Economic Geography (EC 361 002)

Robert Jones  Spring 2009

 

The economics of the geographic distribution of economic activity at the neighborhood, county, urban, state and regional levels.  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be applied to topics such as migration, employment, economic growth, crime, and segregation.  Robert Jones.  Prerequisites: EC 236 and EC 237.

 

Required Text: Arthur O’Sullivan, Urban Economics, sixth edition.

 

Tentative Outline

 

Week of

Topic (chapter)

Jan 20

Introduction to Economic Geography: time series and geographic views of the US economy

Mapping the states' economies using GIS

Jan 26

Unemployment rates of the states

Feb 2

Income and GDPof the states economies

Feb 9

Migration patterns among states

Feb 16

US economic regions

Feb 23

County level data (excluding large cities)

Mar 2

Migration patterns among counties

 

 

Mar 16

Introduction to Urban Economics; Why Cities Exist (chapters 1 and 2)

Mar 23

Agglomeration Economies (3)

Mar 30

City size (4)

Apr 6

Urban Growth (5)

Apr 13

Land Use Patterns (7)

Apr 20

Neighborhood Choice (8)

Apr 27

Review

 

Grading:

 

15% Project 1 on States due February 25th.

30% Exam #1: March 4th.

 

15% Project 2 on Urban Economics due on April 29th.

40% Exam 2:  Tuesday, May 5th at 1:30 PM