17.09.2026
13:00-14:00
The Persistence of Urban Decline
WIFO Research Seminar
Veranstalter: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (WIFO)
Sprache: Englisch
WIFO, Helene-Lieser-Saal oder via Microsoft-Teams
Hans Koster and Gabriel Loumeau argue that urban decline persists due to the interaction between sorting and the durability of the housing stock. Using the history of coal production in France's largest mining basin as a negative economic shock to local employment, they examine its effect on urban decline.
The basin's geological boundaries and the proximity of housing to mines allow them to exploit local variation in sorting and housing quality. They find that housing prices today drop by 8.5 percent when entering the basin. This decline is attributable to lower housing quality and to sorting effects. A dynamic spatial equilibrium model with forward-looking developers suggests that urban decline can persist for many decades before reaching a new steady state, leading to increased welfare inequality between low-skilled and high-skilled households in the area.
Bitte beachten Sie, dass dieses Seminar aufgezeichnet und in digitaler Form veröffentlicht wird.