ECO2410 - Urban Economics
Spring 2026 Schedule
Professor Matthew Turner
Department of Economics
Brown University

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Please let me know if you find broken links, typos, or logically suspicious dates (e.g. class on Sunday).

The following schedule describes the material to be covered during the term. You should check this schedule at least weekly for updates and changes.

Topic	Reading	Problems	Solutions
1. Introduction and some basic facts Jan 21.	Required: Slides 1 Boustan et al. 2013 Henderson and Turner, 2020 Recommended: Haines, 2001 Clarke, RSA 1951 Bryan, Glaeser and Tsivanidis, NBER 2019 Reference: Jacobs J., The death and life of great American cities. 1961. New York: Vintage. 1992. Cronon W. Nature's metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. WW Norton & Company; 2009. Glaeser E. Triumph of the City. Pan; 2011.
2. Monocentric city Jan 26, 28.	Required: Notes 2 Brueckner, Handbook Chapter, 2004 Duranton and Puga, Handbook, 2015 (Sections 2.1-2.3 in particular) Recommended: Henderson, 1974, Chapter 1 Examples of the Border Discontinuity research design: Black, QJE, 1999 Bayer, Ferreira and Mcmillan, JPE, 2007 Turner, Haughwout and van der Klaauw, Econometrica , 2014
3. Bid-rent ilustrated: Moncentric city with mode choice choice Feb 2.	Required: Notes 3 LeRoy and Sonstellie,JUE 1983 Recommended: Urban Economic Theory, Ch 2. Fujita, 1989 Supplemental: Couture and Handburry, JUE, 2020 Glaeser, Kahn Rappoport, JUE, 2007 Couture, Gaubert, Handbury and Hurst, NBER wp, 2019	PS #1 due Feb 4.	!
4. Agglomeration and urban form Feb 4, 9.	Required: Fujita and Ogawa, RSUE, 1982 Recommended: Lucas and Rossi-Hansberg, Econometrica, 2002 Ogawa and Fujita, JRS, 1980	Glaeser et al. NBER wp 2024, for rpt #1 Due Feb. 9. How to write a referee report
5. Spatial Equilibrium and hedonic regressions Feb 11, 18.	Required: Roback, JPE, 1982 Rosen, JPE, 1974 Recommended: Albouy, JPE, 2009 Bajari and Benkard, JPE, 2005 Greenstone and Gallagher, QJE, 2008, and see also Gamper, Rabindran and Timmins, AER, 2011	PS #2 Due Feb 18 Research Sketch #1. Due Feb 25.
6. Cities with discrete space. Feb 23, 25, Mar 2.	Required: Notes 4 Slides for Thisse, Turner, Ushchev, 2023 Heblich, Redding and Sturm, QJE, 2020 Thisse, Turner, Ushchev, working paper, 2023 Recommended: Ahlfeldt et al., Econometrica, 2015 Allen, Arkolakis and Li, working paper, 2015 Eaton and Kortum, Econometrica, 2002 Reference: Discrete choice theory of product differentiation (1992). Anderson, S. P., De Palma, A., & Thisse, J. F. . MIT Press. Discrete choice methods with simulation (2009).Train, Kenneth E. Cambridge University Press.	Research Sketch #2. Due Mar 4.
7. Agglomeration Economies Mar 4, 9, 11.	Required: Duranton and Puga, Handbook, 2004 Duranton and Overman, RES 2005 Combes, Duranton and Gobillon, JUE, 2008 Greenstone, Hornbeck and Moretti, JPE, 2010 Arzaghi and Henderson, RES, 2008 de la Roca and Puga, RES, 2017 Recommended: Duranton and Puga, AER, 2001 Holmes, REStat, 2001 Henderson, Kuncoro and Turner, JPE, 1995 Moretti, AER, 2021 Handbury, Ecma, 2021 Moretti, Handbook Chapter, 2004 Rosenthal and Strange, Handbook Chapter, 2004 Autor, in collection, 2004 Reference: Patrick, Economic Inquiry, 2016 (Section 4 is the most interesting) Ciccone and Hall, AER, 1996 Rosenthal and Strange, REStat, 2008 Duranton, AER, 2007 Glaeser, Kallal, Scheinkman and Shleifer, JPE, 1992 Rosenthal and Strange, JUE, 2008 Dixit and Stiglitz, AER, 1977	Weiwu. 2024, for ref. rpt #2 Due Mar 11. Research Sketch #3 Due Mar 20.
8. Systems of cities Mar 18, Apr 1. (No class Mar 30)	Required: Duranton and Puga, US, 2000 Desmet and Rossi-Hansberg, AER, 2013 Henderson, AER, 1974 Recommended: Ades and Glaeser, QJE, 1995 Gabaix, QJE, 1999 Holmes and Lee, Chapter, 2010 Reference: Rossi-Hansberg and Wright, RES, 2007 Ioanides and Overman, RSUE, 2003
9. Migration April 6, 8, 13.	Required: Artuc, Chaudhuri and McLaren, AER 2010 Autor, Dorn and Hansen, AER, 2013 Bryan and Morten, JPE, 2019 Bryan, Chowdhury and Mobarak, Econometrica 2014 Recommended: Kenan and Walker, Econometrica 2011 Balboni, unpublished 2019 Lucas and Prescott, JET, 1974 Caliendo, Dvorkin and Parro, Econometrica, 2019	PS #3 due April 8. Almagro et al., unpublished, 2024. For ref. rpt #3 due April 15
10. Economic Geography April 15, 20, 22.	Required: Donaldson and Hornbeck, QJE, 2016 Diamond, AER, 2016 Recommended: Krugman, JPE, 1991 Lucas and Prescott, JET, 1974 Suarez and Zidar, AER, 2016 Reference: Fujita and Thisse, Chapter 9.2 of `Economics of Agglomeration'(2002) Helpman, unpublished, 1995 Haines and Margo, NBER working paper, 2006 Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the great west, William Cronon, Norton 1991 Railroads and American Economic Growth: Essays in econometric history, Robert Fogel (any edition)
11. Transportation Aspirational	Required: Vickrey, AER, 1969 Recommended: Small and Verhoef, The Economics of Urban Transportation, Routledge 2007, Ch 3.3 Duranton and Turner, AER, 2011 Kreindler, unpublished, 2022	Final project due May 14