Research

Discussion and Working Papers:


(with Marcel Henkel)


Abstract: We examine the role of spatial policies on employment, location choices, and decisions to join the labour force in markets marked by labour frictions and spatial externalities. We compare the outcomes of competitive markets with those of a welfare-maximising social planner. Our findings indicate that including local labour force participation as a key component in our model significantly alters optimal spatial policies. This adjustment affects the spatial distribution of workers, labour supply, and overall welfare. Using data from Germany, we show that these optimal policies could increase the labour force, especially among women, by about 2% and improve aggregate welfare by 5%. Ignoring the extensive labour supply margin leads to a substantial underestimation of the effects of fiscal redistribution and the benefits derived from spatial policies.


(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)



Abstract: Using a quantitative spatial model as a data-generating process, we explore how mobility and trade frictions affect the measurement of quality of life. We find that under a canonical parameterization, mobility frictions dominate trade frictions as a source of measurement error in the Rosen-Roback framework, leading to a downward bias in estimates of the urban quality-of-life premium. We provide a sufficient statistic that reduces the measurement error, requiring solely observed city population and an estimate of the labor supply elasticity, in addition to the conventional real wage measure. Our application to Germany reveals that accounting for spatial frictions results in larger quality-of-life differences, different quality-of-life rankings, and an urban quality-of-life premium that exceeds the urban wage premium.



(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)



Abstract:  The economics literature on quality of life is rooted in the canonical frictionless spatial equilibrium framework. We show how to measure quality of life and evaluate quality-of-life policies within a dynamic spatial model with heterogeneous, imperfectly mobile, and forward-looking workers. We find that the canonical spatial equilibrium framework understates spatial quality-of-life differentials, the urban quality-of-life premium and the value of local non-marketed goods. Unlike the canonical spatial equilibrium framework, a dynamic spatial model predicts local welfare effects that motivate many place-based policies seeking to improve quality of life.

Work in progress:

Expensive cities: The role of the supply side

(with Christian Helmers and Felix Weinhardt)

Older Papers:

The stationary spatial equilibrium with migration costs

(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)

Note: This paper precedes  the paper "Quality of life in a dynamic spatial model".  Its dynamic, spatial model is discussed in detail in the current discussion paper version of "Quality of life in a dynamic spatial model".


The Role of Local Public Goods for Gender Gaps in the Spatial Economy

(with Marcel Henkel)

Note: This paper precedes the current working paper "Beyond Geography: Optimal Spatial Policies and Local Labour Supply".