|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Leah Platt Boustan |
| Abstract: | Suburbs allow for sorting across towns, increasing inequality in resources for education and other local public goods. This paper demonstrates that postwar suburbanization was, in part, a flight from the declining income and changing racial composition of city residents. I estimate the marginal willingness to pay for town-level demographics -- holding neighborhood composition constant -- by comparing prices for housing units on either side of city-suburban borders (1960-1980). A one standard deviation increase in residents' median income was associated with a 3.5 percent housing price increase. Homeowners value the fiscal subsidy associated with a higher tax base, and the fiscal isolation from social problems (for example, spending on police). In addition, white households avoided racially diverse jurisdictions, particularly those that experienced rioting or underwent school desegregation. |
| JEL: | H71 H72 H73 N92 R21 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13311&r=ure |
| By: | Idan Porat; Maxim Shoshany; Amnon Frenkel |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the spatial development of the residential build area in the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, a metropolitan core city and a world city in evolution, over the course of 30 years. We employed spatial autocorrelation model in order to test the urban development of the city built-up area. The analysis presented in this paper is unique in a sense of using spatial autocorrelation model on residential Construction Initiations (CI) information that represent additional and renewal of built floor area (FA), its land use and location. The suggested spatial autocorrelation model used annual and accumulative CI as a database for urban growth analysis. We consider spatial autocorrelation (Moran I) as a statistic tool for urban growth analysis. The combination of long time series of CI (available since the middle seventies at a sub-quarters resolution) enable to test the data on annual and accumulative base, thus contribute to the examination of spatial urban processes. The results obtained from employing the various autocorrelation indices used in the study (Moran: Annual and Cumulative) show significantly high clustering level of the residential accumulative CI system in Tel Aviv-Yafo. Such result was partly expected due to the development of new residential areas in Northern Tel Aviv. However, there is another interesting component of this clustering which relates to the regeneration in the older neighborhoods. Assessment of the differences between the yearly and accumulative autocorrelations allows new insight into the urban CI dynamics, whereby the annual data show a tendency toward a more random spatial organization in parallel to the accumulation into clusters. Generalizing this new phenomenon is expected to contribute to the understanding of the evolution of urban regions undergoing both expansion and internal renewal. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p301&r=ure |
| By: | HUD - PD&R |
| Abstract: | The United States has experienced extensive demographic changes in the last three and a half decades—changes that have significantly affected the nation’s housing stock. The population has grown from 203 million in 1970 to 302 million in 2007 and has undergone some fundamental shifts. |
| JEL: | N00 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hud:wpaper:39141&r=ure |
| By: | Aico van Vuuren; Michiel van Leuvensteijn |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of homeownership on unemployment duration using a theoretical model of job search. Earlier studies suggest that this relationship should be positive because workers are less mobile when they own a home. Nevertheless, most of the empirical studies in Europe find an opposite relationship. In this paper, we investigate whether this is due to an omission in the original analysis or whether it is due to an endogeneity problem, i.e. those who can leave unemployment easily are more likely to be a homeowner. In our empirical analysis, we use additional information about the differences in unemployment benefits between homeowners and renters. We find that homeowners have higher hazard rates out of unemployment to a job in the local labour market. The impact is significant but not very large. Homeownership has a negative but insignificant impact on the hazard to leave unemployment to the non-local labour market. Finally, we find that homeowners would reduce their probability to receive a job offer from the local labour market when they become renters. The probability to receive a job offer from the non-local labour market would increase for short spells of unemployment when home owners become renters. However, this probability would be reduced for long spells of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | housing market; transaction costs; labor mobility; unemployment |
| JEL: | J60 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:86&r=ure |
| By: | R. Jason Faberman |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on the relationship between a metropolitan area’s employment growth and its establishment age distribution. The author finds that cities with a relatively younger distribution of establishments tend to have higher growth, as well as higher job and establishment turnover. Geographic variations in the age distribution account for 38 percent of the geographic differences in growth, compared to the 32 percent accounted for by variations in industry composition. Differences are disproportionately accounted for by entrants and young (5 years or younger) establishments. Furthermore, the relationship between age and growth is robust to controls for urban diversity and education. Overall, the results support a microfoundations view of urban growth, where the benefits of agglomeration affect firms not through some production externality but through a process that determines which firms enter, exit, and thrive at a given location. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:07-18&r=ure |
| By: | Christopher C. Klein |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to shed light on the role of school funding in individual school performance. A unique data set is utilized for the Metropolitan Nashville – Davidson County School District in Tennessee, known colloquially as Metro. In 2005 the Metro school board undertook the task of breaking down individual school spending levels by funding source. The resulting 2004-2005 financial data are combined with academic test scores and demographic data for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 academic years for each of 70 elementary schools. Econometric tests are then conducted to examine whether contemporaneous test score performance is determined by funding, or whether funding is determined by prior performance, or whether other school characteristics influence both. |
| Keywords: | education, public schools, performance |
| JEL: | I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:wpaper:200715&r=ure |
| By: | Robert Baade (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College); Robert Baumann (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | College football and men’s basketball are the largest revenue generators in college athletics. Studies funded by athletic boosters tout the economic benefits of a college athletic program as an incentive for host cities to construct new stadiums or arenas at considerable public expense. Our analysis of the economic impact of home football and men’s basketball games on Tallahassee (home of Florida State University) and Gainesville (home of the University of Florida) between 1980 to early-2007 fails to support these claims. Men’s basketball games at these universities have no statistically significant impact on taxable sales, while football yields a modest gain of $2 to $3 million per home game. While this positive finding is one of the first in the academic literature of the impact of sports, these gains pale in comparison to the figures in many of the studies funded by athletic boosters. |
| Keywords: | sports, basketball, football, college sports, impact analysis, mega-event |
| JEL: | L83 O18 R53 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0704&r=ure |
| By: | Nagarajan, Hari K.; Jin, Songqing; Deininger, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Recognition of the potentially deleterious implications of inequality in opportunity originating in a skewed asset distribution has spawned considerable interest in land reforms. However, little attention has been devoted to fact that, in the longer term, the measures used to implement land reforms could negatively affect productivity. Use of state level data on rental restrictions, together with a nationally representative survey from India, suggests that, contrary to original intenti ons, rental restrictions negatively affect productivity and equity. The restrictions reduce the scope for efficiency-enhancing rental transactions that benefit poor producers. Simulations suggest that, by doubling the number of producers with access to land through rental, from about 15 million currently, liberalization of rental markets could have far-reaching impacts. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems,Municipal Housing and Land,Housing & Human Habitats,Climate Change,Land and Real Estate Development |
| Date: | 2007–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4324&r=ure |
| By: | W. Scott Frame; Diana Hancock; Wayne Passmore |
| Abstract: | The primary mission of the 12 cooperatively owned Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) is to provide their members financial products and services to assist and enhance member housing finance. In this paper, we consider the role of the FHLBs' traditional product--"advances," or collateralized loans to members--in stabilizing commercial bank members' residential mortgage lending activities. ; Our theoretical model shows that using membership criteria (such as a minimum of 10 percent of the portfolio being in mortgage-related assets) or using mortgage-related assets as collateral does not ensure that FHLB advances will be put to use for stabilizing members' financing of housing. Indeed, our model demonstrates that advances--a relatively low cost managed liability--are most likely to influence lending only when such liabilities are used to finance "relationship" loans (i.e., loans to bank-dependent borrowers) that will be held on a bank's balance sheet and are least likely to influence lending for loans where the loan rate is heavily influenced by securitization activities, like mortgages. ; Using panel vector autoregression (VAR) techniques, we estimate recent dynamic responses of U.S. bank portfolios to FHLB advance shocks, to bank lending shocks, and to macroeconomic shocks. Our empirical findings are consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model. First, recent bank portfolio responses to FHLB advance shocks are of similar magnitude for mortgages, for commercial and industrial loans, and for other real estate loans. This suggests that advances are just as likely to fund other types of bank credit as to fund single-family mortgages. Second, unexpected changes in all types of bank lending are accommodated using FHLB advances. Third, FHLB advances do not appear to reduce variability in bank residential mortgage lending resulting from macroeconomic shocks. However, some banks appear to have used FHLB advances to reduce variability in commercial and industrial lending in response to such macroeconomic shocks. Thus, relatively low cost managed liabilities may be used to finance "relationship" borrowers (which are typically business borrowers, rather than residential mortgage borrowers), although this use for advances appears to have diminished over time. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2007-31&r=ure |
| By: | Manufactured Housing Research Alliance |
| Abstract: | Lean production is an approach to manufacturing that strives to eliminate all kinds of waste (time, money, materials, etc.) while creating a culture within the plant of continuous improvement. Lean processes have long been used in other industries, notably automotive, to improve quality while reducing the overall cost of production; however, they are relatively new to the factory built housing industry. |
| JEL: | O20 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hud:wpaper:39142&r=ure |
| By: | Nagarajan, Hari K.; Jin, Songqing; Deininger, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Although opinions on impacts of land market transfers are sharply divided, few studies explore the welfare and productivity effects of land markets on a larger scale. This paper uses a large Indian panel spanning almost 20 years, together with a climatic shock (rainfall) indicator, to assess the productivity and equity effects of market-mediated land transfers (sale and purchase) compared with no n-market ones (inheritance). The analysis shows that frequent shocks increase land market activity, an effect that is mitigated by the presence of safety nets and banks. Land sales markets improved productivity and helped purchasers, many of whom were formerly landless, to accumulate non-land assets and significantly enhance their welfare. |
| Keywords: | Banks & Banking Reform,Markets and Market Access,Municipal Housing and Land,,Real Estate Development |
| Date: | 2007–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4323&r=ure |
| By: | Lars-Erik Borge (Department of Economics & Centre for Economic Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Per Tovmo (Centre for Economic Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the intertemporal spending behavior of Norwegian local governments with particular attention to liquidity constraints imposed by balanced-budget-rules (BBRs). The main findings are: (i) On average, local government spending behavior is neither perfectly forward looking nor fully myopic. (ii) Local governments with good fiscal conditions behave more forward looking than other local governments. (iii) A high degree of party fragmentations is associated with less forward looking behavior. The overall assessment is that the departure from rational forward looking behavior reflects both liquidity constraints imposed by BBRs and myopic behavior. |
| Keywords: | Balanced-budget-rules; Intertemporal spending behavior; Consumption smoothing; Local government |
| JEL: | D91 H72 |
| Date: | 2007–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:8807&r=ure |
| By: | Holmlund, Helena (Centre for Economic Performance) |
| Abstract: | When studying different types of returns to education, educational reforms are commonly used in the economics literature as a source of exogenous variation in education. The Swedish compulsory school reform is one example; the reform extended compulsory education throughout the country, in different municipalities at different points in time. Such variation across cohorts and regions can be used in a differences-in-differences framework, in order to estimate causal effects of education. This paper provides a guide to researchers who consider using the Swedish reform in an empirical analysis: I present a description and background of the reform, provide some baseline results, a reliability analysis of the reform coding, a discussion of whether the reform is a valid instrument, and comment on the interpretation of IV estimates of returns to schooling. |
| Keywords: | educational reform; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I28 |
| Date: | 2007–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2007_009&r=ure |
| By: | Sun Go; Peter H. Lindert |
| Abstract: | How did a frontier nation filled with agricultural and mineral potential become a leader in education? How did a nation supposedly born of aversion to taxes and government become a pioneer in using property taxes to pay for much, and eventually most, of its primary schooling? The puzzle is best explained by a combination of schooling affordability, local autonomy, and especially political voice. We present two kinds of evidence: broad contrasts with Europe, and statistical investigation of the differences among U.S. counties in the mid-nineteenth century. Two political voice variables stand out as determinants of schooling among U.S. counties: The extent of local suffrage and the ability of Southern elites to dominate the electorate. Other standard explanations of the demand for primary education need to be revised. Past writers have overemphasized the passage of national and state laws. Contrary to another common view, cities lagged in school attendance, while the Northern countryside led the way, because political voice was more widespread in the small Northern towns. |
| JEL: | H52 H75 I22 N11 N31 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13335&r=ure |
| By: | Ruben Mercado; Antonio Páez |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants of mean trip distance traveled by different mode types. The study uses data from the Hamilton CMA in Canada, and multilevel models to investigate demographic aging factors, gender differentials, and neighbourhood attributes on distance traveled. The results of the study validate previous findings regarding the decline in distance traveled as age advances. In addition, it is found that: 1) While this effect of age is present for all modes analyzed (car-driving, car-passenger, and bus) it is considerably more marked for car-driving; 2) There are significant gender effects compounded by the interrelated factors of employment constraints, household dynamics, and greater reliance on travel modes other than car driving; and 3) Neighbourhoods with high commercial and residential mix showed a negative relation with distance traveled only in the case of car-driver. |
| Keywords: | distance traveled, aging, elderly, gender, neighbourhood influence, multilevel analysis |
| JEL: | R22 R23 R41 R52 R58 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:209&r=ure |
| By: | Salvary, Stanley C. W. |
| Abstract: | Availability of financial capital and location decisions are variables that influence regional manufacturing output. This study maintains that a region’s manufacturing growth depends upon the region’s firm-type dominance. That is, the type of firms that dominate the region’s manufacturing output can be classified as non-local (national or foreign - NF) vs. local and large vs. small. Accordingly, for policy analysis, regions can be classified by firm-type dominance. This distinction is important since, invariably, location decision options and availability of financial capital are more favourable for the larger NF firms than for local firms. In an attempt to assess the impact of firm-type dominance, this study draws upon the dominant industry model which has established that, in any given region, there is a dominant industry (the driving force of the region) to which a region’s manufacturing growth is linked. The information on the impact of firm-type dominance on a region's manufacturing output may enable policy-makers to design workable (or revise existing) manufacturing diversification policies. |
| Keywords: | state-regions and industry-regions; chemical industry region; regional policy analysis; manufacturing growth; firm-type dominance; availability of financial capital; dominant industry model; manufacturing firms' location decisions; regional economic development; foreign-owned manufacturing plants. |
| JEL: | R1 R12 R11 |
| Date: | 2007–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:4591&r=ure |
| By: | Mayanja, Abubaker; Mayengo, Israel |
| Abstract: | The world over municipalities and cities often rely on capital markets for their long term financing needs. It is envisaged that such debt issues accelerate the development of cities. The rationale is that since the projects are supposed to benefit the public over time, the issuance of debt to spread the payments between generations is optimal. Municipal bonds are still unexplored as a mechanism of financing capital projects of municipalities in Uganda. This study assesses the legality, the advantages and challenges as well as likely projects to initiate the Municipal bond market in Uganda. It is legally possible for local governments to issue bonds; they can borrow up to 25 percent of their revenue. However, the conditionality in the law that requires them to maintain a balanced budget may be a limiting factor. It is important to note that a yield curve exits for government bonds that can be used as a benchmark for pricing Municipal bond. It is our view that the size of the bond market is already encouraging enough to be confident that the market may receive such issues favourably |
| Keywords: | Sub-National Finance; Municipal bonds; Public infrastructure development |
| JEL: | H72 H76 H74 |
| Date: | 2007–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:4585&r=ure |
| By: | Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu; Abdurrahman Geymen |
| Abstract: | In the second half of the 20th Century, during which Turkey has experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization, Istanbul has been the destination of influx of large scale rural to urban migrants. Between 1950 and 2000, the city has grown by an average of 4.5% annually. The city has been the preferred destination not only by large numbers of low skilled rural migrants who seek employment in various informal sectors, but also by capital owners looking for a large scale cheap labor source and an extensive local market. Besides, Istanbul provides a relatively well established basic infrastructure (e.g. transportation and services) compared to the rest of Turkey. Given the scale of the growth, neither local nor the central governments have shown capability of controlling the influx of migration, most of which settled illegally on public lands creating low quality low cost housing and industrial environments. Most of the settlements lack the basic sewerage facilities, and a significant portion of which are on the major water resources basins. As of today, the Municipality of Istanbul not only has to cope with the infrastructure problems, but also has to find ways of solving the problem of illegal occupations of public lands and water resource basins. This paper presents the land use changes in the water resources basins providing water to the Istanbul Metropolitan Area. Using four consecutive Landsat images between 1990 and 2005, the changes in 12 different land use categories are obtained via overlay operations by GIS for 12 major water resources basins surrounding the city of Istanbul. It has been observed that the most critical land use changes are in the nearest basins to the city. It has also been observed that large public capital improvement projects such as Trans-European Motorway (TEM) triggered the trend of illegal occupation of these public lands most of which is in the water resources basins. The capability of Landsat images in determining the alterations in the macro form of the city are also discussed. Finally, possible policy implications are put forward for the preservation of water resources basins in Istanbul. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p740&r=ure |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on how characteristics of regions pertaining to local information about product varieties and markets as well as networks for the transmission of information about innovation opportunities influence the arrival of innovation ideas to existing and potential entrepreneurs. We formulate a model where entrepreneurs or innovating firms introduce new products in a quasi-temporal setting. Market conditions are characterized by monopolistic competition between varieties belonging to the same product group, in which there is entry and exit of varieties. Firms innovate in response to the arrival of innovation ideas. To realize these ideas firms have to make an R&D investment and a firm’s decision to export a variety to a new market is associated with a market channel investment. The theoretical model is used as a reference when formulating two regression models, with which we estimate factors that can explain the introduction of new export varieties by firms in different regional milieus. In one model we examine the emergence of new export firms, and in the second model we investigate the appearance of new export varieties. Results are consistent with the assumption that knowledge and information flows have a positive influence on the frequency of arrival of innovation ideas to firms. |
| Keywords: | innovation ideas; exports; entrepreneurship; location; knowledge spillovers |
| JEL: | O31 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2007–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0095&r=ure |
| By: | IVALDI, Marc; VIBES, Catherine |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:7201&r=ure |
| By: | Marius BRÜLHART; Nicole A. MATHYS |
| Abstract: | We estimate agglomeration economies, defined as the effect of density on labour productivity in European regions. The analysis of Ciccone (2002) is extended in two main ways. First, we use dynamic panel estimation techniques (system GMM), thus offering an alternative methodological treatment of the inherent endogeneity problem. Second, the sector dimension in the data allows for disaggregated estimation. Our results confirm the presence of significant agglomeration effects at the aggregate level, with an estimated long-run elasticity of 13 percent. Repeated crosssection regressions suggest that the strength of agglomeration effects has increased over time. At the sector level, the dominant pattern is of cross-sector "urbanisation" economies and own-sector congestion diseconomies. A notable exception is financial services, for which we find strong positive productivity effects from own-sector density. |
| Keywords: | employment density; productivity; european regions; dynamic panel GMM |
| JEL: | R10 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lau:crdeep:07.04&r=ure |
| By: | Slack, Enid |
| Abstract: | This paper examines different models of governing structure found in metropolitan areas around the world. It evaluates how well these models achieve the coordination of service delivery over the entire metropolitan area as well as the extent to which they result in the equitable sharing of costs of services. Based on theory and case studies from numerous cities in developed and less developed countries, the paper concludes that there is no " one size fits all " model of metropolitan governance. Other observations from the case studies highlight the impo rtance of the process of implementing a metropolitan structure, the need to match fiscal resources with expenditure responsibilities, the need to have a governance structure that covers the entire economic region, and the critical importance of having a strong regional structure that ensures that services are delivered in a coordinated fashion across municipal boundaries. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy & Planning,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Public Sector Economics & Finance,Public Sector Corruption & Anticorruption Measures |
| Date: | 2007–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4317&r=ure |
| By: | Wilhelmsson, Mats (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Innovation networking has become both more feasible with improved telecommunication and more important as it usually produces research of higher quality. However, the spatial distribution of academic networks and innovative networks are not uniform. Despite overwhelming evidence on the benefits of collaboration, patent data from 1994-2001 in Sweden demonstrate that innovation networks are not very common. In addition, the pattern of innovative networks is very fragmented. Our results indicate that innovation networks are more likely to exist in densely populated areas with a diversified industry. Face-to-face contacts in such areas seem to promote networking. Moreover, science-oriented industries appear to benefit more from proximity to universities when it comes to collaboration. However, the size of the market does not matter at all when it comes to collaboration, more important is the density and diversity of the market. |
| Keywords: | innovation; networks; patent; collaboration |
| JEL: | N34 O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2007–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0091&r=ure |
| By: | Bilin Neyapti; Nida Cakir |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bil:bilpap:0708&r=ure |
| By: | Guillaume Cheikbossian; Nicolas Marceau |
| Abstract: | Law enforcement is decentralized. It is so despite documented interjurisdictional externalities which would justify its centralization. To explain this fact, we construct a political economy model of law enforcement. Under decentralization, law enforcement in each region is in accord with the preferences of regional citizens, but interjurisdictional externalities are neglected. Under centralization, law enforcement for all regions is chosen by a legislature of regional representatives which may take externalities into account. However, the majority rule applies for decisions made by the central legislature and this implies that the allocation of enforcement resources may be skewed in favour of those who belong to the required majority. We show that the choice between centralization and decentralization depends on the technology of law enforcement and the nature of the interjurisdictional externalities. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Law enforcement, Decentralization, Externalities |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0719&r=ure |
| By: | Daniel M. Hungerman |
| Abstract: | The availability of public funding for charitable church activity has increased dramatically in the past decade. A key dispute over this increased availability is whether congregations' propensity to provide charitable services depends upon the racial composition of the community served. This paper uses three different congregation-level datasets to investigate how race affects charitable church activity. In all three datasets there is evidence that all-white congregations become less charitably active as the share of black residents in the local community grows. This response is found only when looking at charitable activities, not when looking at other types of church activity. Additionally, all-white congregations favorably disposed towards receiving government funding do not respond differently to black residents than do congregations which are not all-white. |
| JEL: | H41 J15 Z12 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13323&r=ure |
| By: | Xiaomeng Ma; Kao-Lee Liaw |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to study the roles of ethnicity and language acculturation in determining the propensities to make interprovincial migration in Canada in 1976-81, 1981-86, and 1996-2001, based on the micro data of the 1981, 1986 and 2001 censuses. Since these propensities are also subject to the strong effects of other explanatory factors, a multivariate analysis using a binomial logit model is conducted. An important methodological contribution of this paper is the clarification of the interpretational mistakes in the previous multivariate analyses of Trovato and Halli (1983 and 1990) that depended on the widely used log linear models. Our empirical findings turn out to be substantively more sensible than the earlier findings in the literature. With respect to the less complicated case of non-French minority ethnic groups, the empirical data are found to be mostly supportive of the following two hypotheses. H1: The propensities to make inter- provincial migration are lower for minority ethnic groups than for the mainstream ethnic group. H2: The use of English as home language, which represents an important cultural shift towards the mainstream, increases the inter-provincial migration propensities of minority ethnic groups. The very strong support for these two hypotheses by the Italian ethnic group and the lack of support for H2 by the Jewish ethnic group are highlighted and explained. With respect to the more complicated case of the French ethnic group, our findings are supportive of the following two hypotheses. H3: Among those residing outside Quebec, the propensities to make inter-provincial migration are greater for the French ethnic group than for the mainstream ethnic group. H4: This difference is greater for the French ethnic group that continues to use French as the home language than for the French ethnic group that has shifted the home language to English. It is unfortunate that the support for H4, which could aggravate the spatial polarization of the French and Non-French populations between Quebec and the rest of Canada, became successively stronger towards the late 1990s. Fortunately, this trend was countered by a mild narrowing of the extremely wide gap in the propensities to leave Quebec between the English-speaking British and the French-speaking French. |
| Keywords: | Interprovincial Migration, Ethnic Selectivity, Language Acculturation, Canada |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:208&r=ure |
| By: | Wilfried Puwein (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | The transport of road goods across the Alps constitutes a problem both for European transportation and for the Alpine environment. Austria and Switzerland have made a number of attempts to decelerate the growth in lorry transit volume and shift transport onto the rail modes. After ten years, such efforts can be deemed to have failed. The envisaged new rail lines across the Alps should procure higher transport capacities and shorter transport times for the railways, but will hold their own against the road only when the transport flow is improved and prices are kept down. Accordingly, it will be virtually impossible for the railways to pay the full cost of transalpine transit links. In Switzerland, much of the financing burden of the rail infrastructure investments is shifted onto road transport. In Austria, the cross-financing permitted under the "Eurovignette" Directive will cover only a small fraction of the actual investment costs of the planned new Brenner tunnel. An ecologically sustainable and economically efficient solution proposed is to set up a quota scheme for Alps-crossing lorries in the form of emission certificates which are to be auctioned and traded. |
| Keywords: | road transport transalpine transit quota scheme alps-crossing emission certificates |
| Date: | 2006–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2006:i:284&r=ure |
| By: | Hikaru Ogawa (School of Economics, Nagoya University); David Wildasin (Martin School of Public Policy and Administration and Department of Economics, University of Kentucky) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze a class of models in which there are interjurisdictional spillovers among heterogeneous jurisdictions, as illustrated for instance by CO2 emissions that affect the global environment. Each jurisdiction’s emissions depend upon the local stock of private capital. Capital is interjurisdictionally-mobile and may be taxed to help finance local public expenditures. We show that decentralized policymaking leads to efficient resource allocations in important cases, even in the complete absence of corrective interventions by higher-level governments or coordination of policy through Coasian bargaining. In particular, even when the preferences and production technologies differ among the agents, the decentralized system can still result in globally efficient allocation. |
| JEL: | H23 H87 D62 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifr:wpaper:2007-06&r=ure |
| By: | Lall, Somik; Deichmann, Uwe; Coulibaly, Souleymane |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1980s, Turkey has been going through a rapid urbanization process at a pace beyond the World average. This paper aims at assessing the impact of this rapid urbanization process on the country ' s sector productivity. The authors built a database combining two-digit manufacturing data and some geographical, infrastructural, and socio-economic data collected at the provincial level by the Turkish State Institute of Statistics. The paper develops a parsimonious econometric relation linking sector productivity to accessibility, localization, and urbanization economies, proxying variables in the tradition of the New Economic Geography literature. The estimation results suggest that both localization and urbanization economies, as well as market accessibility, are productivity-enhancing factors in Turkey, although the causation link between productivity and these agglomeration measures is not clearly established. The sector-by-sector estimation confirms this result, although the localization economies effect is negative for the non-oil mineral sector, and the urbanization economies effect is weak for natural-resource-based sectors such as the wood and metal industry. Although the data cover the period up to 2000 and thus ignore the financial crisis that hit Turkey in 2001, the current structural transformation of the country away from the agricultural sector gives room to use the insights of these results as a preliminary step to understand the new challenges faced by the Turkish manufacturing sector. The results provide a discussion base to revisit the policy agenda on the improvement of the accessibility to markets, the improvement of the business environment to ease the creation and development of new firms, and a well-managed urbanization process to tap in the economic potential of cities. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Population Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Economic Theory & Research, |
| Date: | 2007–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4327&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Arbia; Laura De Dominicis; Henri L.F. De Groot |
| Abstract: | In recent years, a large number of studies investigated the spatial distribution of economic activities in Western Europe by means of various measures of geographical concentration. The fundamental problem with the indices currently used in the literature is that they do not take explicitly into account the spatial structure of the data, and as a result the same degree of concentration is compatible with very different localization schemes. In the present work we present an analysis which combines the information provided by the standard measure of concentration of Ellison and Glaeser together with the measure of spatial correlation introduced by Moran. The problem known in geography as MAUP is here addressed by considering both administrative and functional regions in the empirical analyses. Data on employment and plant size for the years 1991 and 2001 are used to identify sectoral location patterns in Italy and The Netherlands within the manufacturing and service sectors. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p497&r=ure |
| By: | Kurt Hafner |
| Abstract: | I first present a New Economic Geography model and analyze the impact of R&D on economic development of integrating countries. I find that technology diffusion and skilled labor migration stimulates economic development through fix cost reduction on a firm level. As the inclusion of foreign technology matters for structurally backward countries, I second use time series data for Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland representing European integration during the 1980s and 1990s. In considering three different technology diffusion channels, estimates, however, reduces to Portugal as test procedures confirm nonstationarity and cointegration only for this country. I find empirical evidence for bilateral trade as a diffusion channel but not for FDI or foreign patents. |
| Keywords: | Economic Geography, Agglomeration, Technology Diffusion, Nonstationary Time Series |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c012_008&r=ure |
| By: | Mary Benner; Joel Waldfogel |
| Abstract: | Patent data have been widely used in research on technological innovation to characterize firms' locations as well as the proximities among firms in knowledge space. Researchers could measure proximity among firms with a variety of measures based on patent class data, including Euclidean distance, correlation, and angle between firms' patent class distributions. Alternatively, one could measure proximity using overlap in cited patents. We point out that measures of proximity based on small numbers of patents are imprecisely measured random variables. Measures computed on samples with few patents generate both biased and imprecise measures of proximity. We explore the effects of larger sample sizes and coarser patent class breakdowns in mitigating these problems. Where possible, we suggest that researchers increase their sample sizes by aggregating years or using all of the listed patent classes on a patent, rather than just the first. |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13322&r=ure |
| By: | Peter Huber (WIFO); Michael Pfaffermayr (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | The evolution of higher moments of the firm size distribution so far seems to be neglected in the empirical firm growth literature. Based on GMM estimates, this paper introduces simple Wald tests to investigate whether the firm size distribution converges in both the second and third central moment. Using a comprehensive sample of Austrian firms, the estimation results indicate a substantial reduction in both the second and third central moment for the younger age cohorts. This effect is much less pronounced for older firms. Across age cohorts one observes an increase in variance, while the third central moment tends to vanish. |
| Keywords: | Growth of firms, market concentration, moments of the firm size distribution, GMM estimation, Wald test |
| Date: | 2007–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2007:i:295&r=ure |
| By: | Oyama, Daisuke |
| Abstract: | This paper considers forward-looking behavior of rational migrants in a dynamic two-region model with quadratic adjustment costs. A global analysis is conducted to show that, except for the knife-edge case with symmetric regions, there exists a unique spacial configuration that is absorbing and globally accessible when the degree of friction is sufficiently small. |
| Keywords: | economic geography; forward-looking expectation; stability; potential |
| JEL: | C61 R12 C62 |
| Date: | 2006–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:4562&r=ure |