The preservation of historic districts—is it worth it?

I investigate the welfare effect of conservation areas that preserve historic districts by regulating development. Such regulation may improve the quality of life but does so by reducing housing productivity—that is, the efficiency with which inputs (land and non-land) are converted into housing services. Using a unique panel dataset for English cities and an instrumental variable approach, I find that conservation areas lead to higher house prices for given land values and building costs (lower housing productivity) and higher house prices for given wages (higher quality of life). The overall welfare impact is found to be negative

Game of zones

Posted by Sevrin Waights, LSE Conservation areas seem like an uncontroversial policy. They protect the visual appearance of historic neighbourhoods – for example, by preventing your neighbours installing modern ‘improvements’ such as PVC windows

Does the law of one price hold for hedonic prices?

Hedonic prices of locational attributes in urban land markets are determined by a process of spatial arbitrage that is similar to that which underpins the law of one price. If hedonic prices deviate from their spatial equilibrium values then individuals can benefit from changing locations. I examine whether the law holds for the hedonic price of rail access using a unique historical dataset for Berlin over the period 1890-1914, characterised by massive investment in the transport infrastructure. I estimate the hedonic price of rail access across multiple urban neighbourhoods and time periods to generate a panel dataset of hedonic price differences that I test for stationarity using a panel unit root test. Across multiple specifications I consistently fail to reject the null hypothesis of no unit root and accept the alternative hypothesis that the law holds. My estimates indicate a half-life for convergence to the law of one price that lies between 0.28 and 1.14 years. This result is consistent with spatial equilibrium

Spermatophore production and sperm utilisation in the smooth newt <i>Triturus v vulgaris</i>

This study investigates spermatophore production and sperm utilisation in the smooth newt Triturus v. vulgaris. Chapter one outlines the natural history of the species and describes the physiology of reproduction and the sexual behaviour of male and female smooth newts. Chapter two describes the general methodology. Chapter three investigates the relationship between sperm accessory materials and spermatophore production. Spermatophore base height was correlated with male body size. The size of the glands that secrete the spermatophores was best predicted by body size, crest height and time post deposition. Chapter four determines the gametic strategies exhibited by males. Males may be optimising their spermatophore output by depositing spermatophores of similar size and sperm content, but production may be limited by the availability of sperm and sperm accessory materials. Chapter five examines the relationship between male body size and seasonal spermatophore production. Spermatophore production was correlated with body size, although crest height was the best predictor. Chapter six investigates sperm utilisation in females. Female smooth newts may require courtship as well as insemination to induce ovulation and they may need to remate during the season in order to lay a full clutch. Chapter seven investigates sperm utilisation due to polyspermy. Between 1 and 20 sperm may enter the ovum, although some ova were found to contain much higher numbers. Chapter eight discusses the results from the preceding chapters. Male reproductive success may be limited by spermatophore production and by females' utilisation of sperm. Female reproductive success is related to an individual's fecundity, but this study has shown that it may be also partly determined by the number of mates obtained and the timing of insemination. Mating patterns in smooth newts may be influenced by females' requirements for sperm as well as by males' seeking multiple mates to enhance their reproductive success

The negro as an economic factor in Alabama.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston Universit

Does gentrification displace poor households? An ‘identification-via-interaction’ approach

My theoretical model motivates an ‘identification-via-interaction’ (IvI) approach that separates the causal impact of gentrification on poor exits from endogenous channels. In the empirical analysis, I create a measure of gentrification as the increase in the share of neighbourhood residents who hold a university degree based on the UK Census for 1991, 2001 and 2011. Applying the IvI approach for a sample of private renters from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991–2008, I find that gentrification results in displacement. The IvI approach has general applications in estimating causal relationships where variables are highly endogenous

Essays on the urban economics of housing and land markets

This thesis is comprised of four main chapters. Although the chapters are distinct works, they are related by their focus on housing and land markets and their reliance on urban economic theory and methods. They aim to contribute to the understanding of how these spatial markets function in order to work towards an improved implementation of urban policy. In particular this thesis tries to understand how house prices are determined by demand- and supply-side factors across different scales. It provides support for the idea that at a local level prices are determined by demand, in that they compensate for differences in locational amenities. It also investigates some of the consequences of price determination such as displacement of original residents from gentrifying neighbourhoods and welfare losses as a result of planning restrictions to development. The overall message that emerges from the body of work is that urban policy should pay close attention to the way that supply and demand interact to determine prices in markets for housing and land

Understanding day care enrolment gaps

We document day care enrolment gaps by family background in a country with a universal day care system (Germany). Research demonstrates that children of less educated or foreign-born parents can benefit the most from day care, making it important to understand why such enrolment gaps exist. Using a unique data set that records both stated demand and actual usage of day care we demonstrate that differences in demand cannot fully explain the enrolment gaps. Investigating supply-side factors using quasi-experimental designs, we find that reducing both parental fees and scarcity of places significantly decreases enrolment gaps by parental education but not by parental country of birth. We discuss implications for policy

Age-Friendly Standards Around ICT

As the European population ages, there is an escalating need for age-friendly standards to support development of effective products and services involving information and communication technologies (ICT), thereby improving usability for all consumers, including older people. Co-production with users through inclusive and participatory processes provides several benefits to standardization, including enhanced understanding of market needs, clearer identification and mitigation of risks, and increased legitimacy of the standards developed. Ideally, co-production includes users from a range of backgrounds. However, older people, especially those aged over 80 years, are often the least likely in the population to be involved. This paper reports on barriers and challenges to inclusive co-production from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders participating in the European Commission-funded project PROGRESSIVE: Progressive Standards around ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing. It identifies potential ways to improve the participation of older people in the co-production of standards