Barriers to Migration in a System of Cities

Abstract

This paper creates a model where heterogeneous cities, in production and quality of life amenities, are created under different policy regimes that create barriers to migration. When policies are set by local governments, too many cites are created and these are biased toward providing high quality of life amenities. If instead, there are no policies that limit migration, too few cities are created and these are biased toward high production amenity cities. In contrast, this paper demonstrates a market mechanism (implementable through local zoning regulations) that provides the incentives for individuals to create and move across cities efficiently, despite the lack of coordination across cities. These results demonstrate the importance of accounting for barriers to migration and agglomeration benefits when estimating production and quality of life amenity levels. Otherwise, if there is path dependence in city growth, the estimated amenity levels will be biased toward cities with amenities important in previous centuries.

Private Access Fees and Congestion: Is There a Role for Government after All?

“…This suggests the benefits from government intervention are highest in cases where congestion is heterogeneous. This analysis is consistent with the literature on dynamic city growth which demonstrates heterogeneity across cities has important implications for the effects of tax and zoning laws on the allocation of population across cities (Seegert (2014)). …”

“…This allows us to clarify whether competition between two, or more, toll 3 The competitive equilibria of clubs are also discussed by Berglas (1976Berglas ( , 1981, Berglas and Pines (1981), Boadway (1980), Berglas, Helpman and Pines (1982), Hillman and Swan (1983), Sandler and Tschirhart (1980), Scotchmer (1994), and Scotchmer and Wooders (1987). Seegert (2014) discusses the equilibrium in clubs in the context of cities. 4 There is a large literature following Coase (1960) that considers the problem of congestion as one of ill defined property rights.…”