Pilgrims to Makkah in Saudi Arabia have a strong preference for locating in the central area of the city, in proximity to the Haram (a mosque). Available evidence suggests that this has led to considerable overcrowding and congestion. The objective of this paper is to identify the scope for...

The paper has applied a conventional framework of analysis of implicit markets to determine the characteristics of demand for housing attributes of quantity and quality in the urban areas of a large, low-income developing country like Pakistan. Income elasticities generally appear to be low,...

This paper identifies the principal motivations for resort to land rationing in the form of maximum lot size zoning in developing countries. Consequences of such regulation on utility levels, land values and metropolitan area are analysed within the spatial, general equilibrium framework of a...

The paper analyses the sharing of the burden of a land tax between consumers and owners of land at different points in a 'semi-closed' city. The basic conclusion is that the pattern of differential incidence of the tax depends upon the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between land and...

This paper analyses the determinants of household formation in a large metropolitan city (Karachi) in a low-income, developing country (Pakistan) by comparing the sample characteristics of nuclear households with those of 'nuclei' within joint households. Contrary to expectations, the results...

This paper analyses the characteristics of housing demand in the formal and informal housing markets of a large metropolitan city (Karachi) in a developing country (Pakistan) with low per capita incomes. While results of earlier research are confirmed in the case of the formal housing market,...

The paper undertakes comparative statics of urban land values in the presence of government regulation of density or rent in the central city or at the periphery. The principal finding is that the conclusions of Wheaton (1974) regarding the flattening of the rent curve due to a rise in income or...