Joseph S. DeSalvo

The Effect of Transportation Subsidies on Urban Sprawl

This paper provides theoretical and empirical analyses of the effect of transportation subsidies on urban sprawl in a two-mode urban spatial model. Comparative static analysis shows, among other things, that the urban area contracts with a public transit subsidy but expands with an auto subsidy. The paper provides the first empirical test of these hypotheses and finds that the spatial size of the urbanized area shrinks with an increase in transit subsidies but increases at a decreasing rate with auto subsidies.

Congestion, Tolls, and the Economic Capacity of a Waterway*

THREE QUESTIONS ARISE WHENEVER CONGESTION OCCURS. THE FIRST QUESTION CONCERNS THE OPTIMAL USE OF A FACILITY (THE DETERMINATION OF ECONOMIC CAPACITY). THIS QUESTION MIGHT BE ANSWERED BY A SYSTEM OF OPTIMAL TOLLS OR SUBSIDIES WHICH EQUATE PRIVATE TO SOCIAL COST. TO ILLUSTRATE THE ANALYSIS, THE SOCIAL COST OF ADDING A TOW TO A WATERWAY WAS CALCULATED, AND THE TOLL WHICH WOULD CAUSE THE TOW OPERATOR TO FACE SOCIAL COST WAS DETERMINED. THE SECOND QUESTION CONCERNS THE DECISION TO EXPAND PHYSICAL CAPACITY (WHEN IS THE DEMAND SUFFICIENTLY LARGE TO JUSTIFY EXPANSION?). THIS QUESTION MIGHT BE ANSWERED BY A BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS OF THE EXPANSION DECISION. FOR EXAMPLE, THE BENEFIT OF EXPANDING A LOCK IS THE REDUCTION IN TOTAL LOCKING TIME. IF THIS DOLLAR BENEFIT EXCEEDS THE COST OF EXPANSION, PHYSICAL CAPACITY SHOULD BE INCREASED. THE THIRD QUESTION CONCERNS THE EFFECT OF A TOLL (OR OF ITS ABSENCE) ON THE CHARACTER OF THE SERVICE DEMANDED (THE AMOUNT OF SERVICE TIME DEMANDED BY A SINGLE CUSTOMER). THIS QUESTION MIGHT BE ANSWERED BY NOTING THAT CONGESTION RESULTS FROM THE AMOUNT OF SERVICE TIME DEMANDED BY A CUSTOMER. THUS, THE OPTIMAL TOLL SHOULD DEPEND ON ACTUAL SERVICE TIME. /AUTHOR/

Neighborhood upgrading effects of middle-income housing projects in New York City

Abstract In a sample of 50 New York City neighborhoods in which middle-income housing projects were built, assessed values increased by 9.89% per year while control areas increased only 4.64% annually. This upgrading effect is more pronounced in medium-quality neighborhoods than in either the best or the worst neighborhoods. Project size has apparently no effect on the impact of neighborhood upgrading, but project age seems to be positively related to neighborhood upgrading.

Household behavior under income uncertainty in a monocentric urban area

Abstract For a household living outside of but commuting to and from the CBD of an urban area and experiencing income uncertainty, housing consumption and location (distance from the CBD) are inversely related to the probability of unemployment and directly related to the level of unemployment compensation under fairly unrestrictive assumptions. Under more restrictive assumptions, it is found that these variables are inversely related to housing price and transportation costs. Finally, income compensation causes housing consumption and location to be directly related to the probability of unemployment and the level of unemployment compensation.

The Effect Of Land-Use Controls On The Spatial Size Of U.S. Urbanized Areas

On a sample of U.S. urbanized areas in 2000, we test theoretical hypotheses of the effect of land-use controls on the spatial size of urban areas. We find that minimum lot-size zoning and maximum FAR restrictions expand the urban area, while maximum lot-size zoning, urban growth boundaries, minimum square footage limits, maximum building permit restrictions, minimum person per room controls, and impact fees contract the urban area. All of these findings are consistent with theoretical predictions although the effect of urban growth boundaries and minimum square footage limits are not statistically significant.

Introducing Nonlinear Pricing into Consumer Choice Theory.

Abstract Introducing nonlinear pricing into the teaching of consumer choice theory would provide an extension that introduces the student to a ubiquitous phenomenon and would enable the instructor to develop some interesting behavioral results. After distinguishing linear and nonlinear pricing, the authors derive the tariff, the consumer budget equation, and some behavioral implications for various nonlinear pricing policies. They show, among other things, that under some forms of nonlinear pricing, after a price rise people may buy more of a commodity or more of a commodity than would have been bought under linear pricing. They note some complications arising in the treatment of quantity discounts and premia.

The effect of density and trip-chaining on the interaction between urban form and transit demand

Some urban policies are designed to reduce auto and increase transit usage. Evidence is mixed because most empirical research uses ad hoc specifications. We estimate empirical models of the interaction between urban form and transit demand drawn from urban economic theory. Population density has a small impact on transit demand, which decreases when residential location is endogenous. Households living farther from work use less transit, a result of trip-chaining. Reducing the spatial allocation of non-work activities, improving transit accessibility at and around subcenters, and increasing the presence of retail locations in proximity to transit-oriented households would increase transit demand.

The determinants of urban sprawl: theory and estimation

ABSTRACT We argue that a well-articulated theory, by which we mean a set of structural equations equal in number to the endogenous variables and from which testable hypotheses may be drawn, should be the basis for any effort to estimate the determinants of urban sprawl. Without such a theory, it is not possible to know why a particular determinant ‘works’ to explain a particular definition of urban sprawl, nor is it possible to know whether any particular policy to combat sprawl, however defined, will be successful in achieving that objective without also creating other, possibly adverse, effects. To illustrate our argument, we contrast Burchfield, et al. [2006. Causes of sprawl: A portrait from space. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 587–633], which is not based on a well-articulated theory, with the urban monocentric model [Brueckner, 1987. The structure of urban equilibrium: A unified treatment of the Muth-Mills model. In E. S. Mills (Ed.), Handbook of regional and urban economics, Vol. II, “urban economics” (pp. 821–845). Amsterdam: Elsevier], which is a well-articulated theory.