We propose a theory-inspired measure of the accessibility of a city's center: the size of the surrounding area from which it can be reached within a specific time. Using publicly available optimal-routing software, we compute these "accessibility zones" for the 109 largest US and European...

Road transport will account for a large share of developing countries' future energy demand. This paper reviews the trends in road transport energy consumption in 12 countries (Group of Seven (G7) and BRICS) over the period 1973-2010. We report several stylised facts: road transport energy use...

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the developing world. Its urbanization rate of almost 80 % is comparable to that of high-income countries. However, cities in the region are struggling to provide the infrastructure needed for their millions of residents to enjoy a...

Success in international trade depends, amongst other things, on distance from markets. Most new economic geography models focus on the distance between countries. In contrast much less theorizing and empirical analysis have focused on how distances within a country for instance due to the...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the location of export-oriented manufacturing firms in Africa (South Africa), and on how the patterns of location has changed over the past decade after the country embarked on trade liberalization. It is found that (a) the proximity to a port is an...

Success in international trade depends, amongst other things, on distance from markets. Most new economic geography models focus on the distance between countries. In contrast much less theorizing and empirical analysis have focused on how distances within a country for instance due to the...

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the developing world. Its urbanization rate of almost 80 percent is comparable to that of high income countries. However, cities in the region are struggling to provide the infrastructure needed for their millions of residents to...

In many low and middle-income countries, motorcycles are the most commonly used means of transportation. Over and beyond their many legal uses, motorcycles are also widely used to commit crimes. While motorcycle restrictions to reduce crime have been adopted in at least 14 countries, we do not...

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the developing world. Its urbanization rate of almost 80 % is comparable to that of high-income countries. However, cities in the region are struggling to provide the infrastructure needed for their millions of residents to enjoy a...

We characterize optimal urban transportation policies in the presence of congestion and environmental externalities and evaluate their welfare and distributional effects. We present a framework of a municipal government that implements different transportation equilibria through its choice of...