Urban Economics

	ECO1410 - Urban Economics Fall 2026 Schedule Professor Matthew Turner Department of Economics Brown University
Course description and requirements Course CANVAS page Office hours

The following schedule describes the material to be covered during the term. The dates on which particular material will be covered and when assignments are subject to change depending on our rate of progress. Please check this schedule at least weekly for updates and changes.

Topic	Reading	Problems
#0:Introduction. Logistics. September 9 Course description and requirements	Required: Duranton and Puga, JEP 2020
#1: The Monocentric City Model September 9, 14, 16, 23 No class September 21 Notes #1	Required: Brueckner Ch. 2, to section 2.4	PS#1, due September 28
#2: Evidence for the Monocentric Model September 28, 30, October 5 Notes #2	Recommended: Gonzalez Navarro and Turner, JUE, 2018 Gupta et al., unpublished, 2021 Just sections 1-4 Baum-Snow, QJE, 2007	PS#2, due October 7
#3: Monocentric city model with housing October 7, 14 (No class October 12) Notes #3	These two readings are pretty similar. Pick the one you like best. Krause, book chapter, 2000 Brueckner Ch. 2 and Clarke, RSA 1951	PS#3, due October 19
#4: Urbanization in the developed and developing world October 19, 21 Notes #4	Required: Haines, 2001 Boustan et al. 2013 Henderson and Turner, JEP 2020 World Development Report, 2009, p49-72 Recommended: Alsan and Goldin 2017 Bryan, Chowdhury, Mobarak 2014 Munshi 2014	PS#4, due October 26
#5: White Flight, Gentrification, and Bid-Rent October 26, 28 Notes #5	Required: Cutler, Glaeser QJE 1997 Cutler, Glaeser, Vigdor JPE 1999 Boustan QJE 2010.	PS#5, due October 30
In class midterm, regular classroom November 2			2026 midterm 2025 midterm
#6: The Monocentric City with Heterogenous Households November 4, 9, 11 Notes #6	Recommended: Heblich, Redding and Sturm, QJE 2020. This is hard, but it's worth taking a little time to look at. Try to read the first four sections and do your best with the model in section V.	PS#6, due November 16
#7: The Rosen-Roback Model and the Quality of Life November 16, 18 Notes #7	Required: Brueckner Ch. 11 Cropper et al. JUE 2021 This is harder than I'd like, but the best I can find. Just try to get through equation 7. Recommended: Roback, JPE 1982. This is hard, but it's worth taking a little time to look at.	PS#7, due November 23
#8: Agglomeration Economies November 23, 30 (no class November 25) Notes #8	Required: Brueckner Ch 1 Glaeser Gottlieb, JEL 2009 Recommended: Autor, book chapter, 2020 Holmes, REStat, 1999 Moretti, NBER working paper, 2019	PS#8, due December 2
#9: Systems of cities and Zipf's law December 2, 7 Notes #9	Required: Duranton and Puga, Urban Studies, 2000 Holmes and Lee, book chapter, 2010 Recommended: Gabaix, QJE, 1999 This is really hard. Try to get through section II.1	PS#9, December 9
#10: Sorting, local public finance, and a simple model of heterogenous agents Aspirational Notes #10	Required: Black, QJE, 1999 Eid et al., JUE, 2008 Recommended: Bayer, Ferreira and Mcmillan, JPE, 2007. Try to get through section IV. Sieg, Ch. 8	PS#10, not collected
Final exam 15-DEC-2026 Exam Time: 09:00:00 AM Exam Group: 09			Final 2026 Final 2025