The Economics of Density: Evidence from the Berlin Wall

Konferenzbeitrag

This paper develops a quantitative model of city structure to separate agglomeration forces, dispersion forces and fundamentals as determinants of location choices. The model remains tractable and amenable to empirical analysis because of stochastic shocks to worker productivity, which yield a gravity equation for commuting ows. To empirically disentangle alternative determinants of location choices, we use Berlin s division and reuni cation as a source of exogenous variation in the surrounding concentration of economic activity. Using disaggregated data on land prices, workplace employment and residence employment for thousands of city blocks for 1936, 1986 and 2006, we nd that the model can account both qualitatively and quantitatively for the observed changes in city structure.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2013: Wettbewerbspolitik und Regulierung in einer globalen Wirtschaftsordnung - Session: Urban Economics I ; No. B10-V1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913- ; Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure ; Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Sturm, Daniel ; Ahlfeldt, Gabriel ; Redding, Stephen ; Wolf, Nikolaus
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
• (where): Kiel und Hamburg
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/79873
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET