Economics 350: Urban and Regional Economics

Fall 2003, Department of Economics, George Mason University

Instructor: Rebecca Menes Office Hours

Office: Enterprise Hall, Rm 328 Phone: 703-993-1156

E-mail: rmenes@gmu.edu

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Course Objectives

Econ 350 is a course in regional development and metropolitan economies. Topics to be covered include the economic functions of cities, locational decisions of households and firms, problems and benefits of high-density urban economic activity, and the political economy of U.S. metropolitan regions, including the role of local, state, and federal governments.

This course fulfills, all or in part, the writing-intensive requirement for the Economics Major. The course requires five papers of 4-6 pages each and an essay final.

Prerequisites and Course Requirements

Econ 306, or equivalent preparation. If you have not taken Econ 306 please see me.

Final Examination: 40% of final grade.

Final exam: Five essay questions distributed at least one week before the final exam. I will select two of the essay questions for the final exam. There will also be 4 short identifications.

Written assignments: 50% of final grade

Five written assignments, minimum 4 pages each. All assignments are due in class on the specified due date.

Two rewrites, at least. I reserve the right to require additional rewrites.

Problem Sets: 10% of final grade

One computational written assignments which will combine problem solving and mathematical analysis with written work.

Late assignments will not be accepted without PRIOR arrangement, so please SPEAK to or E-MAIL me immediately upon learning of any problems.

Class participation:

Classes will mix lecture and discussion. I reserve the right to raise your grade based on class participation. Non-participation will not lower your grade, but persistent non-attendance may.

Honesty:

All students are expected to be familiar with University policies on cheating, plagiarism, and proper citation of sources. I will fail any student who hands in work that is not his or her own, who fails to follow the instructions for the final exam, who copies (his own work or others) during the exam, or who fails to properly credit and cite sources used for the written assignments.

Reading

Mills, Edwin S. and Bruce W. Hamilton. Urban Economics. 5^th ed. 1994. New York: Harper Collins.

Williams, Joseph A. Style: 10 Lessons in Clarity and Grace.

Garreau, Joel. Edge City.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Course Reader – ADDITIONAL READINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON LINE. THE LINKS FOR EACH UNIT WILL BE FOUND WITH THE UNIT READING LIST.

Students must also be able to access the following web-sites, either on campus or from home (THESE SITES ARE ALL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE GMU LIBRARY WEB PAGE):

J-stor www.jstor.org

Go to the GMU web-site. Click thru to Libraries and Research, then to University Libraries Databases. Then to J-stor. Click for off-campus access.

NBER Working Papers www.nber.org

Go to the GMU web-site. Click thru to Libraries and Research, then to Library Catalog. Type “nber” into the search, and pick “journal title” as the type of search. Click nber working paper series on the search result, scroll down to “Electronic Resource available to GMU students,...” and click through to the NBER working paper web-site. Then you can search the web site by author, title, etc.

And all students must have access to a daily newspaper (electronically is fine). I recommend the Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com

Class Topics

Unit 0: Introduction: Urban Economics, what are the questions? August 26, 2003.

Unit 1: What do cities do?

Mills and Hamilton: Chapter 1: The Nature of Urban Areas.

Chapter 2: Comparative Advantage and Regions

Chapter 3: Urbanization and Economic Growth in the United States.