;

2) D DiPasquale & W C Wheaton, Urban Economics and Real Estate Markets;

3) J F McDonald, Fundamentals of Urban Economics;

4) R W Vickerman, Urban Economics;

5) H Armstrong & J Taylor, Regional Economic Policy and its Analysis;

6) M Fujita, Urban Economic Theory;

7) J Stiglitz, Economics of the Public Sector;

8) M Common, Environmental and Resource Economics;

9) H Dunkerley (Ed), Urban Land Policy: Issues and Opportunities;

10) Pindyck & RubinfeldMicroeconomics, Suslow & Hamilton Study Guide.

More detailed readings will be provided during the course.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.