Income Disparity, Time Allocation, and Social Welfare in a System of Cities
研究在封闭经济的两部门空间一般均衡模型中，不同技能家庭如何形成专业化城市，分析公共基础设施投资如何通过降低通勤成本影响家庭时间分配，并解释城市规模差异及收入差距对社会福利的影响。
The objective of this paper is to examine the formation of specialized cities with multiple types of households in a decentralized system of cities. This is done in a two‐sector spatial general‐equilibrium model of a closed economy consisting of two groups of labor forces: a continuum of unskilled labor used to produce a food product, and a continuum of skilled labor used in the production of a high‐tech product. Cities are formed in this model as a result of investment in public infrastructure. This investment leads to a reduction in commuting cost and consequently to an increase in the time that households can utilize for work and leisure. The paper characterizes the equilibrium solution for a purely specialized system of cities and presents some comparative static results. Moreover, the paper presents an explanation for the variation in city sizes as a result of differences in households' value of time. Finally, the paper analyzes the determinants of income disparity between the two different types of cities and its impacts on social welfare.