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Fifty Years of Urban Accessibility: The Impact of Urban Railway Network on the Land Gradient in Industrializing Berlin

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  • Gabriel Ahlfeldt
  • Nicolai Wendeland

Abstract

As the first to use an archival data set on historical land values of Berlin, Germany, from 1890 to 1936, we exploit exogenous variation in transport technology in order to test the validity of the monocentric city model. Endogenously determining the CBD, we conduct cross-section and time-difference analysis and model the land gradient in terms of straight-line distance and travel times. A counterfactual scenario indicates that a large proportion of urban decentralization is attributable to improvements in transport infrastructure. Controlling for spatial dependency, results suggest that the monocentric model fitted the city structure until the mid 20th century.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Ahlfeldt & Nicolai Wendeland, 2008. "Fifty Years of Urban Accessibility: The Impact of Urban Railway Network on the Land Gradient in Industrializing Berlin," KOF Working papers 08-208, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:kof:wpskof:08-208
    DOI: 10.3929/ethz-a-005705229
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    Cited by:

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    3. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Wendland, Nicolai, 2009. "Looming stations: Valuing transport innovations in historical context," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 97-99, October.
    4. Maennig, Wolfgang & Wilhelm, Stefan, 2023. "News and noise in crime politics: The role of announcements and risk attitudes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Steffen Q. Mueller, 2020. "Pre- and within-season attendance forecasting in Major League Baseball: a random forest approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(41), pages 4512-4528, September.
    6. Wolfgang Maennig & Stefan Wilhelm, 2023. "Crime Prevention Effects of Data Retention Policies," Working Papers 074, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    7. Justina A.V. Fischer & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2010. "The Impact of Institutions on Firms’ Rejuvenation Policies: Early Retirement with Severance Pay versus Simple Lay-Off. A Cross-European Analysis," Working Papers 034, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    8. Wolfgang Maennig, 2017. "Major Sports Events: Economic Impact," Working Papers 058, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    9. Steffen Q. Mueller & Patrick Ring & Maria Schmidt, 2019. "Forecasting economic decisions under risk: The predictive importance of choice-process data," Working Papers 066, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    10. Leo Doerr, 2024. "Aid and growth: Asymmetric effects?," Working Papers 076, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    11. Daniel P. McMillen, 2010. "Issues In Spatial Data Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 119-141, February.
    12. Franziska K. Kruse & Wolfgang Maennig, 2019. "Yellow Cards and Suspension by Choice: Determinants and Asymmetries," Working Papers 064, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    13. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Wolfgang Maennig & Felix J. Richter, 2017. "Zoning in reunified Berlin," Working Papers 059, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    14. Wolfgang Maennig, 2023. "Centralization in National High-Performance Sports Systems: Reasons, Processes, Dimensions, Characteristics, and Open Questions," Working Papers 073, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    15. Wolfgang Maennig, 2017. "Public Referenda and Public Opinion on Olympic Games," Working Papers 057, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.
    16. Wolfgang Maennig, 2017. "Governance in Sports Organizations," Working Papers 060, Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transport Innovations; Land Values; Location Productivity; Economic History;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services
    • N9 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History
    • R33 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Nonagricultural and Nonresidential Real Estate Markets
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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