Sprawl and Blight

Jan Brueckner and Robert Helsley

No 2792, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to show how the same market failures that contribute to urban sprawl also contribute to urban blight. The paper develops a simple dynamic model in which new suburban and older central-city properties compete for mobile residents. The level of housing services generated by older properties depends on current maintenance or reinvest-ment expenditures. In this setting, market failures that reduce the cost of occupying suburban locations, thus leading to excessive suburban development, also depress central-city housing prices and undermine maintenance incentives, leading to deficient levels of central-city rein-vestment. Corrective policies that shift population from the suburbs to the center result in higher levels of reinvestment in central-city housing, therefore reducing blight.

Keywords: urban sprawl; blight; market failures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Sprawl and blight (2011)
Working Paper: Sprawl and Blight (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2792

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