Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/129495 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
Thünen-Series of Applied Economic Theory - Working Paper No. 144
Publisher: 
Universität Rostock, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Rostock
Abstract: 
In most countries housing and commuting costs amount for one-third or more of households' budgets. These urban costs have substantial effects on wages and income inequality. Urban costs play an important role for locational and economic decisions of individuals and firms. This paper enriches the topic on urban costs with cornerstones in much recent micro-modeling in international trade and regional and urban economics by analyzing the effects of urban costs and firm heterogeneity with endogenous markups on wages and selection. With increasing commuting technology only more productive and less firms survive. Firms have higher costs because they have to pay higher wages to compensate workers for the higher urban costs. Despite higher wages welfare decreases with larger urban costs because consumer surplus decreases an there are larger expenses for housing and commuting. Wage premia are hump-shaped with respect to urban costs.
Subjects: 
urban costs
heterogenous firms
wages
selection
college wage premium
inequality
JEL: 
F12
R12
E24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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