24.09.2025
12:40-13:40

The Geography of Life: Evidence from Copenhagen

WIFO Research Seminar
Organised by: Austrian Institute of Economic Research
  • Speaker:
  • Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt (Humboldt University Berlin)
Language: English
WIFO, Helene-Lieser-Saal or online via MS Teams
Large literatures have studied the effect of age and life events, such as marriage and child-birth, on labour supply, earnings and consumption. In contrast, we know little about how age and life events affect location choices, despite vast differences in house prices and amenities across locations.
Participation via MS Teams

This paper uses newly constructed individual level panel data for the population of Copenhagen covering more than 30 years to provide evidence on how location choices evolve with age and life events. Ahlfeldt and his colleagues document several new stylised facts on how workplace and residence choices, commuting, and residential floor space consumption change with age and life events. They combine the reduced form evidence with a quantitative urban model to determine what factors are driving the strikingly different location choices of different groups. They use model counterfactuals to investigate the factors that drive the strikingly different locations choices of different groups and evaluate the effect of population aging, cohabitation rates and fertility on the geography of cities.

Please be aware that this seminar will be recorded and published digitally.