Accessibility is a fundamental concept in theories of metropolitan spatial structure. Urban economic models explain urban structure as a function of access to jobs; accessibility is capitalised into land values, which in turn explain the population distribution. Studies of residential land values show that many factors contribute to the value of a given location: the characteristics of the housing unit, its location with respect to social and environmental amenities, as well as access to jobs, services and other economic opportunities. Empirical studies typically use job access as a proxy for more generalised access to economic activities. However, jobs represent many different activities, from retail shopping to heavy manufacturing, and the value of access to these activities may be positive or negative. In this paper, accessibility measures based on industry sectors have been developed, allowing the separating out of possible different effects. Their impacts are tested on residential land values using data from the Los Angeles region. A multilevel modelling approach is used in order to control for neighbourhood-level attributes common to multiple properties. It is found that the various access measures have different and significant effects on land values, but attributes of the dwelling unit, together with access to the coast, explain most of the variation. The multilevel model is confirmed; there is significant correlation among properties within the same neighbourhood.

There has been considerable controversy about the economic impacts of the federal Gulf deepwater oil drilling suspensions following the oil spill. In this study, we elaborate and apply the National Interstate Economic Model (NIEMO) to estimate direct, indirect and induced economic losses in each of the 50 states (and the District of Columbia). We simulate the effects of three separate, 6-month direct loss scenarios of media guestimates reported by several local sources. While the traditional NIEMO application only captured direct and indirect impacts, we developed a new module to estimate local induced impacts as well. This methodology could be applied to any similar scenario. Our model extension and application suggest a useful approach to tasks such as the one assigned to Gulf Coast Claims Facility administrator Kenneth Feinberg. The terror threat, as well as the possibility of other mishaps and natural disasters, suggests that this is always a serious possibility that these sorts of calculations will have to be made. Our innovation was to estimate the Type-II effects in the impacted states and to trace their trade effects through the NIEMO system with only minor methodological elaborations.

Green-city innovation uses industrial and entrepreneurial ecosystems that can reduce environmental and ecological risks and achieve sustainable urban development without degrading urban environments. In a city, entrepreneurship ecosystems include start-ups and supporting networks of coordinating entities which contribute to economies of scale; however, these systems may make a city’s green environment worse, by contributing to air or water pollution. Even though there is a widely held perception of an adverse relationship between urban economic performance and urban environmental conditions, green-city development involving clean industries can be a way to attract employees without affecting urban environments negatively. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies that examine how such a green-related innovative entrepreneurial system could become a growth engine of cities. This paper examines whether a greener city can contribute to the economic prosperity of the city. A two-stage econometrics approach is the method applied, using data from 2000 and 2005. This paper contributes to the field by distinguishing concerns about urban environments in green cities from concerns about economic performances related to innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystems.