This paper models congestable facilities subject to peak-load demand. It argues that a properly-specified model should explicitly treat the congestion technology and consumer's time-of-use decision. The standard model can be interpreted as a reduced form of such a model if the peak period is...

We investigate how owners of durable goods respond to a once-for-all unanticipated shock in a housing market that was in a stationary state prior to, and after the shock. We determine the circumstances under which the landlord will: 1) abandon his building immediately; 2) run down his building...

This paper focusses on the supply side of the housing market. Two new elasticities are introduced. The elasticity of supply of structures on a fixed area of land relates the increase in the average cost of building structures to structural density. The reduced form price elasticity of housing on...

This paper investigates the economics of the transition of land from rural to urban use. A simple model examines the developer's problem: when and at what density should vacant land be developed to maximize the present value of land. Simple rules emerge relating the timing and density of new...

After long suffering from benign neglect if not outright contempt, industrial policy is almost fashionable again. The global financial and economic crisis known as the Great Recession has forced researchers and policy makers to confront the reality that market forces alone generally do not lead...