THREE ESSAYS ON TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING MARKET AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This thesis investigates the dispensable role of transport network on maintaining urban sustainability, developing housing market and fostering industrial development. Chapter 2 establishes a monocentric-city model that crafts a “convex-concave” change of housing price w.r.t. public transport accessibility when households substitute public transport for driving due to soaring car prices, indicating policy on driving costs is effective in the middle price range. Chapter 3 shows a small change in infrastructure affects the whole network connectivity, suggesting a “butterfly effect”. The causal impact of such connectivity improvement on housing price with proximity to any part of the network is carefully identified. Chapter 4 extends the concept of network connectivity to a large economy and identifies positive impact of market access growth on industrial development. A novel panel IV is originated. This thesis pioneers in bringing the notion of transport connectivity into urban and real estate literature and provides applicable identification strategies.