Regional Economics

Teacher(s)

Gomes Joseph;

Language

English

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Cities, whose economic borders expand well beyond their administrative limits, play a central role in modern economies. Taking this as a starting point, the aim of this course is to introduce students to basic economic principles which make it possible to explain, on the one hand, how cities come to be and, on the other hand, how all the different elements which go to make up a city (housing, services, transport, jobs) are distributed within them. This will be achieved using analytical instruments taken from Microeconomics and Economic History. Given that jobs are primarily located within an urban environment, studying urban systems will make it possible to tackle regional questions. Students will be given a brief overview of European regional economies and lastly, be introduced to the most recent developments which bring with them new ways of structuring spaces, an approach known as peri-urbanisation.

Content

This course offers an introduction to the theory (and empirics) of urban and regional economics. Examples of topics covered include: urbanization, demographic transition, decentralization, space regional and spatial inequalities, the role of economic geography and historical accidents in explaining inequalities, space and economic costs, agglomeration economies, and new economic geography models.

Teaching methods

The course will take the form of lectures that will cover theoretical and empirical aspects of the course. The professor will subsequently share all the lecture notes and slides with the students.

Evaluation methods

The evaluation is based on two components: A homework and a final exam. Each component counts for 50% of the final grade.
- Homework (50%): Students will be required to submit a 4 to 5 page essay on a topic (to be chosen from among two or three choices that will be provided by the professor). A non-exhaustive bibliography will be made available on Moodle. Topics will be made available in February and the deadline for submission will be towards the end of April (usually April 21,  to be confirmed by Professor in the first session).
There is no second session for the homework assignment: any homework not submitted will be awarded a grade of 0, which will be maintained in the second session!
- Final exam (50%): The final exam in June will be a written exam that will include a set of questions aimed at verifying that the main concepts of the course have been assimilated by the students.
Students will be allowed to do the written exam a second time in August. The final grade  in the August session will be the higher among the following two options:
-        Final August exam will count for 100% of the final marks
-        Final August exam will count 50% of the final marks with the other 50% based on the homework (submitted previously).
Students will have the option of submitting the homework only once respecting the pre-specified deadline (usually 21 April).

Other information

Course pre-requisites: Students are expected to have successfully acquired the fundamental concepts of Microeconomics and be able to use them to study new issues.

Bibliography

There is no specific reference manual for this course. The professor will provide lecture notes in addition to references that can aid a deeper understanding of the issues.

Faculty or entity

ESPO