Three chapters on spatial and urban economics[Trois chapitres sur l’économie spatiale et urbaine]

This thesis focuses on two important issues for developing countries, pollution and the gender gap, using the analytical and empirical tools of spatial and urban economics. In the first chapter, I build a spatial equilibrium model with endogenous air pollution as a by-product of production and consumption, where spatially mobile skilled and unskilled workers are negatively but heterogeneously affected by air pollution. Using a calibrated version of the model on the data of China, I show that strict regulation can be a centripetal force which attracts workers and production to the regulated place while reducing the emission of pollutants at the local and national levels. I then consider a policy to reduce national industrial emissions and compare strategies on how to allocate the responsibilities for reduction to cities. I find that concentrating responsibility on a limited number of wealthy cities can outperform an equal allocation in terms of welfare and economic output. In the second chapter, we assess the effect of a modern urban transport system, the "Delhi Metro" in India, on the participation of women and men in economic activities. The results suggest that the proximity to the Delhi Metro considerably increases the work participation rate of women. The third chapter reports on the first attempt to measure the value of statistical life on the risk of death from air pollution in urban areas of Bangladesh, using the contingent valuation method.