Department of Economics
Fall Quarter, 2005
Syllabus - A plan, not a Contract
I. BASIC
INFORMATION
Course: EC
330 - Urban Economics
6:05-9:25
p.m. M - 402 Millett
Hall
Instructor: Dr.
John P. Blair
Phone: 775-3484/775-3070
Office: 260-B
Rike Hall
Office Hours: 10:00-11:00
MWF; 5:30-6:00 p.m., and by appointment
E-mail: John.Blair@Wright.edu
Textbooks: Blair,
Local Economic Development, Sage, 1995.
P.
Brophy and A. Shabercoff, A Guide to Careers in Community Development,
2001
II. COURSE
OBJECTIVES
This course is about linkages between various urban
problems and policies. Your job
will be to determine how everything fits together. It is intended to provide you with an
understanding of how urban economics work and what types of policies will shape
urban development. While economic
forces are dominant, this course includes an emphasis on interdisciplinary
perspectives. The course is
intended to (1) provide a general overview of urban economics perspective on
issues and (2) provide a foundation to pursue additional work in urban
management.
III. GRADING
There will be two short answer/essay exams and the
final accounting for 70% of your grade.
In addition, a poster linking various topics is required and each
student will be assigned a class participation grade. The course grade will be the average of
the four as follows:
Test
1 20%
Test
2 20%
Paper 20%
Participation 10%
Final 30%
Normally, I grade on a 90, 80, 70, 60 scale. Grading you in class participation is
difficult and involves my subjective opinions. Your paper assignment is to create visual
– PowerPoint, map, poster, etc. – with an explanatory memo (3-4
pages) on the topic “Leverage Points in Urban Policy”. By emphasizing leverage points, I expect
you to consider urban policies that have broad and beneficial repercussions. I want you to show that you understand
how things are connected. A policy
that improves many problems and potentially set in motion a dynamic (ripple
effects) for further improvement is the kind of leverage point we seek.
We will have three very interesting and informative
guest speakers.
IV. MODE OF
INSTRUCTION
This is a course that all of you have some familiarity
with based on your life experiences.
So we all bring some valuable insights to the table. I will use the lecture discussion
method, with an emphasis on the discussion. I’ll call on you and expect you to
comprehend the material enough to provide a cogent reply.
All reading assignments can be accessed in either the
textbooks or through the
V. ASSIGNMENT
Week
Sept. 12 Introduction:
Blair
LED, pp. 15-21
Brophy CCD, Ch. 1-2
Sept. 19 Market
Logic and Economic Problems
Blair
LED,
Wilbur
Thompson, “The City as a Distorted Price System.
Psychology Today, Aug. 1968
(on reserve).
Sept. 26 Review,
Exam and Export Base----AT THE
BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND SOME TEST QUSTIONS FOR THIS EXAM
LED
Oct. 3 The
Practice of Local Economic Development
Blair
LED,
Herbert
Rubin “Shoot Anything That Flies, Claim Anything That Falls”
Economic Development Quarterly,
vol. 2, No. 3, August 1988
(on reserve).
*Christian Howard, V. P. Entrepreneurial Development,
Oct. 10 Land
Use and Urban Sprawl
Blair,
LED,
*Tony
Bourne, Manager of Work Force Development,
Area Chamber of Commerce
Oct. 17 Exam,
and Poverty AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIMD
SOME TEST QUESTIONS FOR THIS EXAM
Michael
B. Teitz, The Causes of Inner-City Poverty. Cityscape,
vol. 3, #3, 1998 (on reserve)
Oct. 24 Education,
and Crime
Arthur
O’Sullivan, “The Urban Education Problem” in Urban Economics,
McGraw-Hill, 2003 (on reserve)
Dan
A. Lewis, “Crime and Community”, Cityscape, vol 2, #2, May 1996
(on reserve)
Oct. 31 Transportation
and Urban Finance
Blair,
LED,
*Diane
Shannon, Economist, Office of
Management & Budget, City of
Nov. 7 Urban
Futures and You
Blair,
LED,
Brophy and Shabecoff, CCP,
Nov. 14 Final
Paper
test questions for exam 1
Who are the key actors
in the community development process?
Briefly state their roles.
Be able to explain how a banker or insurance company manager might be involved
in the process?
Relate economic
development to community development
What are the three
prongs of the community development process? Why are all three prongs considered necessary for development to occur?
Explain why public
officials should understand the logic of market outcomes.
What is the relationship
between population density and externalities?
What is the relationship
between anomy, community and externalities?*
Who are the key actors
in the community development process?
Briefly state their
roles.
What is the role of
Community Development Corporations in the process of urban revitalization?
In spite of budgetary
problems and so forth, community development programs seem to keep
growing. Why?
Why and under what
conditions do market outcomes tend to be optimal? Use a S&D curve to
illustrate your point.
Are market outcomes
usually optimal? Explain and give
examples. (This is an opinion question and your answer will be evaluated on the
bases of your analysis).
Why is it difficult for
local governments to deal with equity issues? Give an example.
Draw a stylized map of a
metropolitan area. Label the
component parts.
What is the relationship
between the elasticity of demand for labor and the effects of a minimum wage
law?
If one firm finds a way
to improve the productivity of its workers, say by providing workers with
relaxing music during work, wages will not be effected even though the value of
the marginal product (worker productivity) increases. Explain and illustrate.
Why are externalities a
particular “urban problem”
What is the relationship
between the problem of externalities and the sense of community that many
people seek?
What do economists have
to say about improving the public sector?
What do they ignore or minimize?
Develop an original
example of how local governments might improve urban problems by relying more
on the price mechanism.
If a good is free it
will be used to the point where the costs of producing an extra unit are
greater than the benefits.
Evaluate.
Test questions for exam
2
What is the export base theory and what are the criticisms?
Why is the concept of basic and nonbasic employment important?
Why do some economists believe that the service sector is really the engine of local economic growth? What do you think?
What is the local multiplier and what are the sources of leakages? Give a numerical example.
What are the key points of Thompson’s and Jacobs’ theories of local economic growth?
Describe the land development /planning process. Why might several iterations of this process be necessary?
Describe how the ideas of Ricardo might be relevant to land use decisions today.
Describe the
concept of cumulative causation and explain how it might suggest a danger
regarding the
Is local economic development a zero sum game?
Evaluate four of the five “characteristics of complex systems” described by Forrester. How might these relate to the paper you are working on for this course?
What is your opinion of the Endogenous Growth Deficit explanation of inner city poverty.
Of the hypotheses on inner city poverty suggested by Teitz and Chapple, which do you believe is the most creditable? Why? You may discuss more than one.
Given Rubin’s perspective, what kind of activities will ED practitioners most likely engage?
How will housing markets in the core and periphery be affected by a more stringent growth control (“smart growth” or anti-sprawl) policy?
Can the laissez-faire market solve the problem of urban sprawl? Why or why not?
Some possible test questions.
Explain Baumal’s Disease. What are its implications?
Illustrate how a sales tax can be shifted forward to consumers or backward to producers. What is the role of elasticity of supply and demand in shifting?
Why did Henry George consider a tax on land efficient?
Characteristics of a good tax involve efficiency, equity and revenue elasticity. Explain each factor.
May observers believe that projects that have costs greater than benefits should be undertaken. Do you agree or disagree? Support your answer.
What is the role of the discount rate in cost benefit studies?
What are the characteristics of the futurist perspective? Evaluate and compare to econometric forecasting.
Describe the planning process.
What advantages do Delphi forecasting have over traditional economic forecasting?
What is the “voucher system” in education? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
Many scholars have built production functions for education. For instance they attempt to find statistical significance of key variables---family income, race, teacher pay, per pupil spending and so forth. What are the weaknesses of this approach?
Does fear of crime inhibit or stimulate collective action. Describe the reasoning or evidence for both side of the question. What do you think?
Illustrate the difference between a lump sum grant and a grant that increases with local spending on education.
What is the central city/ suburban exploitation thesis?
Describe a realistic career path for you in the field of economic or community development.
Look for one question from previous lists of questions.