Job location and the journey-to-work: An empirical analysis

In this paper we present and estimate a single equation model designed to explain the job-location behaviour of individuals living in a multi-centered metropolitan area. We test the model separately for heads of households and non-heads of households, as well as for the total working population, in order to isolate differences in commuting behaviour between primary and secondary wage earners. The relationships are estimated from 1971 Census, cross-section data using least squares multiple regression.The results of the location equation indicate that wage gradient variables are important determinants of job location for heads of households. On the other hand, non-heads are rather insensitive to the wage gradient. Rather, contrary to the decisions of heads, the job-location choices of non-heads are strongly influenced by socio-economic attributes, notably occupation, family size and age. Clearly, job-location decisions of primary wage earners (usually the household heads) are influenced by earnings-maximizing considerations while secondary earners (non-heads in general) put more weight on other socio-economic factors. The results also suggest that there is a hidden cost associated with uneven directional growth in the Toronto CMA. It is suggestive that urban planning strategies should reflect consideration of the greater desire or need for accessibility on the part of secondary wage earners (non-heads) and the need to balance residential and job opportunities at the extending margin of the urban area.     

Household location in a linear multi-center metropolitan area

The application of monocentric models of residential location to the analysis of metropolitan areas with more than one center of economic activity, produces a distorted view of the spatial distribution of urban variables such as land values, housing prices, etc. This distortion results from the fact that monocentric models tend to underestimate the values of these variables in areas lying between the centers, and yield wider residential areas toward the outskirts of the city. In this paper, a model of household location is developed, which attempts to correct this distortion by simultaneously considering the urban centers during the residential location process.     

美国大都市区的治理模式

1970年代以后,美国大都市区发展呈现出新趋势,即分散、多中心模式大都市区的增加。城市地域面积不断扩大,对大都市区的治理提出了新的挑战。对二战以来美国大都市区治理模式的理论、实践进行考察,分析其中利弊。     

The demand for industrial sites in a metropolitan area: Theory,empirical evidence,and policy implications

A model of urban manufacturing location is developed in order to explain the demand for industrial sites in a metropolitan area. Within the theory of qualitative choice behavior, firms identified by a set of eight characteristics are viewed as selecting sites possessing two attributes of varying degrees of importance to different kinds of firms. Using a multinomial logit specification, the model is estimated for the Cincinnati SMSA. The results lend support to the firm-specific nature of the site selection process. Information concerning the determination of the spatial distribution of the firm types in Cincinnati is derived from the analysis. Implications for the possible effectiveness of a policy initiative designed to alter existing patterns of urban industrial location conclude the paper.     

Community income distributions in a metropolitan area

We extend de Bartolome and Ross [C.A.M. de Bartolome, S.L. Ross, Equilibrium with local governments and commuting: Income sorting vs. income mixing, Journal of Urban Economics 54 (2003) 1–20] to the case when the income distribution in the metropolitan area is a continuous distribution. In particular, we consider a circular central city surrounded by a suburban community. All households must commute to the metropolitan center and public service levels differ in the two jurisdictions. There is intra-jurisdictional and inter-jurisdictional capitalization. Our model has an equilibrium in which the income distributions of the central city and of the suburban community do overlap. Our finding contrasts with the traditional finding of Alonso–Mills–Muth-type models of spatial sorting and of Tiebout-type models of fiscal sorting, both of which have been shown to predict that the income distributions of the two communities do not overlap. In addition, the model explains the fixedness in jurisdictional boundaries.     

A simultaneous model of workplace and residential location incorporating job search

The paper develops a model of spatial job search to provide a theory of workplace location with respect to a predetermined place of residence which, the paper argues, is needed to complement the theory of residential location from a predetermined workplace. By concentrating on the role of the skill level of the job seeker, the model distinguishes predictions of the workplace location based on search from those based on commuting considerations. Household survey data from Greater London is analyzed to support the propositions of the search model in the determination of the relationship between the workplace and the household location.     

An empirical model of a household's choice of activities

This paper analyses how households of school-age children choose to participate in the labour force, volunteer work, democratic assemblies, and child-related leisure activities. Contrary to previous studies, the model presented in this paper treats all of these household's choice of activities involving time allocation decisions as simultaneously determined. The empirical section uses qualitative data estimation techniques which permit a wide range of joint and interaction effects among the variables of the model. The results confirm the importance of time-opportunity cost variables as major determinants of household's choice of activities with the mother's education consituting a particularly important factor.     

Competition in multiple characteristics: An empirical test of location equilibrium

With products differentiated in multiple dimensions, the location equilibrium for a duopolistic market exhibits maximum differentiation in one dimension and minimum differentiation in all the other dimensions. This paper analyses whether this equilibrium arises using real data for the Spanish movie theatre exhibition market where the firms (cinemas) are differentiated along two main dimensions (their geographical location and the set of movies exhibited). Data not only shows a trade-off, in that closer theatres tend to choose a higher proportion of different movies, but also that there is a tendency towards either max–min or min–max product differentiation.     

城市居住空间分异与住区规划应对策略

针对当前我国大城市开始出现的不同收入阶层居住空间分异的趋势 ,从理论上分析了居住空间分异现象产生的机制 ,并对这一现象引发的社会效果进行了分析 ,从城市住区规划的角度提出了若干应对策略     

北京大都市住宅郊区化的基本特征与对策

本文在分析 1992— 2 0 0 0年北京地区住宅用地统计资料的基础上 ,针对北京日益突出的住宅郊区化现状 ,找出其扩展的规律 ,预测近 2 0年的发展趋势 ,最后提出合理引导城市郊区化的措施及对北京城市建设的建议。     

The location of initial public offering headquarters: An empirical examination

We study the headquarters location of U.S. firms with an initial public offering (IPO) over the 2001–2011 period. Specifically, we examine IPO intensity, defined as IPOs in a state scaled by state population. We find that IPO intensity is positively related to various measures of education. We also find that IPO intensity is positively related to an economic climate (freedom) index, degree of urbanization, and whether a state contains a financial center. Some economists see IPOs as a driver of economic growth. Thus, our results suggest factors that government officials may consider to increase the number of IPOs headquartered in their states.     

Coexistence and segregation of two groups in a metropolitan area through externalities

This paper proposes to regard the population distributions of two groups in a metropolitan area as equilibrium solutions of systems of ordinary differential equations. This approach—an extension of the Miyao's single subarea model to a many subarea case—allows us to incorporate the effect of fiscal/pecuniary neighborhood externalities into the classic Alonso-Mills-Muth model. This paper investigates its three typical cases, and obtains one coexistent and two segregated solutions. Consideration on these cases leads to the conclusion that substantial neighborhood externalities other than simple tax redistribution exist between the groups in the United States. As by-products of this analysis, it is also shown that positive bid gradients and discontinuities of bid prices are realized under suitable conditions.     

Occupation and the journey-to-work: Some further analysis

This paper examines the impact of occupation upon commuting distances in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). Specifically, from the residential and job location patterns of each occupational group a “minimum distance” indicator of the degree of job-residence access of each occupational group is developed with the aid of a linear programming transportation model. The differences in “minimum distance” that must be travelled by the members of each occupational group are explained. The actual distances travelled to work by the members of each occupational group are then investigated and attempts are made to separate the determinants of each occupational group's average journey-to-work distance into two main factors—job residence access and propensity to commute. On the basis of the locational patterns, the analysis suggests that job residence access was generally greater for blue-collar workers than for white-collar workers. Although occupation did have an impact, then, on journey-to-work distance through its influence upon locational patterns of job and residence, little evidence of its effect on the propensity to commute was found. Rather, the results suggest that the main determinant of this factor was sex since female workers exhibited a far lower disposition to commute than did their male counterparts.     

An empirical model of mainframe computer investment

This paper introduces a dynamic model of investment decisions in mainframe computer systems. I estimate and test the model using detailed micro data from a company in the telecommunications industry. The model accounts for ‘technological depreciation’ which distinguishes computers from other investment goods where physical depreciation is typically a key factor underlying replacement investment decisions. The company increased its installed mainframe computer capacity by over 30‐fold over the 10‐year sample period. Part of this growth was undoubtedly due to the huge increase in performance and the corresponding drop in the per unit cost of processing capacity of mainframes, a consequence of ‘Moore's law’. However, there was also tremendous growth in the need for computers for billing, account processing and other tasks, due to the rapid growth in the telecommunications industry over this same time period. I estimate the unknown parameters of the investment model using a nonlinear least squares–nested fixed‐point algorithm (NLS‐NFXP), which solves the Bellman equation underlying the dynamic model of investment and replacement of mainframe computers by nonlinear least squares. I demonstrate that it is feasible to estimate this model on an ordinary PC, whereas standard discretization approaches to solving the firm's optimal investment policy might not even be feasible using supercomputers. I show that the estimated model fits the data very well, and accurately captures the large growth in installed mainframe capacity, the timing and magnitude of replacement investment, as well as periodic upgrades of existing mainframe units. I use the model to decompose how much of the 30‐fold increase in mainframe computer capacity is due to ‘Moore's law’ (i.e. the huge drop in the unit cost of installed mainframe capacity), and how much is due to the growth in demand for services of mainframes, due to the rapid growth in demand for telecommunications services (particularly cell phone accounts) by the firm's customers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical model of the market for resale homes

A model of the search process for a house is formulated, where both buyers and sellers are permitted adaptively to alter reservation prices. Houses on the market in a given period are sold or withdrawn or search for a buyer is continued. The empirical predictions are examined for single-family residential homes.     

区域规划与大都市地区的公共服务供给——以美国明尼苏达州双城大都市区为例

区域规划是大都市地区公共服务供给的重要工具。区域规划需要法律、制度化的政治和财政为基础,其制度化程度越高,公共服务的效率就越高。美国双城地区的大都市理事会,作为有效区域规划机构的典型,其发展证明了州政府是区域规划机构有效运行、大都市区公共服务有效供给的关键因素。     

A psychometric analysis of residential location

Traditional housing needs studies focus on the trade-off between location and housing amenities. In most models, mode choice is viewed as conditional behavior in a given setting. New movers, however, select a new environment which includes a house, neighbourhood and transportation system. By using psychometric techniques, the attitudes and preferences of new movers to the suburbs of a large northeast city were analyzed to determine the relative importance in their selection process of the transportation characteristics of the new location. It was found that local and regional transportation and public transit played little role in selecting an apartment. There was no evidence of tradeoffs between travel time and living space postulated by urban economics. Most important to the choice process of these residents were internal characteristics of the apartment and pricing issues. This supports the idea that suburbanites chose to be captive auto users even when equivalent housing opportunities with transport alternatives are available. Implications for public transit and land use planning alternatives for the suburbs are discussed.