Papers by Ralph McLaughlin
Federal, state and local governments allocate billions of dollars in transportation funds each ye... more Federal, state and local governments allocate billions of dollars in transportation funds each year. One useful tool for helping to decide which projects are best investments is Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA). Ideally, BCA takes into account all impacts of a decision, and provides a way of selecting investments that maximize social welfare. However, in practice even the best BCAs only measure select impacts. This project develops methods of improving BCA by better integrating data from multimodal transportation networks.. It considers both BCA for evaluating past policy decisions, and BCA for planning and programming future transportation investments. We identify shortcomings of existing models, and propose, implement and evaluate concrete solutions. Case studies in transportation planning focus on the California Department of Transportation (DOT), but benchmark California’s competencies by exploring methods used by other states and local governments. In addition, while the focus is on...
This report examines existing methods of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in two areas, transportation... more This report examines existing methods of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in two areas, transportation policy and transportation planning, and suggests ways of modifying these methods to account for travel within a multimodal system. Although the planning and policy contexts differ substantially, this report shows how important multimodal impacts can be incorporated into both by using basic econometric techniques and even simpler rule-of-thumb methods. Case studies in transportation planning focus on the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), but benchmark California’s competencies by exploring methods used by other states and local governments. The report concludes with a list and discussion of recommendations for improving transportation planning models and methods. These will have immediate use to decision makers at Caltrans and other state DOTs as they consider directions for developing new planning capabilities. This project also identifies areas, and lays groundwork, f...
The study of how employment decentralization in polycentric metropolitan areas affects patterns o... more The study of how employment decentralization in polycentric metropolitan areas affects patterns of commuting has created many intense debates in the research areas of geography and urban planning based on empirical studies in developed countries of North America, Europe, Oceania as well as developing countries of Asia during last two decades (Gordon & Wong 1985; Cervero & Landis 1991; Giuliano & Small 1993; Naess & Sandberg 1996; Gordon & Richardson 1997; Aguilera 2005; Parolin 2005; Alpkokin et al. 2008; Guth, Holz-Rau & Maciolek 2009; Veneri 2010; Zhao, Lu & Roo 2011). A major reason for the intensity of these debates is the question of whether the evolution of a polycentric spatial structure in mega cities can provide more opportunities to enhance spatial matches between job and housing location selections of employees who live in suburban areas. Accordingly, employment decentralization and polycentric development would improve commuting patterns by shortening individual commuting distances and time. This paper will review empirical studies in relation to this crucially important research topic. An understanding of how urban spatial structure influences commuting patterns can improve the management and strategic planning of cities to ensure that urban spatial structure optimises the aggregate travel behaviour of urban commuters.
The Annals of Regional Science, 2011
This paper extends the work of McLaughlin (Australas J Reg Stud 1(17):60-80, 2011) by estimating ... more This paper extends the work of McLaughlin (Australas J Reg Stud 1(17):60-80, 2011) by estimating housing supply elasticities of the six Australian capital cities over a longer panel, from 1983-2010. In addition, we extend McLaughlin's analysis by comparing housing supply elasticities by dwelling type and also test for the presence of longer supply lags than previously examined in the supply literature. Based on widespread implementation of land-use regulations by Australian federal and state governments over the past 30 years, we hypothesize difference in elasticity between housing types is ambiguous, with supply lags greater for multifamily units. We employ the urban growth model of new housing supply developed by Mayer and Somerville (
... The supply side is a whole of society venture, with a conflicting mixture of parties represen... more ... The supply side is a whole of society venture, with a conflicting mixture of parties representing private, government, and community interests ... Worse still for them, our agenda could well increase their annual infrastructure charges, and mute NIMY protest opportunities against ...
This article estimates the supply elasticity of new housing for local government areas (LGAs) wit... more This article estimates the supply elasticity of new housing for local government areas (LGAs) within Adelaide in South Australia by employing the urban growth model developed originally by Meyer and Somerville. In particular, we extend Gitelman and Otto's subsequent work in several ways. We employ narrower time intervals and consider different types of residential accommodation. Moreover, we include other geo-economic variables that potentially affect new supply, such as a spatially lagged dependent variable that assesses how supply conditions in one suburban region may subsequently influence supply in adjoining locations. Our findings suggest that the elasticity of new supply is up to 15 per cent over 10 quarters and thus sensitive to price changes, albeit lagged. Furthermore, we find that an LGA's land area and proximity to the coast are positively correlated with new housing supply, while its residents' average incomes and the level of building approval activity in neighbouring LGAs are negatively correlated with new supply. These findings have several potential implications for Metropolitan planning strategies.
Brewing, Beer and Pubs, 2016
This paper empirically examines the relationship between house price change, metropolitan growth ... more This paper empirically examines the relationship between house price change, metropolitan growth policies, and new housing supply in Australia"s five major capital cities. Our hypothesis suggests capital cities with tighter regulations on new development will have fewer housing starts and price elasticities than those in lessregulated markets. The empirical procedure used in this paper utilises the Urban Growth Model of Housing Supply developed in Mayer and Somerville (2000a and 2000b) and employed in Zabel and Patterson (2006) by using quarterly data on housing approvals and house prices from 1996-2010. Data on metropolitan growth policies in Australia is borrowed from Hamnett and Kellett (2007). Preliminary findings indicate that new housing supply in Australian capital cities is elastic to housing price changes, as a one per cent increase in prices leads to an approximately 4-6 per cent increase in housing approvals over five quarters. While this indicates a properly functioning housing market, the estimated elasticity is about a third of other developed countries, such as the United States. Furthermore, the use of established growth policies, such as urban growth boundaries and urban consolidation, appears to have a greater impact on new housing approvals than adoption of new-style growth policies, such as development corporations and infrastructure levies. However, both types of policies decrease new housing supply.
Journal of Regional Science, 2013
Economic Development Quarterly, 2011
Specifically, the authors develop a “new model of metropolitan reality” that synthesizes elements... more Specifically, the authors develop a “new model of metropolitan reality” that synthesizes elements from the wellestablished political, economic, sociological, and geographical models of metropolitan development. This new model centers on six key characteristics of the modern US metropolis:(a) pockets of revitalized central cities amidst concentrated poverty,(b) suburbs in crisis,(c) segregated regions in middle America,(d) low-density edge and edgeless cities,(e) sprawling exurbs in decline, and (f) increasingly diverse suburbs. ...
Cities, 2012
Contrary to current international, national, and regional trends of neo-liberal policy reform, go... more Contrary to current international, national, and regional trends of neo-liberal policy reform, government regulation of urban land use has continued to increase in many countries worldwide. This is surprising, given the plethora of recent scholarly work that suggests that excessive land use regulation may contribute to increasingly unaffordable cities. As such, this review seeks to examine the economic underpinnings of land use regulation, highlight an apparent ideological shift in the application of such regulation, and suggest future ...
This chapter evaluates growth management in Florida by examining its relationship to spatial patt... more This chapter evaluates growth management in Florida by examining its relationship to spatial patterns of economic development in the Atlantic Southeast region between 1982 and 1997. Specifically, the analysis uses a regional adjustment model—a dynamic, two-equation structural model that accounts for interaction between population and employment in the growth process—to project equilibrium densities of people and jobs county-by-county in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee ...
The Geography of Beer, 2014
This paper extends the work of McLaughlin (Australas J Reg Stud 1(17):60-80, 2011) by estimating ... more This paper extends the work of McLaughlin (Australas J Reg Stud 1(17):60-80, 2011) by estimating housing supply elasticities of the six Australian capital cities over a longer panel, from 1983-2010. In addition, we extend McLaughlin's analysis by comparing housing supply elasticities by dwelling type and also test for the presence of longer supply lags than previously examined in the supply literature. Based on widespread implementation of land-use regulations by Australian federal and state governments over the past 30 years, we hypothesize difference in elasticity between housing types is ambiguous, with supply lags greater for multifamily units. We employ the urban growth model of new housing supply developed by Mayer and Somerville (J Urb Econ 48(1):85-109, 2000a) and Mayer and Somerville (Reg Sci Urb Econ 30(6):639-662, 2000b) and employed in Zabel and Paterson (J Reg Sci 46(1):67-95, 2006) and McLaughlin (Australas J Reg Stud 1 :60-80, 2011), to estimate the elasticity of new housing supply in Australia's six capital cities-Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Hobart-using an unbalanced quarterly panel from 1983-2010. Our findings suggest that the elasticity of new supply is greater for multifamily units than single-family units, while supply response lags for multifamily homes are on the order of 4-8 quarters longer than that of single-family homes. These findings suggest that although Australian land-use policies may be achieving their goal of increasing the supply of smaller, more affordable units, future policies should seek to reduce the extensive supply lags of housing types to help ease short-run price increases.
A substantial literature argues that the recent housing crash in the United States naturally foll... more A substantial literature argues that the recent housing crash in the United States naturally followed from a series of legal and technical transformations that took place in that nation's financial sector. While a number of new practices were applied fairly evenly across the nation, their repercussions were not at all manifested evenly. In this paper we analyze the trajectories of quality-adjusted house-price increases during the period 1984-2006. We develop models where year-to-year house prices certainly respond to ongoing changes in either wages or income, but where these responses vary dramatically across the nation's largest cities. We find that much of this variability is captured by city-specific initial conditions, which include differences in land-use regulation, taxes, and population size as well as the remarkable variation in the geographies of both human-created and natural amenities. The importance of some initial conditions is shown to strengthen, while the importance of other conditions weakens, over the study period. case of air quality.
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Papers by Ralph McLaughlin