Search Results
Working Paper
Evaluating Transportation Improvements Within Cities Using Quantitative Spatial Models
I describe the use of quantitative spatial models (QSMs) to evaluate the effects of transportation infrastructure within cities. After discussing the motivation for QSMs relative to other economic measurement techniques, I develop a simple QSM and detail the components that enter into the model. Next, I consider identification challenges and practical implementation. Finally, I highlight several shortcomings common in applications of QSMs, as well as growth areas where QSMs show promise for future development.
Journal Article
From Stylized to Quantitative Spatial Models of Cities
This paper describes the progression from a standard monocentric model of a city to its analog in the quantitative spatial framework recently reviewed by Redding and Rossi-Hansberg (forthcoming). In this progression, we preserve the basics of preferences, technology, and endowments across models. The monocentric model allows for many of a city's characteristics to be endogenous, including size, population, wages, and commercial and residential land rents, but it is also highly stylized. In contrast, quantitative spatial models impose far fewer restrictions in the way that these variables ...
Working Paper
Evaluating Transportation Improvements Quantitatively: A Primer
How do we evaluate the welfare gains from transportation infrastructure investment? We present a quantitative spatial framework that integrates both traffic and economic responses to infrastructure investment and derive the elasticity of aggregate welfare to improvements in the transportation network. This approach extends the traditional "social savings" method to incorporate agglomeration and dispersion externalities and endogenous traffic congestion. We calibrate the model to the US freight transport network and assess the welfare impact of upgrading segments of the US Interstate Highway ...