DEVELOPMENT POLICIES,URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT AND DEFORESTATION: THE ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TAX POLICY IN A TWO-SECTOR MODEL*

ABSTRACT. We model an economy of a developing country that produces an exportable manufactured good in an urban sector and a nontradable rural good. Manufacturing faces a fixed wage, which encourages urban unemployment. Changes in cultivated area in the rural sector involve deforestation or reforestation at frontiers. Government taxes to pay for urban infrastructure that assists the manufacturing sector. Increases in urban infrastructure may relieve or exacerbate frontier deforestation but expands manufacturing employment and reduces urban unemployment. Rural transportation improvements exacerbate frontier deforestation but expand employment in the urban manufacturing sector. A larger population, ceteris paribus, widens the rural-urban wage gap and exacerbates deforestation, but may cause manufacturing employment to expand or contract.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF DISTANCE TO SHOPPING CENTERS IN AN URBAN MODEL CONTEXT

ABSTRACT. We discuss the distance to shopping in the context of three fundamental theories: The Optimal City Theory, the Central Business District Theory and a Cost-Benefit Theory. Each is described and estimated separately by econometric models. The three theories are combined in a final model using the expansion method. The final model, including all three theories, is based on enquiry data from 15 Danish towns.     

SOLVING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL URBAN ACTIVITY MODEL OF LAND USE INTENSITY AND TRANSPORT CONGESTION*

ABSTRACT Recent developments in combining input-output and transportation planning models have made it possible to construct realistic comprehensive urban and regional activity models of land use intensity. These models form the basis for a rigorous approach to studying the interactions among urban activities. However, efficient computational solution methods for implementing such comprehensive models are still not available. In this paper, an efficient solution method for a nonlinear programming urban systems model is developed by combining Evans's partial linearization technique with Powell's hybrid method. The solution algorithm is applied to a small but realistic urban area with a detailed transportation network.     

FROM THE FIRM GROUND OF RESULT AND FACT TO THE TOSSING SEA OF CAUSE AND THEORY: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT*

Are government policies of any real significance in shaping the pattern of development in metropolitan regions? This essay summarizes the widely-held view that ‘economic forces’ determine the distribution of jobs and residences in urban areas, and argues that this conclusion involves serious conceptual difficulties. The essay then shows how the theory of political influence and related concepts can be used to clarify the issue of causation in urban development, and summarizes the authors' own substantive conclusions—that under certain specifiable conditions government activities do have a highly significant role in shaping metropolitan growth.