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Spatial patterns of development and the British housing market

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  • Tim Leunig
  • Henry Overman

Abstract

The government wants 3m houses built by 2020. Economic theory tells us their locations matter for living standards. Economics cannot tell us the optimal locations, but does show that houses are usually socially more valuable in high land-price areas, because additional workers are more productive in such places. Land-price data and evidence on urban agglomeration economies point to a significant rise in the optimal sizes of some UK cities and that optimal locations have moved from industrial-revolution cities towards the South-east. As a result, significantly expanding London, its commuter satellites, and other high-skill places in the UK, but particularly in the South-east, is likely to generate substantial rises in wages and living standards. In these places the planning system dramatically constrains the economy from responding with nineteenth-century dynamism, when new economic opportunities led some towns to grow dramatically.
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Suggested Citation

  • Tim Leunig & Henry Overman, 2008. "Spatial patterns of development and the British housing market," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(1), pages 59-78, spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:24:y:2008:i:1:p:59-78
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grn004
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    Cited by:

    1. Rosés, Joan R., 2011. "Spanish housing markets during the first phase of the rural-urban transition process," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp11-08, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    2. Mojgan Hatami & Abu Hassan Abu Bakar & Nurwati Badarulzaman, 2013. "Impact of Migration on Housing Prices: A Case of Low-Income Households in Iran," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 9(1), pages 28-35, February.
    3. Cinzia Rienzo, 2017. "Real wages, wage inequality and the regional cost-of-living in the UK," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1309-1335, June.
    4. Juan Carmona Pidal & Markus Lampe & Joan Ramón Rosés, 2012. "Housing Markets during the Rural-Urban Transition: Evidence from early 20th Century Spain," Working Papers 0030, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    5. Hannu Laurila, 2011. "Optimisation of City Size," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(4), pages 737-747, March.
    6. Nicholas Crafts, 2013. "Returning to Growth: Policy Lessons from History," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(2), pages 255-282, June.
    7. John Gathergood & Fabian Gunzinger & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Edika Quispe-Torreblanca & Neil Stewart, 2020. "Levelling Down and the COVID-19 Lockdowns: Uneven Regional Recovery in UK Consumer Spending," Papers 2012.09336, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    8. ., 2014. "Urban economic performance," Chapters, in: Urban Economics and Urban Policy, chapter 2, pages 11-53, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Crafts, Nicholas, 2012. "Creating Competitive Advantage: Policy Lessons from History," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 91, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    10. Juan Carmona & Markus Lampe & Joan Rosés, 2017. "Housing affordability during the urban transition in Spain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(2), pages 632-658, May.
    11. Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2013. "Innovation and spatial inequality in Europe and USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, January.
    12. Liu, Xiangling, 2019. "The income elasticity of housing demand in New South Wales, Australia," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 70-84.
    13. Lewis Dijkstra & Enrique Garcilazo & Philip McCann, 2013. "The Economic Performance of European Cities and City Regions: Myths and Realities," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 334-354, March.

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    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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