These are 10 of my favourite #UrbanEconomics articles published in 2020, in alphabetical order by author, continuing with a tradition from the last couple of years

1) @TrebAllen, Arkolakis & Takahashi, JPE. Shows key theoretical properties & predictions of large class of trade/geography gravity models depend on 2 parameters: elasticities of supply and demand. Proposes IV estimation strategy relying on GE structure https://t.co/5On1AQkbeP
2) Ambrus, Field & @rmgonzalez046, AER. 1854 London: prices fell in blocks served by well transmitting cholera. Differences persist. Model: tenants change as contracts expire, -ve externality of poor tenants, shock makes landlords persistently target poor https://t.co/6uaxjG6Bmf
3) @kon_buechel & @maxvehrlich, JUE. More sociable individuals sort into cities. Even after accounting for sorting, those in denser areas call each other more often & longer, suggesting complementarity between face-to-face and phone interactions https://t.co/bymmL4PzaJ
4) @CarozziFelipe, JEEA. Shows how credit constraints affect composition of housing sales & access to home-ownership by the young. Neat model of housing markets as ladders with young in cheap units, possibly trading up as they age, post-2008 UK evidence https://t.co/PCn7w35Qu8
5) Harari, AER. City shape matters. More compact (circular) Indian cities grow faster (IVs compactness with mechanical expansion + geographic constraints). Compactness affects road network, location patterns, quality of life. Regulations affect shape https://t.co/TbXX9X4qwC
6) Heblich, @ReddingEcon & Sturm, QJE. Uses quantitative urban model & spatially disaggregated data for London 1801-1921 to explore how steam railways triggered workplace-residence separation, enabling substantial agglomeration in production & residence https://t.co/Z0CnPlQnMY
7) Liu, Rosenthal & Strange, RSUE. Agglomeration in tall buildings depends on street access, height amenities & productivity. Ground & high floors most valuable. Density & law firm sales indicate strong same-floor spillovers quickly attenuating vertically https://t.co/YxXFQ4yydZ
8) @OtoPeralias, JDE. Explores origins of settlement patterns exploiting spatial discontinuity in insecurity in medieval Spain. Frontier warfare encourages population concentration in few livestock-oriented (vs. agriculture) settlements, strong persistence https://t.co/FkXwJ9EohA
9) Owens, @HansbergRossi & Sarte, AEJEcPol. Rationalises healthy Detroit CBD surrounded by vacant land through model with residential externalities leading to coordination problem, evaluates development guarantees & other alternatives https://t.co/WMQiUhWf46
10) @piazzesi, Schneider & @stroebel_econ, AER. Housing search model with many segments, agents with different search ranges, broad searchers that narrow down by segment inventory. Helps think about Beveridge curve, scope & connectedness in housing markets https://t.co/wmpnDqsoL1
The 2019 list is at https://t.co/MhayLpevo0
The 2018 list is at https://t.co/qr16DmqNvq

More from Economy

1/ To add a little texture to @NickHanauer's thread, it's important to recognize that there's a good reason why orthodox economists (& economic cosplayers) so vehemently oppose a $15 min wage:

The min wage is a wedge that threatens to undermine all of orthodox economic theory.


2/ Orthodox economics is grounded in two fundamental models: a systems model that describes the market as a closed equilibrium system, and a behavioral model that describes humans as rational, self-interested utility-maximizers. The modern min wage debate undermines both models.

3/ The assertion that a min wage kills jobs is so central to orthodox economics that it is often used as the textbook example of the Supply/Demand curve. Raise the cost of labor and businesses will buy less of it. It's literally Econ 101!


4/ Econ 101 insists that markets automatically set an efficient "equilibrium price" for labor & everything else. Mess with this price and bad things happen. Yet decades of empirical research has persuaded a majority of economists that this just isn't

5/ How can this be? Well, either the market is not a closed equilibrium system in which if you raise the price of labor employers automatically purchase less of it... OR the market is not automatically setting an efficient and fair equilibrium wage. Or maybe both. #FAIL
Priyamvada Gopal is part of a class of elite academics in the imperial core who teach the ruling class, and use woke radlib rhetoric to justify current Western imperial aggression.

She echoes propaganda against Syria, Iran, and China and is silent about Venezuela, Nicaragua, etc


Anti-anti-imperialist Cambridge University Professor @PriyamvadaGopal smears opponents of the Western neocolonial war on Syria as "Assadists"

Would she ever call liberal imperialist Obama a "blood-soaked cretin"? He has exponentially more blood on


The CIA spent over a billion dollars per year arming and training "rebels" who massacred and ethnically cleansed Syrian civilians, especially religious minorities.

But anti-anti-imperialist @PriyamvadaGopal insists these CIA-backed contras are


This was elite anti-anti-imperialist Cambridge University gatekeeper @PriyamvadaGopal's response right after colonial powers the US, UK, and France bombed Syria in April 2018 on bogus lies that have since been


Of course anti-anti-imperialist Cambridge Professor @PriyamvadaGopal's is also a supporter of the neoliberal imperialist European Union -- one of the key institutions of European necolonialism

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#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.