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For whom are cities good places to live?

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  • Fredrik Carlsen
  • Stefan Leknes

Abstract

In this paper we use survey data to examine heterogeneity in the urban gradient of life satisfaction. Are some sociodemographic groups more satisfied in cities than others? We find that young persons with tertiary education generally report higher levels of life satisfaction in Norway’s largest city, Oslo, whereas the elderly and the less educated are more satisfied elsewhere. These results may shed light on the ‘urban paradox’: the tendency of large cities in developed countries to have low levels of average subjective well-being and also why the received literature has produced mixed results, as the sociodemographic composition of cities varies.

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  • Fredrik Carlsen & Stefan Leknes, 2022. "For whom are cities good places to live?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2177-2190, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:56:y:2022:i:12:p:2177-2190
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2022.2046724
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    Cited by:

    1. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E Stokke, 2015. "Handling amenities in income taxation: Analysis of tax distortions in a migration equilibrium model," Working Paper Series 16315, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    2. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E. Stokke, 2017. "National income taxation and the geographic distribution of population," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(5), pages 879-902, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • 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)
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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