Jorge De la Roca

About Jorge De la Roca

I am an Associate Professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California. I am also Research Director at the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and co-direct LAUrban, LACEA urban economics network.

My research fields include urban economics, labor economics, and economic geography. I am an Editor of the Journal of Economic Geography.

My research studies agglomeration economies, urban inequality, skill sorting, and urban migration. I also study the consequences and underlying mechanisms of racial residential segregation on minorities.

Areas of Expertise

Urban economics, agglomeration, migration, real estate

Selected Publications

• City of dreams (with Gianmarco Ottaviano and Diego Puga), Journal of the European Economics Association 21(2), April 2023: 690–726
• In search of better opportunities: sorting and agglomeration effects among young college graduates in Colombia (with Marigee Bacolod and María Marta Ferreyra) Regional Science and Urban Economics 87, March 2021
• Selection in initial and return migration: Evidence from moves across Spanish cities, Journal of Urban Economics 100, July 2017: 33–53
• Learning by working in big cities (with Diego Puga), Review of Economic Studies 84(1), January 2017: 106–142
• Race and neighborhoods in the 21st century: What does segregation mean today? (with Ingrid Gould Ellen and Katherine M. O’Regan), Regional Science and Urban Economics 47, July 2014: 138–151

Recent Courses Taught

• Real Estate Development Fundamentals RED 362
• Economics for Policy, Planning and Development PPD 501a/b