Applied microeconomics; Urban economics; Housing policy in free and regulated economies; Computable dynamic urban general equilibrium models; Applied econometrics; Theory of discrete choice models; Economic growth and cities; New international trade theory
Professor Alex Anas, PhD, is Frank H. and Josephine L. Goodyear Professor of Economics. His research interests over the years have spanned theoretical, empirical and applied urban economics. A continuing programmatic focus of Prof. Anas' research career has been the development of computable models based on microeconomic theory, that can be used to empirically analyze the impacts of changes and policies on urban structure. Prof. Anas is the developer of RELU-TRAN (Regional Economy, Land Use and Transportation), a computable general equilibrium model that treats the interconnections of spatially disaggregated labor markets, the markets for housing and non-housing floor space, industry location, real estate development, work and non-work related personal transportation and energy utilization and emissions in personal transportation. The development of RELU-TRAN was supported by major research awards from the National Science Foundation and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These awards helped apply the model to the analysis of congestion, road pricing and urban sprawl in Chicago. A 2010 research award from the University of California supported a more extensive application to Los Angeles. The model has also been applied to Paris, France with the support of the Societe du Grand Paris. In 2006, Prof. Anas was inducted as a fellow of the Regional Science Association International and in 2016 he was presented with the Walter Isard Award in recognition of his scholarly achievements in the field of Regional Science.