Applied Regional and Urban Economics 2400-ZEWW939
The course will be taught in an intensive workshop setting over the course of one week in January (daily meetings between 20-24 January, 6 didactic hours each day in two blocks – hybrid and onsite). The students are asked to bring their own laptops with R v.3.3.0+ and RStudio Desktop installed in order to take active part in the practical live code exercises discussed during the class.
---------
Instructor:
Prof. Andrea Caragliu
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
andrea.caragliu@polimi.it
The course is structured as an intensive 30-hours class, Monday through Friday (20-24 January 2025). Mornings introduce the theoretical underpinnings of the methods to be see in class in the afternoon. Morning classes will be conducted in a hybrid setting with recordings provided for later reference. While the evening classes will be conducted as an onsite intensive practical workshop on methods with live coding exercises in R.
The plan for the lecture is as follows:
Jan. 20, 2025 morning - Determinants of agglomeration economies
Jan. 20, 2025 afternoon - Empirics of agglomeration economies
Jan. 21, 2025 morning - The principle of accessibility
Jan. 21, 2025 afternoon - Empirics of the accessibility principle
Jan. 22, 2025 morning - The gravitational model
Jan. 22, 2025 afternoon - Empirics of the gravitational model
Jan. 23, 2025 morning - The concept of proximity
Jan. 23, 2025 afternoon - Empirics of proximity measures
Jan. 24, 2025 morning - The hedonic price method
Jan. 24, 2025 afternoon - Empirics of the hedonic price method
Class is dedicated to students who would like to extend their knowledge about the spatial effects in econometrical and statistical analysis. Through a combination of theoretical foundations and empirical applications, this course delves into how spatial relationships influence economic outcomes. Students will explore key topics such as agglomeration economies, accessibility, gravitational models, proximity, and hedonic price methods. Each topic is designed to illustrate the importance of location, distance, and spatial structure in shaping economic behavior and regional development. This course emphasizes both the conceptual understanding and practical application of these ideas, providing students with the skills needed to incorporate spatial analysis into their research and professional work. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with a comprehensive toolkit for analyzing regional and urban economic phenomena, making them valuable contributors to fields like urban planning, regional policy, real estate analysis, and spatial data science.
Class attendees are suggested to read the following textbook prior to the beginning of the class:
Roberta Capello, “Regional Economics”, Routledge, 2015 (2nd edition)
Along the course, readings, codes and data will be made available through a dedicated repository.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After this course, the student will:
• Gain a solid understanding of the key concepts in regional and urban economics, including agglomeration economies, accessibility, proximity, and spatial interactions.
• Be proficient in applying econometric and statistical models to analyze spatial data, such as gravitational models and hedonic price methods.
• Understand how to empirically test and evaluate the principles of accessibility, agglomeration, and proximity using real-world data.
• Be introduced to advanced techniques for modeling spatial relationships and their effects on economic outcomes.
• Acquire essential skills to interpret spatial economic phenomena, such as regional development, urban growth, and spatial inequality, through quantitative analysis.
• Have the ability to apply spatial econometric techniques to inform public policy, urban planning, and economic development strategies.
• Be equipped with the practical knowledge to integrate spatial effects into economic models, making informed decisions based on spatial data in various fields, from real estate to transportation planning.
Assessment criteria
The final grade will be based on the exam / project result.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: