Are Big Cities Bad Places to Live? Estimating Quality of Life across Metropolitan Areas

David Albouy

No 14472, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The standard revealed-preference estimate of a city's quality of life is proportional to that city's cost-of-living relative to its wage-level. Adjusting estimates to account for federal taxes, non-housing costs, and non-labor income produces more plausible quality-of-life estimates than in the previous literature. Unlike previous estimates, adjusted quality-of-life measures successfully predict how housing costs rise with wage levels, are positively correlated with popular "livability" rankings and stated preferences, and do not decrease with city size. Mild seasons, sunshine, hills, and coastal proximity account for most inter-metropolitan quality-of-life differences. Amendments to quality-of-life measures for labor-market disequilibrium and household heterogeneity provide additional insights.

JEL-codes: H4 J3 Q51 Q54 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-lab, nep-tur and nep-ure
Note: EEE LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (146)

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