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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | J. Michael Collins; Laura Choi |
| Abstract: | After almost a decade of strong price appreciation, the housing market fell into a steep decline in 2007. By 2008, foreclosure filings on owner-occupied homes were surpassing record levels. Due to the housing downturn, fewer renters may aspire to own a home, which could have lasting implications for neighborhoods and household asset building. This study analyzes the impact of the housing downturn on renters’ intent to purchase a home, their perceptions of the risks and benefits of homeownership, and their interest in information and advice concerning homeownership. ; Based on a survey of 400 low- and moderate-income renters in the San Francisco Bay Area, most renters continue to aspire to homeownership, especially renters who are younger, who have higher incomes, and who speak English at home. In addition, lower-income and minority renters, as well as renters who reside in zip codes with greater exposure to foreclosures, have more negative perceptions of homeownership. Together, these findings indicate the housing downturn produced shifts in renters’ aspirations to own a home and the expected risks and benefits of owning a home that vary by residential location and demographic characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Home ownership ; Rental housing ; Housing - San Francisco |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfcw:2010-01&r=ure |
| By: | Monique DANTAS (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113); Frédéric GASCHET (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113); Guillaume POUYANNE (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113) |
| Abstract: | The priority for France’s “Grenelle II” environmental legislation is to reduce the consumption of space caused by urbanisation. The best tool for achieving this goal is zoning within a territorial planning framework. Yet zoning also tends to increase property values, due to the scarcity effects it provokes (restricting the supply of land) as well as its amenity effects (the capitalisation of land use externalities in housing pricing).\r\nThe present article studies the impact on property prices of the distance to regulated zones located on Arcachon Bay near Bordeaux in Southwest France – a region that is particularly conducive to this kind of analysis because it combines exceptional landscape quality and strong urban pressures. We have estimated a hedonic model corrected for spatial self-correlation. Heteroscedasticity is corrected using Bayesian simulation methods, as suggested by Le Sage and Parent (2006).\r\nThe findings reveal tension between urban and natural amenities in the determination of property prices. Proximity to facilities and coastal amenities increase prices. The impact on housing prices of zoning materialising through Land Use Plans (LUP) is corroborated. Protected natural zones tend to raise prices as long as long they are not used for agricultural or forestry activities. Conversely, proximity to zones of future urbanisation tends to lower housing prices. |
| Keywords: | LUP zoning, Hedonic price method, Bayesian spatial econometrics, Coastal |
| JEL: | Q15 Q24 Q51 R14 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2010-12&r=ure |
| By: | Christ, Julian P. |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial configuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) Files. The matching between International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We confirm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops) and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specific co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi-field network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks. -- |
| Keywords: | co-patenting,co-inventorship,networks,linkages,co-location,RegPAT |
| JEL: | C8 O31 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohpro:y2010i31p1-40&r=ure |
| By: | Rao, M. Govinda (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Bird, Richard M. (Emeritus of Economics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | Over 330 million people live in India's cities; 35 cities have a population of over a million and three (Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata) of the 10 largest metropolises in the world are in India. India's cities are large, economically important, and growing. However, neither urban infrastructure nor the level of urban public services is adequate for current needs, let alone to meet growing demands. Dealing with this problem is a formidable challenge. Not only must adequate finance for the provision of services be found but it is critical to ensure that the money spent results in desired outputs and outcomes. To do so, local governance structures also need to be reformed and strengthened. This paper attempts to point the way towards some possible solutions by analysing urban governance and finance in India in the context of lessons drawn from fiscal federalism theory and experiences of governance institutions and financing systems both in India and around the world. No one system of urban governance is likely to work equally well for all urban local bodies. However, the paper identifies some key reforms required to realise both the constitutional intent to encourage citizen participation in urban governance and the economic and politically desirable goal of ensuring greater accountability of urban governments. For example, the paper draws attention to existing ambiguities in the assignment system and underlines the need to undertake activity mapping to ensure clarity as well as to make independent agencies significantly accountable to elected governments in urban areas. The paper also discusses a variety of ways of augmenting the resources of the municipal bodies in the country including essential reforms in the property tax system and adequate exploitation of user charges and fees for various services delivered as well as ways of strengthening and improving Central and State transfers to urban local governments. With respect to financing urban infrastructure, development charges should be used more effectively. More should also be done to utilise public lands more effectively. In addition, to a considerable extent capital expenditure requirements will have to be financed through borrowing so further development of the municipal bond market is important, as is more and more effective use of public private partnerships in some areas. |
| Keywords: | India, Urban public finance, Urban governance, Intergovernmental fiscal relations, Property tax, Metropolitan areas, Infrastructure finance |
| JEL: | R51 H70 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:npf:wpaper:10/68&r=ure |
| By: | David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the state of high-speed rail (HSR) planning in the United States c. 2010. The plans generally call for a set of barely inter-connected hub-and-spoke networks. The evidence from US transit systems shows that lines have two major impacts. There are positive accessibility benefits near stations, but there are negative nuisance effects along the lines themselves. High speed lines are unlikely to have local accessibility benefits separate from connecting local transit lines because there is little advantage for most people or businesses to locate near a line used infrequently (unlike public transit). However they may have more widespread metropolitan level effects. They will retain, and perhaps worse, have much higher, nuisance effects. If high-speed rail lines can create larger effective regions, that might affect the distribution of who wins and loses from such infrastructure. The magnitude of agglomeration economies is uncertain (and certainly location-specific), but presents the best case that can be made in favor of HSR in the US. |
| JEL: | R40 R11 R14 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:economicdevelopmentimpactsofhsr&r=ure |
| By: | Barbara Heebels; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the spatial clustering of the book publishing industry. By means of a hazard model, we examine the effect of agglomeration economies and pre-entry entrepreneurial experience on the survival chances of publishing firms. Whereas such survival analyses have been conducted for manufacturing industries, they are still scarce for cultural and service industries. Based on a unique dataset of all book publishers founded between 1880 and 2008 in the Netherlands, the paper demonstrates that the clustering of book publishers in the Amsterdam region did not increase the survival of Amsterdam firms. Instead, prior experience in publishing and related industries had a positive effect on firm survival. The Amsterdam cluster was characterized by high entry and exit levels mainly. Interestingly, the Amsterdam cluster did not function as an attractor for publishing firms from other regions, but rather acted as an incubator for firms that relocated to other regions. |
| Keywords: | evolutionary economic geography, publishing industry, clusters, spinoffs |
| JEL: | O18 R00 L80 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1007&r=ure |
| By: | Janine Aron; John V. Duca; John Muellbauer; Keido Murata; Anthony Murphy |
| Abstract: | The consumption behaviour of UK, US and Japanese households is examined and compared using a modern Ando-Modigliani style consumption function. The models incorporate income growth expectations, income uncertainty, housing collateral and other credit effects. These models therefore capture important parts of the financial accelerator. The evidence is that credit availability for UK and US but not Japanese households has undergone large shifts since 1980. The average consumption-to-income ratio shifted up in the UK and US as mortgage down-payment constraints eased and as the collateral role of housing wealth was enhanced by financial innovations, such as home equity loans. The estimated housing collateral effect is roughly similar in the US and UK, while land prices in Japan still have a negative effect on consumer spending. Together with evidence for negative real interest rate effects in the UK and US and positive ones in Japan, this suggests important differences in the transmission of monetary and credit shocks between Japan and the US, UK and other credit-liberalized economies. |
| Keywords: | Consumption, Credit conditions, Housing collateral and housing wealth |
| JEL: | E21 E32 E44 E51 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:487&r=ure |
| By: | Xiaoming Li (University of Connecticut); AKM Rezaul Hossain (St. Mary's College); Steohen L. Ross (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Recent theoretical models and empirical analyses argue that mortgage market activity creates information and lowers the costs of underwriting mortgages. We re-examine this question using models that control for neighborhood-lender fixed effects and address the potential endogeneity of market volume using information on lagged volumes. We find that the omission of neighborhood fixed effects substantially biases analyses of the effect of neighborhood volume on underwriting, and our tests imply that the one or two period lags of volume typically used in cross-sectional studies cannot be treated as exogenous due to the persistence of neighborhood economic shocks. In our preferred specification, we cannot rule out the possibility that overall market activity has a small positive influence on mortgage underwriting, but the statistical evidence for the existence of such effects is weak. On the other hand, we find that lender-specific activity in a neighborhood has strong positive effects on the mortgage approval decision, and this effect is underestimated in traditional cross-sectional models. |
| JEL: | D8 G2 L8 R3 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2010-10&r=ure |
| By: | Wenli Li; Michelle J. White; Ning Zhu |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the U.S. bankruptcy reform of 2005 played an important role in the mortgage crisis and the current recession. When debtors file for bankruptcy, credit card debt and other types of debt are discharged - thus loosening debtors' budget constraints. Homeowners in financial distress can therefore use bankruptcy to avoid losing their homes, since filing allows them to shift funds from paying other debts to paying their mortgages. But a major reform of U.S. bankruptcy law in 2005 raised the cost of filing and reduced the amount of debt that is discharged. The authors argue that an unintended consequence of the reform was to cause mortgage default rates to rise. Using a large dataset of individual mortgages, they estimate a hazard model to test whether the 2005 bankruptcy reform caused mortgage default rates to rise. Their major result is that prime and subprime mortgage default rates rose by 14 percent and 16 percent, respectively, after bankruptcy reform. The authors also use difference-in-difference to examine the effects of three provisions of bankruptcy reform that particularly harmed homeowners with high incomes and/or high assets and find that the default rates of affected homeowners rose even more. Overall, they calculate that bankruptcy reform caused the number of mortgage defaults to increase by around 200,000 per year even before the start of the financial crisis, suggesting that the reform increased the severity of the crisis when it came. |
| Keywords: | Bankruptcy ; Law and legislation ; Foreclosure ; Default (Finance) ; Mortgage loans ; Global financial crisis |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:10-16&r=ure |
| By: | Valeria Costantini; Massimiliano Mazzanti; Anna Montini |
| Abstract: | The achievement of positive environmental performance at national level could strongly depend on differences in local capabilities of both institutions and the private business sector. Environmental regulation alone is a weak instrument if the institutional and business environment cannot transform regulation strengths into opportunities. In this paper, we use the new environmental accounting matrix for polluting emissions now available for the 20 Italian Regions that covers 24 sectors and combines a shift-share approach with spatial econometric modelling. We provide evidence of the role played by internal innovation, innovation spillovers and regional policies in shaping the geographical distribution of environmental performance achievements. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Performance, Technological Innovation, Regional Spillovers, Polluting Emissions, Italian Regions |
| JEL: | Q53 Q55 Q56 R15 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0118&r=ure |
| By: | Núria Rodriguez-Planas |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long- term impacts of an afterschool program that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards to attend program activities, complete high-school and enroll in post-secondary education on youths' engagement in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, criminal activity, and teenage childbearing. Outcomes were measured at three different points in time, when youths were in their late-teens, and when they were in their early- and their late- twenties. Overall the program was unsuccessful at reducing risky behaviors. Heterogeneity matters in that perverse effects are concentrated among certain subgroups, such as males, older youths, and youths from sites where youths received higher amount of stipends. We claim that this evidence is consistent with different models of youths' behavioral response to economic incentives. In addition, beneficial effects found in those sites in which QOP youths represented a large fraction of the entering class of 9th graders provides hope for these type of programs when operated in small communities and supports the hypothesis of peer effects. |
| Keywords: | After-school program, short-, medium- and long-term effects, behavioral models, peer effects, criminal activity, teen childbearing and substance abuse. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:829.10&r=ure |
| By: | Arthur Huang; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | Adopting an agent-based approach, this paper explores the topological evolution of the Minneapolis Skyway System from a microscopic perspective. Under a decentralized decision-making mechanism, skyway segments are built by self-interested building owners. We measure the accessibility for the blocks from 1962 to 2002 using the size of office space in each block as an indicator of business opportunities. By building skyway segments, building owners desire to increase their buildingsÕ value of accessibility, and thus potential business revenue. The skyway network in equilibrium generated from the agent model displays similarity to the actual skyway system. The network topology is evaluated by multiple centrality measures (e.g., degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality) and a measure of road contiguity, roadness. Sensitivity tests such parameters as distance decay parameter and construction cost per unit length of segments are performed. Our results disclose that the accessibility- based agent model can provide unique insights for the dynamics of the skyway network growth. |
| JEL: | R41 R48 Q41 R51 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:skywayagents&r=ure |
| By: | Carlos Carrion-Madera; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | In the Minneapolis-St. Paul region (Twin Cities), the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) converted the Interstate 394 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes (or MnPASS Express Lanes). These lanes allow single occupancy vehicles (SOV) to access the HOV lanes by paying a fee. This fee is adjusted according to a dynamic pricing system that varies with the current demand. This paper estimates the value placed by the travelers on the HOT lanes because of improvements in travel time reliability. This value depends on how the travelers regard a route with predictable travel times (or small travel time variability) in comparison to another with unpredictable travel times (or high travel time variability). For this purpose, commuters are recruited and equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and instructed to commute for two weeks on each of three plausible alternatives between their home in the western suburbs of Minneapolis eastbound to work in downtown or the University of Minnesota: I-394 HOT lanes, I-394 General Purpose lanes (untolled), and signalized arterials close to the I-394 corridor. They are then given the opportunity to travel on their preferred route after experiencing each alternative. This revealed preference data is then analyzed using mixed logit route choice models. Three measures of reliability are explored and incorporated in the estimation of the models: standard deviation (a classical measure in the research literature); shortened right range (typically found in departure time choice models); and interquartile range (75th - 25th percentile). Each of these measures represents distinct ways about how travelers deal with different sections of reliability. In all the models, it was found that reliability was valued highly (and statistically significantly), but differently according to how it was defined. The estimated value of reliability in each of the models indicates that commuters are willing to pay a fee for a reliable route depending on how they value their reliability savings. |
| JEL: | R40 I12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:vorpaper&r=ure |
| By: | Erik Jenelius; Lars-Goran Mattsson; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we introduce an activity-based modeling approach for evaluating the traveler costs of transport network disruptions. The model handles several important aspects of such events: increases in travel time may be very long in relation to the normal day-to-day fluctuations; the impact of delay may depend on the flexibility to reschedule activities; lack of information and uncertainty about travel conditions may lead to under- or over-adjustment of the daily schedule in response to the delay; delays on more than one trip may restrict the gain from rescheduling activities. We derive properties such as the value of time and schedule costs analytically. Numerical calculations show that the average cost per hour delay increases with the delay duration, so that every additional minute of delay comes with a higher cost. The cost varies depending on adjustment behavior (less adjustment, loosely speaking, giving higher cost) and scheduling flexibility (greater flexibility giving lower cost). The results indicate that existing evaluations of real network disruptions have underestimated the societal costs of the events. |
| JEL: | R41 R48 D63 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:traveller_disruptions_costs&r=ure |
| By: | Guangqing Chi; Xuan Zhou; Timothy McClure; Paul Gilbert; Arthur Cosby; Li Zhang; Angela Robertson; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | his study investigates the relationship between changing gasoline prices and drunk-driving crashes. Specifically, we examine the effects of gasoline prices on drunk-driving crashes in Mississippi by age, gender, and race from 2004Ð2008, a period experiencing great fluctuation in gasoline prices. An exploratory visualization by graphs shows that higher gasoline prices are generally associated with fewer drunk-driving crashes. Higher gasoline prices depress drunk- driving crashes among younger and older drivers, among male and female drivers, and among white, black, and Hispanic drivers. The statistical results suggest that higher gasoline prices lead to lower drunk-driving crashes for female and black drivers. However, alcohol consumption is a better predictor of drunk-driving crashes, especially for male, white, and older drivers. |
| JEL: | R41 R48 Q41 R51 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:gaspricesanddrunkdriving&r=ure |
| By: | Robertas Zubrickas |
| Abstract: | Assuming that teachers are concerned with human capital formation and students - with ability signaling, in this paper we model a teacher-student relationship as an agency problem with conflicting interests. In our model, the teacher elicits effort from the student rewarding for it with a grade, the utility of which to the student is an ability signal inferred by the job market. In the event that the job market does not observe individual teachers' grading practice, teachers find grades as costless rewards and optimally choose to be lenient in grading. As a result, 'the problem of the commons'of good grades emerges leading to the depreciation of grading standards and grade inflation. The prediction of the model that the lower the expectations the teacher holds about her students' abilities, the flatter the grading rules she sets up is empirically supported. |
| Keywords: | Principal-agent model, teacher-student relationship, costless rewards, grading rules, mismatch of abilities and grades, grade inflation, teacher incentives |
| JEL: | C70 D82 D86 I20 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:iewwpx:487&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Migali |
| Abstract: | Individual risk aversion and riskiness of investment in higher education are combined with two alternative loan-based financing systems, income contingent loans (ICL) and mortgage loans (ML), to investigate the effects on graduate lifetime expected utilities. We deal explicitly with the presence of hidden subsidies due to discounting, which is one of the main drawbacks of an ICL. The theoretical model has been calibrated using real data on graduate earnings and their volatility, together with the features of the English HE financing system, which has recently switched from a ML to an ICL system. Higher uncertainty in earnings in general makes an ICL the preferred system for risk averse individuals, while risk neutral individuals prefer mortgage loans. |
| Keywords: | Education Choice; Risk Aversion; Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006705&r=ure |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Roberto Ezcurra (Universidad Pública de Navarra) |
| Abstract: | The global drive towards decentralization has been increasingly justified on the basis that greater transfers of resources to subnational governments are expected to deliver greater efficiency in the provision of public goods and services and greater economic growth. This paper examines whether this is the case, by analysing the relationship between decentralization and economic growth in 21 OECD countries during the period between 1990 and 2005 and controlling not only for fiscal decentralization, but also for political and administrative decentralization. The results point towards a negative and significant association between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in the sample countries, a relationship which is robust to the inclusion of a series of control variables and to differences in expenditure preferences by subnational governments. The impact of political and administrative decentralization on economic growth is weaker and sensitive to the definition and measurement of political decentralization. |
| Keywords: | fiscal decentralization;political decentralization;administrative decentralization;economic growth;OECD |
| JEL: | H71 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2010–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2010-09&r=ure |
| By: | Cristina Legot; Bruce London; John Shandra |
| Abstract: | A substantial amount of environmental justice research has taken the form of “proximity studies” that analyze the race and class composition of populations living in close proximity to general sources of pollution. Such studies often find disproportionate minority, poverty, and low-income populations proximate to the pollution source. This proximity study has a different starting point. We begin by locating nearly 700 of the nation’s highest volume polluters of specific toxins that put children’s health and learning abilities at risk: developmental neurotoxins. We then examine (a) the numbers of schools and children located within two miles of each polluter, and (b) the race and class compositions of the populations within two miles. The result is a study of the proximity of vulnerable populations to pollution that highlights the vulnerability of children, not just that of minorities and the poor. We find thousands of schools and hundreds of thousands of children at risk. We also find that a substantial proportion of the high volume polluters studied are surrounded by disproportionate minority, poverty, and low-income populations. |
| Keywords: | proximity studies; environmental inequality; developmental toxins; neurotoxins; high-volume polluters; vulnerable populations: race and class, schools and children |
| JEL: | Q53 I19 I29 J15 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uma:periwp:wp224&r=ure |
| By: | Carpenter, Christopher; Dobkin, Carlos |
| Abstract: | We provide a critical review of research in economics that has examined causal relationships between alcohol use and crime. We lay out several causal pathways through which alcohol regulation and alcohol consumption may affect crime, including: direct pharmacological effects on aggression, reaction time, and motor impairment; excuse motivations; venues and social interactions; and victimization risk. We focus our review on four main types of alcohol regulations: price/tax restrictions, age-based availability restrictions, spatial availability restrictions, and temporal availability restrictions. We conclude that there is strong evidence that tax- and age-based restrictions on alcohol availability reduce crime, and we discuss implications for policy and practice. |
| Keywords: | Health Economics and Policy, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:90485&r=ure |
| By: | F. Francavilla (Policy Studies Institute at University of Westminster.); Gianna Claudia Giannelli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Leonardo Grilli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica.) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relation between mothers’ employment and their children’s schooling in India, where a high number of children are not attending school at compulsory school age. Using the second National Family Health Survey, the results of a joint multi-level random effects model show that, controlling for covariates, the correlation between mothers’ employment and children’s schooling is negative. A sensitivity analysis on wealth and education deciles shows that this relation disappears in urban areas and becomes weaker in rural areas only at the top wealth deciles, but persists for the more educated mothers. The last result may be driven by the low number of females with a high level of education in India, but it also seems to envisage that, for mothers with lower education, being literate does not increase pay conditions. These findings suggest that policies aiming at improving both women’s and children’s welfare should not only pursue higher levels of education, but also target improvements in women’s conditions in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | women’s employment, children’s schooling, household allocation of time, random effects, India, NFHS-2 |
| JEL: | J13 J22 O15 O18 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2010_07.rdf&r=ure |
| By: | Spenkuch, Jörg L. |
| Abstract: | Since the 1960s both crime rates and the share of immigrants among the American population have more than doubled. Almost three quarters of Americans believe immigration increases crime, yet existing academic research has shown no such effect. Using panel data on US counties from 1980 to 2000, this paper presents empirical evidence on a systematic and economically meaningful impact of immigration on crime. Consistent with the economic model of crime this effect is strongest for crimes motivated by financial gain, such as motor vehicle theft and robbery. Moreover, the effect is only present for those immigrants most likely to have poor labor market outcomes. Failure to account for the cost of increased crime would overstate the “immigration surplus” substantially, but would most likely not reverse its sign. |
| Keywords: | immigration; crime; social cost of immigration |
| JEL: | K00 J01 J18 |
| Date: | 2010–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22864&r=ure |
| By: | Giuliano Guerra (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland); Roberto Patuelli (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), Italy); Rico Maggi (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Immigrant self-employment rates vary considerably across regions in Switzerland. Business ownership seems to provide an alternative to wage labour, where immigrants have to face structural barriers such as the limited knowledge of the local language, or difficulties in fruitfully making use of their own human capital. Despite the historically high unemployment rates with respect to natives, immigrants in Switzerland are less entrepreneurial. It is therefore important to uncover the determinants that may facilitate the transition from the status of immigrant to the one of economic agent. Among others factors, concentration in ethnic enclaves, as well as accumulated labour market experience and time elapsed since immigration, have been associated to higher business ownership rates. In this paper we use a cross-section of 2,490 Swiss municipalities in order to investigate the role played by the ethnic concentration of immigrants, as well as cultural factors, in determining self-employment rates. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, immigrants, Switzerland, ethnic concentration, cultural identity |
| JEL: | C21 J24 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpaper:1008&r=ure |
| By: | Russell Cooper; Hubert Kempf; Dan Peled |
| Abstract: | This paper studies fiscal spillovers in a monetary union. The focus of the analysis is on the interaction between the fiscal policy of member countries (regions) and the central monetary authority. When capital markets are integrated, the fiscal policy of one country will inuence equilibrium wages and interest rates. Thus there are fiscal spillovers within a federation. The magnitude and direction of these spillovers, in particular the presence of a crowding out effect, can be inuenced by the choice of monetary policy rules. We find that there does not exist a monetary policy rule which completely insulates agents in one region from fiscal policy in another. Some familiar policy rules, such as pegging an interest rate, can provide partial insulation. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2010/20&r=ure |
| By: | Heutel, Garth (University of North Carolina, Greensboro); Muehlegger, Erich (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | We study the diffusion of hybrid vehicles among consumers. Using data on sales of 11 different models over seven years, we identify the effect of the penetration rate--total cumulative hybrid sales per capita--on new hybrid purchases. The penetration rate significantly affects new purchases, and the effect differs by hybrid model. In particular, we find a positive diffusion effect from the Toyota Prius and a negative diffusion effect from the Honda Insight, with elasticities of 0.23 to 0.85 for the Prius and -0.08 to -0.32 for the Insight. This finding is consistent with our model of model-specific learning along with anecdotal evidence that early Insight models were perceived to be of lower quality than Prius models. Higher Insight penetration rates gave a negative signal about hybrid quality and inhibited rather than promoted hybrid adoption. The findings are relevant for policy designed to promote new technologies. |
| JEL: | D83 O33 Q55 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp10-013&r=ure |