1) Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics, was recently reported by CNN as saying: The housing market is out of whack. Its not sustainable. It is overvalued, stretched and vulnerable as mortgage rates rise, and affordability gets crushed. Discuss three metrics or methods you could use to try to verify or refute Zandis judgement that homes (for sale) in the US are overvalued.
2) What is meant by an export base industry and what is its significance in regional economic analysis? What are some of the advantages and shortcomings of the concept?
3) Is metropolitan economic growth driven by people following jobs or by jobs following people? Explain how Economic Base Theory and the New Growth Theory differ in their answers to that question.
4) In William Alonsos model of the urban land market, how would an increase in the number of firms allowing employees to work remotely from home affect the bid-rent function for residential land? How would you expect it to affect the pattern of land use in a metropolitan area?
