The unitary elasticity property in a monocentric city with negative exponential population density

Weihua Zhao ()

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2017, vol. 62, issue C, 1-11

Abstract: The central prediction of the monocentric city model is that real estate prices, density of development, population density, and land rent decline with the distance from urban center. The spatial pattern follows a negative exponential under the conditions derived by Brueckner (1982) and McDonald and Kim (1987). Research has demonstrated that these exponential density gradients have flattened over time due to rising income and falling transportation costs. This paper identifies a heretofore unknown property in a monocentric city with negative exponential population density, the “unitary elasticity property (UEP).” If a city is characterized by a constant density gradient, even if the slope of that gradient is changing over time, the sum of the elasticity of central density and the elasticity of land area with respect to population change will be approximately equal to unity. When this new prediction is tested, it fits US cities fairly well. Further analysis demonstrates that topographic barriers and age of housing stock are the key factors explaining the deviation from the UEP.

Keywords: R00; R14; Monocentric City Model; central population density; topography; land use regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046216302824
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:62:y:2017:i:c:p:1-11

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2016.10.005

Access Statistics for this article

Regional Science and Urban Economics is currently edited by D.P McMillen and Y. Zenou

More articles in Regional Science and Urban Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().