Introduction
Urban economics generally examines the problems caused by urbanization and located in urbanized areas. These problems may include crime, housing, education, public transit, and other issues. In recent years, urban economists have been specifically concerned about how these issues originate and connect to increasing levels of poverty.
Discussion
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic further amplified these existing relations, pushing millions of the residents of urbanized areas into a lower economic bracket in some cities. In other words, as a result of the economic downturn associated with the pandemic, many people with a medium income fell into a low-income category, while some low-income families – into poverty. However, people from some urbanized areas managed to maintain their economic prosperity. Another peculiar feature of these areas is that their residents generally possess more wealth in the first place before the pandemic. Therefore, this issue becomes the question of the prosperity of some urbanized areas and its underlying reasons.
The best research technique to apply to solve this urban economics issue is to use an independent variable (IV). IV can be commonly described as variables that do not depend on or are caused by other factors. Thus, the dependent variable (DV) is often the result of IV’s influence. In this case, the economic prosperity and resilience of urbanized areas are DV. Gomez-Lievano and Patterson-Lomba (2021) propose that residents’ expertise is the main factor of the city’s prosperity, making levels of expertise IV. Therefore, research is to be focused on the relationship between these two variables. In this study by Gomez-Lievano and Patterson-Lomba (2021), in particular, expertise is quantified by the level of schooling and prosperity – by residents’ wages, the city’s size, and its industrial diversity.
Conclusion
The conclusion of this research is that residents’ expertise influences urban areas’ prosperity in the same direction, meaning that with high levels of expertise comes high levels of prosperity. This is one example of how IV can be used in research to determine the causation of urban economics issues.
References
Gomez-Lievano, A., & Patterson-Lomba, O. (2021). Estimating the drivers of urban economic complexity and their connection to economic performance. Royal Society open science, 8(9). Web.