An urban general equilibrium model with multiple household structures and travel mode choice

Households in real cities are heterogeneous regarding their size and composition. An aspect usually neglected in urban models used to study economic and policy issues that arise in today's cities. We develop an urban general equilibrium model that takes a more complex household structure explicitly into account. The model is based on the single consumer type model of Anas and Xu (1999) or Anas and Rhee (2006) and treats the interactions of urban product, labor and land markets as well as linkages between city firms and different consumer types living in different household structures. Households differ not only in endowments, preferences and their valuation in regard to different travel modes, but also in size and the composition regarding their members. The implementation of a more complex household structure then allows studying a broad range of further urban economic issues, which treat different household structures differentlyurban economics; general equilibrium; household structure; location choice

Age Structure and Regional Income Growth

A spatial econometrics cross-section analysis of the NUTS2 regions of the EU15 is carried out to examine whether the age structure of the regional population or differences in the regional age pattern affect growth of regional per capita income. We apply two parsimonious models of the age structure and both provide evidence that there is such a link and that spatial autocorrelation occurs. The most significant growth effect is generated by the age groups which are about the age of 30. After correcting for country specific effects, the evidence is slightly weaker. --demographics,age structure,regional growth,spatial econometrics

Income tax deduction of commuting expenses and tax funding in an urban CGE study: the case of German cities

Germany like many other European countries subsidize commuting by granting the right to deduct commuting expenses from the income tax base. This regulation has often been changed and has regularly been under debate during the last decades. The pros (e.g. causing efficiency gains with respect to the spatial allocation of labor) and cons (e.g. causing urban sprawl) are well documented. Nonetheless, there is need for further research. For reasons of tractability the few models applied in the tax deduction related literature are based on restrictive assumptions particularly concerning the design of the income taxation scheme and the structure of households (neglecting household heterogeneity) and, most importantly, they do not integrate labor supply and location decision problems simultaneously. Here, for the first time, those and more features are taken into account in a full spatial general equilibrium simulation approach calibrated to an average German city. This model is applied to calculate the impacts of tax deductions on an urban economy thereby considering different funding schemes. Our results suggest that the tax deduction level currently chosen is below the optimal level in the case of income tax funding. If a change in the tax base occurs, e.g. toward consumption tax or energy tax funding, the optimal size of the subsidy should be even higher. Furthermore, the different policy packages cause a very differentiated pattern regarding welfare distribution, environmental (CO2 emissions) and congestion effects. We also find surprisingly small effects on urban sprawl characterized by suburbanization of residences and jobs, increasing commuting distances and spatial city growth. --urban general equilibrium model,commuting subsidies,income tax deduction

The age pattern of human capital and regional productivity

We explore the impact of the age structure of human capital on average regional productivity by applying a spatial econometric analysis based on an augmented Lucas-type production function. We also apply a new definition of regional human capital focusing on its availability. The estimates provide evidence that there are age specific human capital effects in Germany and that a temporary increase in regional productivity could occur during the demographic transition. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the availability based definition of human capital provides additional insight and so, could enrich future studies on regional human capital. --Regional Productivity,Human Capital,Demographic Change

Income tax deduction of commuting expenses and tax funding in an urban CGE study: the case of German cities

Germany like many other European countries subsidize commuting by granting the right to deduct commuting expenses from the income tax base. This regulation has often been changed and has regularly been under debate during the last decades. The pros (e.g. causing efficiency gains with respect to the spatial allocation of labor) and cons (e.g. causing urban sprawl) are well documented. Nonetheless, there is need for further research. For reasons of tractability the few models applied in the tax deduction related literature are based on restrictive assumptions particularly concerning the design of the income taxation scheme and the structure of households (neglecting household heterogeneity) and, most importantly, they do not integrate labor supply and location decision problems simultaneously. Here, for the first time, those and more features are taken into account in a full spatial general equilibrium simulation approach calibrated to an average German city. This model is applied to calculate the impacts of tax deductions on an urban economy thereby considering different funding schemes. Our results suggest that the tax deduction level currently chosen is below the optimal level in the case of income tax funding. If a change in the tax base occurs, e.g. toward consumption tax or energy tax funding, the optimal size of the subsidy should be even higher. Furthermore, the different policy packages cause a very differentiated pattern regarding welfare distribution, environmental (COâ‚‚ emissions) and congestion effects. We also find surprisingly small effects on urban sprawl characterized by suburbanization of residences and jobs and increasing commuting distances.

How does the household structure shape the urban economy?

Households in real cities are heterogeneous regarding their size and composition. This implies that the household structure -i.e. the (average) household size, the composition, the relative share of different household types, and the number of households - differs across cities. This aspect is usually neglected in urban models used to study economic and policy issues that arise in today's cities. Furthermore, the household structure might change over time. For instance, over the last decades average household size has decreased in many countries. Several implications of this change have been discussed, but usually not in regard to an urban economy with its interdependencies. We develop an applied urban general equilibrium model which explicitly takes the household structure into account and thus allows studying the impacts of changes in the household structure on an urban economy and its spatial pattern. The paper shows that changes in the household structure affect an urban economy in various ways and may contribute to explain economic and spatial effects on cities. Compared to a 'Base City' which reflects the actual household structure in the United States, urban labor force participation, housing demand, rents, wages as well as urban commuting and shopping patterns are considerably affected by, e.g., changes in the average household size in a city. For instance, wage inequality between differently skilled workers rises and extreme cross commuting drops to almost zero when the city turns into a pure 'Singles City'. --General equilibrium,Household structure,Household size,Location,Commuting

An urban general equilibrium model with multiple household structures and travel mode choice

Households in real cities are heterogeneous regarding their size and composition. An aspect usually neglected in urban models used to study economic and policy issues that arise in today's cities. We develop an urban general equilibrium model that takes a more complex household structure explicitly into account. The model is based on the single consumer type model of Anas and Xu (1999) or Anas and Rhee (2006) and treats the interactions of urban product, labor and land markets as well as linkages between city firms and different consumer types living in different household structures. Households differ not only in endowments, preferences and their valuation in regard to different travel modes, but also in size and the composition regarding their members. The implementation of a more complex household structure then allows studying a broad range of further urban economic issues, which treat different household structures differently. --Urban Economics,General Equilibrium,Household structure,Location choice

Regional age structure and economic growth: an econometric study for German regions

This paper analyses the impact of the regional age structure on growth of German regions. Based on a neoclassical growth model an augmented Solow model was derived and estimated in a spatial econometric approach. Besides labor and human capital, public spendings and urbanisation measures are controlled for. Adding the age structure of the employed labor force, which we use as proxy for the age pattern of human capital, improves the regression model significantly. Spatial autocorrelation is controlled for and supports OLS results. To get deeper insights in the effectiveness of the age structure quantile regression techniques are applied to distinguish the effects between various levels of growth rates. The results of the different estimation approaches provide evidence that the age structure matters for growth. --age structure,growth,public spending

Expression von E-Cadherin, Beta-Catenin und Mucin-1 bei einherdigen im Vergleich zu mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomen

Hintergrund und Zielsetzung: Die aktuelle TNM-Klassifikation berücksichtigt bis dato nicht die tatsächliche Tumorlast bei mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomen. Neuere Daten weisen darauf hin, dass mehrherdige Karzinome im Vergleich zu einherdigen Karzinomen bei identischem TNM-Stadium eine schlechtere Prognose hinsichtlich Gesamtüberleben und Rezidivauftreten haben. Ziel dieser Studie war es, mögliche Unterschiede in der Tumorbiologie von ein- und mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomen zu evaluieren. Material und Methoden: Wir verglichen retrospektiv 57 einherdige mit 55 mehrherdigen Mammakarzinompatientinnen. Aus diesem Gesamtkollektiv isolierten wir eine Matched-Pair-Gruppe mit 46 Patientinnen, deren Kollektive hinsichtlich Tumorgröße, Grading und Lymphknotenstatus übereinstimmten. Die Paraffinschnitte jeder Patientin wurden immunhistochemisch auf die Expression von E-Cadherin, Beta Catenin und Mucin-1 untersucht. Ergebnisse: Die E-Cadherin-Expression war bei den mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomen signifikant reduziert gegenüber den einherdigen Karzinomen (Gesamtkollektiv: p<0,0001; Matched-Pair-Gruppe: p=0,024). Die Beta-Catenin-Expression unterschied sich zwischen ein- und mehrherdigen Karzinomen kaum. Bei den multifokalen/multizentrischen Karzinomen nahm die Mucin-1-Expression mit steigendem Grading signifikant ab (Gesamtkollektiv: p=0,027; Matched-Pair-Gruppe: p=0,023), während sie bei den unifokalen Karzinomen leicht zunahm. Eine signifikante (p=0,003) positive Korrelation bestand zwischen der Expression von Beta-Catenin und E-Cadherin in der unifokalen Gruppe des Gesamtkollektivs. Schlussfolgerung: Erstmals wurden Oberflächenmoleküle bei ein- und mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomherden vergleichend untersucht. Die in dieser Studie gewonnenen Erkenntnisse weisen auf eine unterschiedliche Tumorbiologie zwischen ein- und mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomzellen. Weitere Studien werden nötig sein, um die Tumorbiologie im Hinblick auf die Herdigkeit zu untersuchen. Die Forschung nach neuen und zielgerichteten Therapieansätzen bei mehrherdigen Mammakarzinomen sollte weiter vorangetrieben werden