IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v70y2018icp312-329.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Z-axis: Elevation gradient effects in Urban America

Author

Listed:
  • Ye, Victor Yifan
  • Becker, Charles M.

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of hilliness effects in American urban communities. Using data from seventeen cities, we establish robust relationships between topography and density, income and housing value gradients. We find that high-income households display strong preference not only for higher altitude but also for unevenness, leading to spatial income stratification at both the city and tract-level. We analyze potential causes of this propensity: micro-climate, crime, congestion, view effects, and use of public transit. We conclude that multi-dimensional spatial methods are crucial to investigations of cities with substantial unevenness. Moreover, redistributive social and economic policies must struggle with a fundamental, topographical dimension to inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Ye, Victor Yifan & Becker, Charles M., 2018. "The Z-axis: Elevation gradient effects in Urban America," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 312-329.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:70:y:2018:i:c:p:312-329
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.10.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046216303301
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.10.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scawthorn, Charles & Iemura, Hirokazu & Yamada, Yoshikazu, 1982. "The influence of natural hazards on urban housing location," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 242-251, March.
    2. Okmyung Bin & Ben Poulter & Christopher F. Dumas & John C. Whitehead, 2011. "Measuring The Impact Of Sea‐Level Rise On Coastal Real Estate: A Hedonic Property Model Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 751-767, October.
    3. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan, 2005. "Racial Sorting and Neighborhood Quality," NBER Working Papers 11813, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Rappaport, Jordan, 2007. "Moving to nice weather," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 375-398, May.
    5. Trond G. Husby & Henri L.F. Groot & Marjan W. Hofkes & Martijn I. Dröes, 2014. "Do Floods Have Permanent Effects? Evidence From The Netherlands," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 355-377, June.
    6. Sanghoon Lee & Jeffrey Lin, 2018. "Natural Amenities, Neighbourhood Dynamics, and Persistence in the Spatial Distribution of Income," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(1), pages 663-694.
    7. Courant, Paul N., 1978. "Racial prejudice in a search model of the urban housing market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 329-345, July.
    8. Jeffrey Lin, 2015. "The puzzling persistence of place," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Q2, pages 1-8.
    9. Rappaport, Jordan & Sachs, Jeffrey D, 2003. "The United States as a Coastal Nation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 5-46, March.
    10. Hoyt Bleakley & Jeffrey Lin, 2012. "Portage and Path Dependence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(2), pages 587-644.
    11. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan & Kim Rueben, 2004. "An Equilibrium Model of Sorting in an Urban Housing Market," NBER Working Papers 10865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Matthew E. Kahn, 2007. "Gentrification Trends in New Transit-Oriented Communities: Evidence from 14 Cities That Expanded and Built Rail Transit Systems," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 155-182, June.
    13. Kok, Nils & Monkkonen, Paavo & Quigley, John M., 2014. "Land use regulations and the value of land and housing: An intra-metropolitan analysis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 136-148.
    14. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E. & Rappaport, Jordan, 2008. "Why do the poor live in cities The role of public transportation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Albert Saiz, 2010. "The Geographic Determinants of Housing Supply," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1253-1296.
    16. Marcy Burchfield & Henry G. Overman & Diego Puga & Matthew A. Turner, 2006. "Causes of Sprawl: A Portrait from Space," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 587-633.
    17. Rose, Louis A., 1989. "Topographical constraints and urban land supply indexes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 335-347, November.
    18. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2009. "The Wealth of Cities: Agglomeration Economies and Spatial Equilibrium in the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 983-1028, December.
    19. Grimaud, A. & Laffont, J. J., 1989. "Existence of a spatial equilibrium," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 213-218, March.
    20. Martin J. Bailey, 1966. "Effects of Race and of Other Demographic Factors on the Values of Single-Family Homes," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(2), pages 215-220.
    21. Shilling, James D. & Sirmans, C. F. & Benjamin, John D., 1989. "Flood insurance, wealth redistribution, and urban property values," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 43-53, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kala Seetharam Sridhar & Shivakumar Nayka, 2022. "Determinants of Commute Time in an Indian City," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 16(1), pages 49-75, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kahn, Matthew E. & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Cities and the Environment," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 405-465, Elsevier.
    2. Sanghoon Lee & Jeffrey Lin, 2018. "Natural Amenities, Neighbourhood Dynamics, and Persistence in the Spatial Distribution of Income," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(1), pages 663-694.
    3. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Ross, Stephen L., 2015. "Change and Persistence in the Economic Status of Neighborhoods and Cities," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1047-1120, Elsevier.
    4. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    5. Krimmel, Jacob, 2018. "Persistence of Prejudice: Estimating the Long Term Effects of Redlining," SocArXiv jdmq9, Center for Open Science.
    6. Lenzi, Camilla, 2016. "Co-invention networks and inventive productivity in US citiesAuthor-Name: Breschi, Stefano," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 66-75.
    7. Michael Amior & Alan Manning, 2018. "The Persistence of Local Joblessness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1942-1970, July.
    8. Breinlich, Holger & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2014. "Regional Growth and Regional Decline," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 4, pages 683-779, Elsevier.
    9. Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2015. "Agglomeration Theory with Heterogeneous Agents," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 171-245, Elsevier.
    10. Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet & Garcia-Lopez, Miquel-Angel & Pasidis, Ilias, 2018. "Amphitheaters, cathedrals and operas: The role of historic amenities on suburbanization," CEPR Discussion Papers 13129, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Cuberes, David & Roberts, Jennifer & Sechel, Cristina, 2019. "Household location in English cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 120-135.
    12. Adelheid Holl, 2019. "Natural Geography and Patterns of Local Population Growth and Decline in Spain: 1960–2011," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    13. Christian A. Nygaard & Sharon Parkinson, 2021. "Analysing the impact of COVID‐19 on urban transitions and urban‐regional dynamics in Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(4), pages 878-899, October.
    14. repec:esx:essedp:729 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2015. "Urban Land Use," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 467-560, Elsevier.
    16. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2012. "The Cost of Agglomeration: Land Prices in Cities," Working Papers hal-03461075, HAL.
    17. Farid Farrokhi, 2021. "Skill, Agglomeration, And Inequality In The Spatial Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(2), pages 671-721, May.
    18. Patrick Kline & Enrico Moretti, 2014. "People, Places, and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 629-662, August.
    19. Beaudry, Paul & Green, David A. & Sand, Benjamin M., 2014. "Spatial equilibrium with unemployment and wage bargaining: Theory and estimation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 2-19.
    20. Hilber, Christian A.L. & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2013. "On the origins of land use regulations: Theory and evidence from US metro areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 29-43.
    21. Carl Gaigne & Hans R.A. Koster & Fabien Moizeau & Jacques-François Thisse, 2020. "Income Sorting Across Space: The Role of Amenities and Commuting Costs," Working Papers SMART 20-06, INRAE UMR SMART.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Elevation; Hilliness; Household Income; Population Density; Urban gradients; Spatial modelling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:70:y:2018:i:c:p:312-329. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.