Review Questions for Mills Chapter 7

1. Why would a land rent gradient, a population density gradient, and a wage gradient all have a similar negative exponential curve, i.e. why would you expect their values to be higher closer to the CBD than in the suburbs and decrease nonlinearly?

2. Interpret the values of the intercept and the exponent in a negative exponential function (density gradient).

3. What does the R-squared tell you about the ability of the function to predict residential density? What other factors could explain variation in residential density (list three)?

4. In a comparison of interurban areas, studies discovered that an increase in population density is associated with a reduction in wages? How does this make sense? Remember that wages have to also compensate for travel costs.

5. Why is it more difficult economically (in terms of costs and payoff) to convert from high density to low density land use rather than the other way around? (Give two reasons.)

6. Would the prohibitive cost of slum clearance that makes it unprofitable for developers to tear down row houses for a prime commercial site be justification for government intervention? Why or why not? (Ignore interdependencies.)

7. If the income elasticity of the demand for housing services is the same as the income elasticity of the demand for transportation cost saving, would higher income groups move to the suburbs?

8. Why is the boundary (the city’s edge predicted by the monocentric model) between property for urban use and property for rural use “fuzzy?” (Give three reasons).

9. How does topography affect the predictions of the monocentric model?

10. How do emerging agglomeration economies affect the predictions of the monocentric model?

11. How would you expect the emergence of two-worker childless households to affect the housing density gradient?