Many of the world's major cities have attracted a flurry of out-of-town (OOT) home buyers. Such capital inflows affect house prices, rents, construction, labor income, wealth, and ultimately welfare. We develop an equilibrium model, calibrated to the typical U.S. metropolitan area, to quantify...

This paper develops a methodology to predict and to thus possibly mitigate the economic impacts of major catastrophes, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The short-run impacts are assumed to be determined by the attempts of economic actors to return to the pre-catastrophe economic situation as...

There is a substantial theoretical literature on the location of retail facilities in space assuming that the spatial demand curve is known, or that the ideal data needed to estimate such a curve is available. This study shows how to implement a formal location analysis for a retail activity...

We propose a dynamic model of an oligopoly industry characterized by spatial competition between multi-store firms. Firms compete in prices and decide where to open or close stores depending on demand conditions and the number of competitors at different locations, and on location-specific...

Given the significant role of real estate agents in the housing market, this study examines how agents' incentives regarding the size of their listing inventories indirectly affect residential home prices and liquidity. The theory shows that taking on additional inventory generates a critical...

Big cities specialize in services rather than manufacturing. Big-city establishments in services are larger than the national average while those in manufacturing are smaller. This paper proposes an explanation of these and other facts. The theory is developed in an economic geography model that...

The collateral channel, whereby an increase in residential house prices leads to an increase in commercial property prices, loosening firm borrowing constraints and leading to higher firm investment, is weaker when residential and commercial real estate are imperfect substitutes. We first show...

The collateral channel, whereby an increase in residential house prices leads to an increase in commercial property prices, loosening firm borrowing constraints and leading to higher firm investment, is weaker when residential and commercial real estate are imperfect substitutes. We first show...

Proposed alternatives to GDP as a measure of social welfare or human progress are briefly evaluated. Four main categories are considered, namely ISEW and GPI based on corrections of GDP, sustainable or green(ed) GDP, genuine savings/investments and composite indexes. All these alternatives turn...