Full Citation

Title: What are Cities Worth? Land Rents, Local Productivity, and the Capitalization of Amenity Values

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: Estimates of local land rents and firm productivity from wage and housing-cost data require incorporating parameters from the housing production function. Across cities, differences in amenity values are capitalized into the sum of local land values and federal-tax payments. Improved modeling is used to predict how amenities affect wages and housing costs, estimate quality-of-life and firm-productivity differences across U.S. cities, and upgrade estimates of public-infrastructure values. Private land values vary mainly from quality-of-life differences, while social land (or total-amenity) values vary mainly from firm-productivity differences. The most valuable cities are generally coastal, sunny, and have large or well-educated populations.

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Authors: Albouy, David

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Publication Number: w14981

Institution: University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

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Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Housing and Segregation, Other

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