About me

Prof Gabriel Ahlfeldt is Professor of Urban Economics and Land Development, having joined the Department of Geography and Environment in October 2009 as a Lecturer. He is the director of the MSc REEF.

Prof Ahlfeldt is editor of Regional Science and Urban Economics, associate editor of the Journal of Regional Science, an Affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), the Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC), and the CESifo network.

In his research, Dr Ahlfeldt is interested in how various agglomeration forces shape the spatial distribution of economic activity. His research also analyses the impact of various spatial policies on local house prices, labour markets, political preferences and urban structure.

As of 2018, Prof Ahlfeldt has published 39 articles in peer-refereed journals, among them general interest economics journals such as Econometrica, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal or the European Economics Association, or Economic Journal, as well as in a wide range of urban economics, economic geography, regional science, urban planning and urban studies journals (e.g. Journal of Urban Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of Regional Science Environment and Planning A, Regional Studies, Urban Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, among others).

His results have also been disseminated to a wider public audience via television, radio and webTV (ARD, BBC, HR-Info, RBB, 3Sat UBrainTV) as well as various print media (e.g. BZ, The Boston Globe, The Economist, The Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Telegraph, The Observer, Handelsblatt, Der Tagesspiegel, Welt, Wirtschaftswoche).

His research has been supported by the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation, the German Science Foundation (DFG), the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines. His expertise has recently been commissioned by English Heritage, the OECD, WRI, and the Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce.

Expertise Details

accessibility; building design quality; cultural and media geography; economic geography; economic history; empirical research; new economic geography; new urban economics; spatial economics

Europe; Germany

Banking; Creative Industries and Culture

G. Ahlfeldt, D. McMillen: Tall Buildings and Land Values: Height and Construction Cost Elasticities in Chicago, 1870 – 2010, REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Holman: Distinctively different: A new approach to valuing architectural amenities, ECONOMIC JOURNAL, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, K. Moeller, S. Waights, N. Wendland (2017): Game of Zones: The political economy of conservation areas, ECONOMIC JOURNAL, 127, F421–F445

G. Ahlfeldt, P. Koutroumpis, T. Valletti (2017): Speed 2.0: Valuing universal access to digital highways, JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, 15(3), 586-625

G. Ahlfeldt, S. Redding, D. Sturm, N. Wolf (2015): The economics of density: Evidence from the Berlin Wall. ECONOMETRICA, 83(6), 2127-2189

G. Ahlfeldt, A. Feddersen: From periphery to core: Measuring agglomeration economies using high speed rail. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig, F. Richter (2017): Urban renewal after the Berlin Wall: A place-based policy evaluation, JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 17(1), pp. 129-156

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2015): Homevoters vs. leasevoters: A spatial analysis of airport effects. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECONOMICS, 87, 85-99

G. Ahlfeldt. K. Moeller, N. Wendland (2015): Chicken or Egg? The PVAR econometrics of transportation. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 15(6), 1169-1193

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland (2013): How Polycentric is a Monocentric City: Centres, spillovers and hysteresis JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 13(1), 53-83

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