At borders where rich and poor countries meet, services prices differ hugely. In principle, price differentials could be exploited to mutual benefit, offering improved job opportunities to the poor as well as better shopping opportunities to the rich. However, cross-border shopping is often...

One explanation of the recent real estate bubble might point to homeowners' artificially restricting housing supply. While empirical work has not found unequivocal evidence in support of this hypothesis, homeowners may well be restricting supply nonetheless, and without this restriction...

This paper argues that homeowners, if sufficiently influential, may attempt to manipulate housing prices. The paper presents an instance of, and sets out the political economy behind, one particular homeowner-made housing price bubble (in East Germany). Yet ultimately the paper suggests that...

We suggest that public housing matters for FDI. We assume that FDI creates gains for some residents and losses for others. Losers from FDI will oppose FDI. To win support for FDI, local government may want to pay compensation in cash. In the paper’s model, however, cash payments are not...

A country's urban silhouettes prophesy its future climate policy, or so this paper argues. The more its city silhouettes are skewed to the periphery, the more likely a country is to implement the carbon tax. This is why the effect of a country's urban form on greenhouse gas emissions -- a bone...

Urban policy visibly molds city shape. This paper's interest is in how city shape (less visibly) molds urban policy. The paper finds: A sufficiently skewed city will look after its center. That is, the more skewed a city's shape towards the city periphery, the more likely an urban majority...

Global emissions of carbon dioxide need to fall lest climate change will accelerate. Any effective climate policy must raise the price of carbon consumption. From an urban perspective, one desirable effect of a carbon tax would be to induce households to move closer to where they work. This...

Many countries subsidize homeownership, and Germany is no exception. However, for an interlude of 12 years Germany also paused its subsidy. Over these twelve years most of the country's 100 largest cities saw their central city population expand. We explore subsidy removal's role in center...

Subsidizing homeownership makes cities decentralize, so Muth (1967) suggested over half a century ago, and so Voith (1999) and Glaeser (2011) have argued more recently. This paper provides a first quasi-experimental test of "Muth's hypothesis". We analyze a homeownership subsidy's effects on...

Aktuellen Schätzungen zufolge stehen etwa 1 Mio. Mietwohnungen in Ostdeutschland leer, ohne dass die ostdeutschen Wohnungsmieten sinken würden. Vielmehr stagnieren die Mieten weiterhin knapp unterhalb des westdeutschen Niveaus. Nur wenige Märkte dürften auf ein Überschussangebot so...