[Seminaire CREM] Présentation de Pol Consentino, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Abstract:
This paper studies how urban transport infrastructure affects city structure when it reduces not only commuting costs but also trade costs within cities. I exploit the construction of the Petite Ceinture railroad in nineteenth-century Paris, a circular system designed for freight and passengers, and combine newly digitized data on Parisian neighborhoods from 1801 to 1906. I provide reduced-form evidence and show that this railroad significantly influenced the spatial distribution of firms and residents during this period. I develop and calibrate a quantitative urban model with tradable goods and non-tradable services to estimate the impact of the PC railroad on the spatial equilibrium. I find that shutting down this circular railroad decreases the total population, rateable values, and the consumption of tradables in Paris, respectively by 13.6%, 14.0% and 15.0%, and creates a reallocation of workers and residents towards the city center.