@techreport{4c21e2e64dd0469bb0044248cf58c746,
title = "Are Big Cities Bad Places to Live? Estimating Quality of Life across Metropolitan Areas",
abstract = "The standard revealed-preference estimate of a city's quality of life is proportional to that city's cost-of-living relative to its wage-level. Adjusting estimates to account for federal taxes, non-housing costs, and non-labor income produces more plausible quality-of-life estimates than in the previous literature. Unlike previous estimates, adjusted quality-of-life measures successfully predict how housing costs rise with wage levels, are positively correlated with popular {"}livability{"} rankings and stated preferences, and do not decrease with city size. Mild seasons, sunshine, hills, and coastal proximity account for most inter-metropolitan quality-of-life differences. Amendments to quality-of-life measures for labor-market disequilibrium and household heterogeneity provide additional insights.",
author = "Albouy, {David Y.}",
year = "2008",
doi = "10.3386/w14472",
language = "English (US)",
series = "NBER Working Paper Series",
publisher = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
number = "14472",
type = "WorkingPaper",
institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
}