TPC 368: Economic Perspectives on Modern Urban Issues

(1 Uint)
This course examines and applies economic theory to urban and metropolitan issues, focusing primarily on our own laboratory: Philadelphia. Theory and Issues in Urban Economics deals with the intersection of economics and geography; it adds a spatial component to standard microeconomic theory. The goals of the course are to help the student understand: the fundamental workings of an urban economy, economic incentives and public policies influencing the growth or decline of urban economies, and the basis for intelligent discussion of interesting urban and regional economic and social issues. It begins with a classic microeconomic framework showing the location decisions of utility-maximizing households and profit-maximizing firms, and shows how these decisions cause the formation of cities of different size and shape, and what kinds of patterns, benefits, and problems emerge. Staff