Forthcoming events
Dr Wenjie Wu, University of Glasgow
“Rail Access, Subjective Wellbeing and Land Market Capitalization”
3 October 2013, 4-5:30pm, Sir Alexander Stone Building, Room 204, 16 University Gardens, University of Glasgow (D5 on the Campus Map)
Abstract: Development of rail transport infrastructure is a key policy focus---particularly in countries like China which have experienced fast urbanization over the past decade. This paper uses a powerful method to explore the impact of the transport improvement program, identified by rail access changes, on homeowners’ happiness using a unique micro geo-coded survey data set. The transport improvement program that adopted here is the opening of new rail stations in 2008 Beijing. Using this program as an exogenous change, this paper implements a quasi-experimental approach that can avoid most of the biases inherent in traditional cross-sectional regressions. The results show that transport improvements affect local area level homeowners’ happiness with respect to different dimensions of residential environment. However, such effects are not distributed evenly over space and social groups. The results also reinforce the impression that the changes in happiness might be reflected in changes in housing demands so in some way can be capitalized into local real estate markets.
Wenjie is a lecturer in real estate, University of Glasgow. His research focuses on the spatial applications of housing markets, transport networks, and social wellbeing.
Other Events in the SCCR Seminar Programme 2013-2014
- 10th October: SCCR Meeting
- 17th October: Dr Oliver Turner (University of Manchester, Hallsworth Fellow in Political Economy) ‘Representing China: Identity, Power, Policy’.
- 31st October: Dr Anna Lora Wainwright (University of Oxford, Lecturer in the Human Geography of China) ‘Fighting for Breath: Living Morally and Dying of Cancer in a Chinese Village’.
- 7th November: Professor Ian Taylor (University of St Andrews, Professor in International Relations and African Politics) ‘The BRICS in Africa: Diversifying Dependency?’.
- 28th November: Dr Joanne Smith Finley (University of Newcastle, Lecturer in Chinese Studies) ‘Redistribution of wealth or consolidation of majority Han power? The ‘national partner assistance programme’ in Khotän, Xinjiang’.