The Estimation of the Utility of the Household in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and Application of the Model of Household Location Choice
1998 Volume 29 Issue 3 Pages 25-37
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1998 Volume 29 Issue 3 Pages 25-37
This study focuses on the measurement of the utility of the household within the urbaneconomic model of household location choice. We also show applications of the results of the model.
We consider the basic model in which the utility function of the household is specied with respect to the lot size of house, the amount of composite consumer good and the leisure time. In this basic model, we assume that the family structure of the household is only characterized by working members and dependent members, and each household earns dierent income. Therefore we expand the basic model by adding two factors; the family structure of the household and the income levels.
Firstly we consider two factors individually. From the viewpoint of income levels, we show that households with higher income have a larger elasticity of time than those with lower income. From the viewpoint of the family structure of the household, we show that the utility of the working member who lives near the CBD is higher than that of working member who lives in the suburbs, and that the distribution of utility of the dependent members shows the opposite pattern. Secondly, we combine the two factors. For those in the higher income level, the utility of the household near the CBD is larger than that of these in the suburbs. In the lower income level, household utility shows the opposite pattern.
Next, we consider applying the results of the model to the real world. If the location of the household is in equilibrium in the real world, the utility of the household should be same across all cities. That is to say, we consider that there are external factors (except the lot size of the house, the amount of composite consumer good and the leisure time) which compensate for the dierences across cities. We guess these external factors to be the subjective image of the city, the sewerage service ratio and the number of stores per area feasible for daily consumption.
