William Alonso
William Alonso (born 1933 in Buenos Aires , † February 11, 1999 ) was an American economist .
Life
He began his career in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in architecture from Harvard University . In 1956 he obtained his master’s degree in urban planning , also from Harvard University. He received a doctorate in regional science in 1960 from the University of Pennsylvania .
From 1960 to 1961, Alonso was director and professor of the Regional and Urban Planning Department of the Institute of Technology in Bandung , Indonesia. He then worked as a visiting professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1962 , before he was executive director of the Harvard Center of Urban Studies for two years in 1963 . He also conducted research at Yale University , Berkeley University of California and Stanford University .
In 1976 Alonso became director of the Center for Population Studies at Harvard University. Two years later he became a Richard Saltonstall professor of population policy in the Faculty of Healthcare and became a member of the Institute of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
In addition to his academic research, Alonso was also a consultant to various American institutions, e. B. the US departments of economics, building, urban development and agriculture, the World Bank , the United Nations Population Fund and the Ford Foundation .
plant
His research focused on demographic changes, particularly in urbanized areas. For this purpose, he formulated mathematical models that link migration and the development of population distribution. An important city model here is that of the monocentric city structure. He expands the demand-oriented household theory through his spatial science contribution by describing the choice of location of private households based on the distance to a centrally located center (e.g. CBD or place of work ). The theory was extended by Richard Muth , who determines the trade-off between commuting and housing costs based on the distance to the city center.
In 1964 he published the book "Location and Land Use", in which he defines his approaches to the distribution of land rent in urban areas. His model forms an important pillar of regional economy .
literature
- W. Alonso: Location and Land Use. Towards a General Theory of Land Rent. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964, ISBN 978-0-674-53700-2
- W. Simpson: Urban Structure and the Labor Market - Worker Mobility, Commuting and Underemployment in Cities. Clarendon Press Oxford, 1992, ISBN 978-0-198-28358-4
Web links
- http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/450/alonso.html
- In Memoriam: William Alonso ( Memento of June 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alonso, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American economist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Buenos Aires |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 1999 |