The Economic Costs and Transport Benefits of Seoul’s Industrial Land Use Controls

Abstract

This study focuses on both the favourable and adverse consequences of Seoul’s industrial development controls; namely, the transport benefits and the economic costs. The study develops a method to estimate the effects of the controls by combining three different models: a 2SLS regression model, a random-utility-based location choice model and a transport model. The most important findings are the aggregate annual economic costs and transport benefits of the controls: a $45.9 billion output and 336 000 job losses versus $4.8 billion in transport cost savings. These empirical findings indicate that the citizens of the Seoul metropolitan region would be better off economically, with more job opportunities, in the absence of the industrial development controls, and would pay relatively minor transport costs for these benefits.