Defensio time . . .
On May 3, I successfully defended my dissertation at WU/Vienna University of Economics and Business. I am very pleased, but also feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to take an extended period of time to make an in-depth exploration of an important topic. The dissertation includes two quantitative papers…
More on Path Dependence . . .
In developing my paper on path dependence and planning (see my previous post), I compiled a short bibliography. This wasn’t really part of the assignment, but it’s a good exercise and can create something of value for your own work and for colleagues. For the curious . . Acemoglu, Daron…
Transportation Planning and Path Dependence
One of my graduate seminars here at WU was taught by Dr. Kurt Dopfer, a leading thinker and writer on evolutionary economics. This is a theory of economics that focuses on processes of decision making and market formation rather than outcomes of decisions structured by a strict (and unrealistic) set…
Creating a Region-Level Weights Matrix–updated!
Update! At the recent ERSA Congress here in Vienna, I connected with Roger Bivand, the lead developer of the spdep package for R. He had a look at the solution I wrote up here and spotted an issue with it. There is an updated version of spdep, currently available for…
‘Broad Brushes and Useful Approximations’
Next month, I’ll be presenting this paper at the ERSA Congress here in Vienna. Abstract Scholars use a variety of methods to measure the size, shape, configuration, and characteristics of cities in analyzing the causes and consequences of urban form. The diversity of measurement approaches is a reflection of the…
Draft Program Released for ERSA Congress
The draft program is now online for the 2016 European Regional Science Association Congress. No surprise that there are lots of presentations with some mention of transportation in the title. A couple of intriguing ones: ‘All roads lead to Rome . . .and to sprawl? Evidence from European cities’, Dr….
The “Rock Your Research” Podcast
I recently discovered the “Rock Your Research” podcast. This is a terrific show about how to be a happy, productive grad student and make the transition out of school and into the next Big Thing. Each week, they put out a podcast full of encouragement and advice from people who have walked…