help for AB2022

Gradient Solver for "The economics of skyscrapers"

Description

AB2022 is a gradient solver developed by Gabriel M Ahlfeldt, designed for the analysis presented in Ahlfeldt & Barr (2022): "The economics of skyscrapers". It is part of the Ahlfeldt-Barr-(2022)-toolkit that also contains a walkthrough replicating some of the results in the paper. This command generates floor space, height, and land rent gradients under the baseline parameterization. It also solves for the land use pattern (commercial vs. residential), total employment, and the wage that clears the labour market.

Syntax

AB2022 ["parameter=value"]

The following parameters can be adjusted by adding "parameter=value"
as an argument. Below is a brief description and canonical parameter
values from Ahlfeldt & Barr (2022):

theta_C Commercial construction cost elasticity of height 0.5
theta_R Residential construction cost elasticity of height 0.55
omega_C Commercial rent elasticity of height 0.03
omega_R Residential rent elasticity of height 0.07
beta_C Agglomeration elasticity 0.03
a_bar_C Fundamental production amenity 2
a_bar_R Fundamental residential amenity 1
tau_C Commercial amenity decay 0.01
tau_R Residential amenity decay 0.005
c_C Commerical baseline construction factor 1.4
c_R Residential baseline construction factor 1.4
r_a Agricultural land rents 150
S_bar_C Commercial height limit 999
S_bar_R Residential height limit 999
x_1_bar Urban growth boundary (max. radius urban area) 999

The program will find the equilibrium using the above parameter values if you enter the commend without any argument.
You can change any of the parameter values by adding "parameter=value" as an argument. You can add as many arguments as there are parameters.

Example 1:

Baseline parameterization

AB2022

Example 2

:
Introduce a height limit of 50 floors for commercial buildings

AB2022 "S_bar_C=50"

Example 3:

Introduce a height limit of 50 floors for commercial buildings and height limit of 10 floors for residential buildings

AB2022, "S_bar_C=50" "S_bar_R=10"

You can add as many arguments as there are parameters.

Author

Gabriel M Ahlfeldt, 02/2024
Humboldt University

References

The complete Ahlfeldt-Barr-(2022)-toolkit is available as a GitHub repository. [link]

The toolkit and the AB2022 ado file build on:

Ahlfeldt, G., Barr, J. (2022): The Economics Skyscrapers: A synthesis. Journal of Urban Economics, 129. [link]

When using this programme or the toolkit in your work, please cite Ahlfeldt & Barr (2022).

End of help file