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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Brännström, Lars (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | One subject that has received ample attention in recent years is the potential negative effects of spatial concentrations of disadvantage on participation in society, particularly in terms of labour market participation and educational careers. This study contributes to the literature on the effects of neighbourhood and school on individual educational outcomes by examining whether and to what extent adolescent educational achievement is determined by neighbourhood and school population characteristics. By using an unusually rich administrative data set of leaving certificates for around 26,000 upper secondary school students who were registered as residing in any of the three metropolitan areas of Sweden in the school year 2004, cross-classified multilevel analyses show that characteristics attributable to upper secondary schools matter much more for the variability in achievement than do neighbourhoods. There are also indications of contextual effects at each level (particularly among boys with an immigrant background) that operate above and beyond the impact of observed individual-level background attributes. Since the estimated effects of concentrations of (dis)advantage and immigrant density at neighbourhood and school level point in different directions, this study demonstrates the benefits of analysing the effects of neighbourhood and school on individual educational outcomes at the same time. |
| Keywords: | education; neighbourhood |
| JEL: | I20 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2007_003&r=ure |
| By: | Adelheid Holl |
| Abstract: | Using data from a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms, I examine factors that explain firms’ production subcontracting decisions and test whether there is any evidence that production subcontracting is facilitated in areas typically associated with higher agglomeration economies. The results show that location matters. Firms in industry agglomerations are more likely to subcontract production activities. While in general, larger and older firms as well as high wage firms show a greater probability for production subcontracting, industry agglomeration particularly facilitates subcontracting for smaller and lower wage firms and it allows firms to respond to a greater degree to expansive demand conditions by taking advantage of subcontracting. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2007-17&r=ure |
| By: | Wendy Edelberg |
| Abstract: | Most of the literature exploring racial disparities in consumer credit markets focuses on the issue of access to loans. But the disparate terms on which loans are issued are equally revealing. In this paper, I examine disparities in a variety of consumer loan interest rates using a reduced-form framework. I find that interest rates on loans issued before the 1995 show a statistically significant degree of unexplained racial heterogeneity even after controlling for the financial costs of issuing debt. However, racial dispersion in rates falls off for loans originated after 1995. ; The unexplainable racial disparity in consumer loan rates issued before 1995 implies that in this earlier period minorities faced unaccountably higher interest-rate premiums on the order of--in two examples--20 basis points for first mortgages and 80 basis points for automobile loans. Overall, evidence of unexplainable racial dispersion in interest rates is more robust among homeowners than renters. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2007-28&r=ure |
| By: | KOCH, Wilfried (LEG - CNRS UMR 5118 - Université de Bourgogne); ERTUR, Cem (LEO - Université d'Orléans); BEHRENS, Kristian |
| Abstract: | We propose a quantity-based "dual" version of the gravity equation that yields an estimating equation with both cross-sectional interdependence and spatially lagged error terms. Such an equation can be concisely estimated using spatial econometric techniques. We illustrate this methodology by applying it to the Canada-U.S. data set used previously, among others, by Anderson and van Wincoop (2003) and Feenstra (2002, 2004). Our key result is to show that controlling directly for spatial interdependence across trade flows, as suggested by theory, significantly reduces border effects because it captures "multilateral resistance". Using a spatial autoregressive moving average specification, we find that border effects between the U.S. and Canada are smaller than in previous studies : about 8 for Canadian provinces and about 1.3 for U.S. states. Yet, heterogeneous coefficient estimations reveal that there is much variation across provinces and states. |
| Keywords: | gravity equations, multi-region general equilibrium trade models, spatial econometrics, border effects |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lat:legeco:2007-03&r=ure |
| By: | Marie-Laure Breuillé; Thierry Madiès; Emmanuelle Taugourdeau |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of both the nature of regional public spending and the federal government’s fiscal tools on the softness of the regional budget constraint and the regional provision of public good. We show that i) whatever the nature of regional public spending, the regional budget constraint is harder when the federal government can no longer manipulate its lump sum tax and ii) under the assumption that the federal government can no longer manipulate its lump sum tax, the federal bailout is lower when the region provides a public input rather than a public good but the regional budget constraint can be either softer or harder. |
| Keywords: | Soft Budget Constraint, Fiscal Federalism, Tax Competition, Public Input |
| JEL: | E62 H7 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2007-16&r=ure |