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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Paul Chiambaretto (crg - Centre de recherche en Gestion - Ecole Polytechnique); André De Palma (ENS Cachan - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan - École normale supérieure de Cachan - ENS Cachan, Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Stef Proost (Center for Economic Studies - CES - KU Leuven - CES - KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Almost all models of the (New) Economic Geography have focused on interregional transportation costs to understand industrial location, considering regions as dots without intraregional transportation costs. We introduce a distinction between interregional and intraregional transportation costs. This allows assessing more precisely the effects of different types of transport policies. Focusing on two regions (a core and a periphery), we show that improving the quality of the interregional infrastructure, or of the intraregional infrastructure in the core region, leads to an increased concentration of activity in the core region. However, if we reduce intraregional transportation costs in the periphery, some firms transfer from the core to the periphery. From an efficiency point of view, we observe that, in absence of regulation, the concentration of firms is too high in the center. We show what set of policies improves the equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Economic geography ; Industrial location ; Transportation costs; Intraregional ; Interregional ; Concentration ; Transport Policies |
| Date: | 2011–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00583163&r=ure |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent; Milcent, Carine |
| Abstract: | Spatial disparities in mortality can result from spatial di¤erences in patient characteristics, treatments, hospital characteristics, and local healthcare market structure. To distinguish between these explanatory factors, we estimate a flexible duration model on stays in hospital for a heart attack using a French exhaustive dataset. Over the 1998-2003 period, the raw disparities in the propensity to die within 15 days between the extreme regions reaches 80 %. It decreases to 47% after taking into account the patients' characteristics and their treatments. We conduct a variance analysis to explain regional disparities in mortality. Whereas spatial variations in the use of innovative treatments play the most important role, spatial di¤erences in the local concentration of patients also play a significant role. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Health Disparities; Economic Geography; Stratified Duration Model |
| JEL: | I11 C41 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1007&r=ure |
| By: | Purvis, Jack; Kramer, Elizabeth; Dorfman, Jeffery H. |
| Abstract: | In order to avoid costly data collection practices common in hedonic valuation of aesthetic amenities, easy-to-collect secondary County tax and geospatial data are used to derive estimates for spatial effects on residential land values. Three Georgia Counties were selected due to data availability: Clarke, Henry, and Richmond. All properties meeting panel-design criterion are included in analysis samples. Large datasets prompt the omission of traditional hedonic model variables such as property characteristics. The focus of analysis is directed toward Canopy and Impervious land-cover estimates. Focal means are calculated at different ranges for immediate and neighborhood-wide assessment of surrounding cover. Community variables designed to describe neighborhood composition are included. Class, the measure of average size and Density, the average distance between nearby homes, are calculated at same neighborhood ranges as Focal means. Regressors also include distances to Schools, Hospitals, Airports, and Highways. Pooled Ordinary Least Squares performed with data normalized by log-transformation yields practical, statistically significant results. Consistency of estimates among Counties provides assurance of model viability, while variety is still strong between all Counties. Some concerns of data reliability and appropriateness of goodness-of-fit measure are voiced for any future analysis. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea11:98872&r=ure |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser; Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto; Kristina Tobio |
| Abstract: | One approach to urban areas emphasizes the existence of certain immutable relationships, such as Zipf’s or Gibrat’s Law. An alternative view is that urban change reflects individual responses to changing tastes or technologies. This paper examines almost 200 years of regional change in the U.S. and finds that few, if any, growth relationships remain constant, including Gibrat’s Law. Education does a reasonable job of explaining urban resilience in recent decades, but does not seem to predict county growth a century ago. After reviewing this evidence, we present and estimate a simple model of regional change, where education increases the level of entrepreneurship. Human capital spillovers occur at the city level because skilled workers produce more product varieties and thereby increase labor demand. We find that skills are associated with growth in productivity or entrepreneurship, not with growth in quality of life, at least outside of the West. We also find that skills seem to have depressed housing supply growth in the West, but not in other regions, which supports the view that educated residents in that region have fought for tougher land-use controls. We also present evidence that skills have had a disproportionately large impact on unemployment during the current recession. |
| JEL: | D00 R00 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16934&r=ure |
| By: | Martin, Roman (CIRCLE, Lund University); Moodysson , Jerker (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with knowledge flows and collaboration between firms in the regional innovation system of southern Sweden. It focuses on industries which draw on different types of knowledge bases. The aim is to analyse how the functional and spatial organisation of knowledge interdependencies among firms and other actors vary between different types of industries which are part of the same regional innovation system. We argue that knowledge sourcing and exchange in geographical proximity is especially important for industries that rely on a synthetic or symbolic knowledge base, since the interpretation of the knowledge they deal with tend to differ between places. This is less the case for industries drawing on an analytical knowledge base, which rely more on scientific knowledge that is codified, abstract and universal, and therefore less sensitive to geographical distance. Thus, geographic clustering of firms in analytical industries builds on other rationale than the need of proximity for knowledge sourcing and exchange. To analyse these assumptions empirically, we draw on data from three case studies of firm clusters in the region of southern Sweden: (1) the life science cluster represents an analytical (science) based industry, (2) the food cluster includes mainly synthetic (engineering) based industries, and (3) the moving media cluster is considered as symbolic (artistic) based. Knowledge sourcing and knowledge exchange in each of the cases are explored and compared using social network analysis in association with a dataset gathered through interviews with firm representatives. |
| Keywords: | knowledge bases; life science; food cluster; moving media; Sweden |
| JEL: | O32 |
| Date: | 2011–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2011_002&r=ure |
| By: | Georges A. Tanguay; Ian Gingras |
| Abstract: | We conduct a multivariate analysis of the potential impact of higher gas prices on urban sprawl in the 12 largest Canadian Metropolitan Areas for the period 1986-2006. Controlling for variables such as income and population, we show that higher prices of gas have contributed significantly to reduce urban sprawl. On average, a 1% increase in gas prices has caused: i) a 0.32% increase in the population living in the inner city and ii) a 1.28% decrease in low-density housing units. Our results also show that higher incomes have played a significant role in increasing urban sprawl. <P>Nous procédons à une analyse multivariée afin de déterminer les effets d’une hausse du prix de l’essence sur l’étalement urbain dans les 12 plus grandes régions métropolitaines canadiennes pour la période 1986-2006. En tenant compte de variables de contrôle comme le revenu et la population, nous démontrons que des prix de l’essence plus élevés ont contribué significativement à réduire l’étalement urbain. En moyenne, une hausse de 1 % du prix de l’essence a mené à: i) une augmentation de 0,32 % de la population vivant au centre des villes et ii) une baisse de 1,28 % des logements à faible densité. Nos résultats démontent aussi que les hausses des revenus des ménages ont été un facteur significatif ayant contribué à l’étalement urbain. |
| Keywords: | Urban Sprawl, Gas Prices, Canadian Metropolitan Areas., Étalement urbain, prix de l’essence, régions métropolitaines canadiennes. |
| Date: | 2011–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2011s-37&r=ure |
| By: | Lindenthal, Heiner Thies Edmund (Maastricht University) |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:maastr:urn:nbn:nl:ui:27-25550&r=ure |
| By: | Daria Burnes; David Neumark; Michelle J. White |
| Abstract: | We test the hypothesis that local government officials in jurisdictions that have higher local sales taxes are more likely to use fiscal zoning to encourage retailing. We find that total retail employment is not significantly affected by local sales tax rates, but employment in big box and anchor stores is higher significantly in jurisdictions with higher sales tax rates. This suggests that local officials in jurisdictions with higher sales taxes concentrate on attracting large stores and shopping centers. We also find that the effect of local sales taxes on big box and anchor store retail employment is larger in county interiors, where residents tend to be captive to local retailers. Finally, fiscal zoning has the opposite effect on manufacturing employment, suggesting that local officials’ efforts to attract shopping centers and large stores crowd out manufacturing. |
| JEL: | H71 J2 R52 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16932&r=ure |
| By: | Johan Almenberg (Swedish Ministry of Finance); Artashes Karapetyan (Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway)) |
| Abstract: | We report evidence that salience may have economically significant effects on homeowners' borrowing behavior, through a bias in favour of less salient but more costly loans. We outline a simple model in which some consumers are biased. Under plausible assumptions, the bias may affect prices in equilibrium. Market data support the predictions of the model. |
| Keywords: | salience, housing market, household finance, co-op, capital structure |
| JEL: | D12 G14 G21 G32 |
| Date: | 2010–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bno:worpap:2010_20&r=ure |
| By: | Dogan Tirtiroglu (The University of Adelaide, Business School, Australia); A. Basak Tanyeri (Bilkent University, Faculty of Business Administration Ankara, Turkey); Ercan Tirtiroglu (The University of Adelaide, Business School, Australia); Mehmet Kenneth N. Daniels (Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Business Richmond, VA) |
| Abstract: | The US banking industry offers a unique, natural and fertile environment to study geography's effects on banks' behavior and performance. The literature on banks' operating performance, while extensive, says little about the influence of spatial interactions on banks' performance. We compute and examine, using a physical distance-based spatio-temporal empirical model, the state-wide total factor productivity growth (TFPG) indices of US commercial banks for each state for the 1971-1995 period. We observe that the productivity growth of commercial banks in state i depends strongly, positively, and contemporaneously on the productivity growth of commercial banks located in state i's contiguous states. Further, “regulatory space” appears to induce frictions and lessen the documented spatial interactions. These findings support our plea that research on commercial banking sector's behavior need to pay a particular attention to the effects of banking geography. |
| Keywords: | Spatial, Commercial Banks, Total Factor Productivity Growth, Kalman Filter |
| JEL: | D24 C23 G21 G28 K23 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1108&r=ure |
| By: | Marcello Sartarelli (Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London. 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.) |
| Abstract: | Performance targets are ubiquitous in all areas of an individual's life such as education, jobs, sport competitions and charity donations. In this paper I assess whether meeting performance targets in tests at school has an effect on students' subsequent behaviour. This is helpful to test whether motivation and effort by students, parents and schools that the targets may induce, contribute to explain observed behaviour. I address potentially spurious correlations between test scores and behaviour by exploiting a regression discontinuity design in tests and a linked dataset of test scores and subsequent behaviour by students in compulsory education in England. I find that meeting a target that the government sets for students at age 11 has an insignificant effect on outcomes such as the probability of absence from school or of a police warning. I also find that meeting other targets for high and low ability students decreases the probability of being bullied by up to 34% with respect to the mean probability of such outcomes. The effects are heterogeneous as they vary by gender, parents' education level and type of behaviour. Overall, the research design offers a valuable test to assess unintended consequences that meeting the target or failing to meet it may lead to. The lack of a significant effect of targets on suspension and expulsion from school, as well as police warnings, suggests no adverse behavioural effect of performance targets, which is reassuring evidence on the design of tests in compulsory education. By using Probit estimates, one would conclude that meeting a target has an impact on behaviour. Regression discontinuity estimates show instead an insignificant effect at the expected target and a significant one at other targets for certain outcomes, although smaller than Probit estimates. |
| Keywords: | Absence, ullying, education, performance targets, police warning, regression discontinuity, suspension, test scores |
| JEL: | C21 I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2011–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1102&r=ure |
| By: | Tammaru, Tiit (University of Tartu); van Ham, Maarten (University of St. Andrews); Leetmaa, Kadri (University of Tartu); Kährik, Anneli (University of Tartu) |
| Abstract: | Large scale suburbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon in East Central Europe and responsible for major socio-spatial changes in metropolitan areas. Little is known about the ethnic dimensions of this process. However, large minority population groups, mainly ethnic Russians, remained into the former member states of the Soviet Union after its dissolution in 1991. We use individual level Estonia Census data in order to investigate the ethnic dimensions of suburbanisation. The results show that ethnic minorities have a considerably lower probability to suburbanise compared to the majority population, and minorities are less likely to move to rural municipalities – the main sites of suburban change – in the suburban ring of cities. Individual characteristics that measure strong ties with the majority population and host society exert a positive effect on ethnic minority suburbanization, and on settling in rural municipalities. |
| Keywords: | suburbanisation, ethnicity, Census data, East Central Europe, Estonia |
| JEL: | J61 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5617&r=ure |
| By: | Das, Jishnu; Dercon, Stefan; Habyarimana, James; Krishnan, Pramila; Muralidharan, Karthik; Sundararaman, Venkatesh |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies of the relationship between school inputs and test scores typically do not account for the fact that households will respond to changes in school inputs. This paper presents a dynamic household optimization model relating test scores to school and household inputs, and tests its predictions in two very different low-income country settings -- Zambia and India. The authors measure household spending changes and student test score gains in response to unanticipated as well as anticipated changes in school funding. Consistent with the optimization model, they find in both settings that households offset anticipated grants more than unanticipated grants. They also find that unanticipated school grants lead to significant improvements in student test scores but anticipated grants have no impact on test scores. The results suggest that naïve estimates of public education spending on learning outcomes that do not account for optimal household responses are likely to be considerably biased if used to estimate parameters of an education production function. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Education For All,Access to Finance,Teaching and Learning,Disability |
| Date: | 2011–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5629&r=ure |
| By: | Coulter, Rory (University of St. Andrews); van Ham, Maarten (University of St. Andrews); Feijten, Peteke (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | Residential mobility decisions are known to be made at the household level. However, most empirical analyses of residential mobility relate moving behaviour to the housing and neighbourhood satisfaction and pre-move thoughts of individuals. If partners in a couple do not share evaluations of dwelling or neighbourhood quality or do not agree on whether moving is (un)desirable, ignoring these disagreements will lead to an inaccurate assessment of the strength of the links between moving desires and actual moves. This study is one of the first to investigate disagreements in moving desires between partners and the subsequent consequences of such disagreements for moving behaviour. Drawing on British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data, we find that disagreement about the desirability of moving is most likely where partners also disagree about the quality of their dwelling or neighbourhood. Panel logistic regression models show that the moving desires of both partners interact to affect the moving behaviour of couples. Only 7.6% of couples move if only the man desires to move, whereas 20.1% of shared moving desires lead to a subsequent move. |
| Keywords: | residential mobility, household decision making, moving desires, partner disagreements, satisfaction |
| JEL: | J61 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5612&r=ure |
| By: | Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich |
| Abstract: | Paul Romer’s radical idea of chartering cities to stimulate long run economic growth and development has provoked a hot debate, not all supportive. Some of the opposition argues that the charter-city model is an antiquated idea that conjures up brutal images of failed (neo)colonialism. This essay characterizes colonization, imperialism, and colonialism in order to shed extra light on why and how effects of chartering a city are dissimilar to the effects of colonization, imperialism, and colonialism. The characterization finds that while colonization, imperialism, and colonialism share strong historical affinities, no such connections can reasonably be made to the charter-city idea. A key assumption (requirement) of the charter-city model is voluntary participation of all players. Colonization, imperialism, and colonialism were forceful and repressive systems which relied on both government cohesion and administered prices, and were therefore inefficient. Monopoly gains (rents) from colonization, imperialism, and colonialism came at the expense of reduced consumer surplus elsewhere. Success depended on monopoly rents from the trade in “objects.” Under charter cities the potential benefits to the urbanization and the economic growth of developing countries are huge. The charter-city model requires voluntary agreements. By overcoming the twin problems of consensus building and commitment utilizing market mechanisms, charter cities generate gains from the exchange of ideas. Evidence is starting to emerge suggesting that people understand that charter cities are not tentacles of (neo)colonialism; they promise real benefits if only policy makers decide to break old rules. |
| Keywords: | charter city; Paul Romer on ideas; colonization; colonialism; imperialism; economic growth |
| JEL: | O1 F5 O33 F54 |
| Date: | 2011–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29974&r=ure |
| By: | Torberg Falch and Linn Renée Naper (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether gender gaps in student achievement are related to evaluation schemes. We exploit different evaluations at the end of compulsory education in Norway in a difference-in-difference framework. Compared to scores at anonymously evaluated central exit exams, girls get significantly higher grades than boys when assessed by their teacher. We find no evidence that the competitiveness of the environment can explain why boys do relatively better at the exam. The gender grading gap is related to teacher characteristics. The results indicate that the teacher-student interaction during coursework favor girls in the teacher grading. |
| Date: | 2011–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:11311&r=ure |
| By: | Paul Missios (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada); Ida Ferrara (DEpartment of Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada); Halis Murat Yildiz (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we compare endogenous environmental policy setting with centralized and decentralized governments when regions have comparative advantages in different polluting goods. We develop a two-region, two-good model with inter-regional environmental damages and perfect competition in product markets, where both regions produce both goods. Despite positive spillovers of pollution across regions, the model predicts that decentralization may lead to weaker or stricter environmental standards or taxes, depending on the degree of regional comparative advantage and the extent of transboundary pollution. This suggests that federalism can lead to either a "race to the bottom" or a "race to the top," without relying on inefficient lobbying efforts or capital competition. |
| Keywords: | environmental policy; federalism; centralism; public economics |
| JEL: | D10 H23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp027&r=ure |
| By: | Stefan Boes; Dominik Hangartner; Lukas Schmid |
| Abstract: | We use a credible regression discontinuity design to estimate causal education effects. Pupils in the Swiss education system had to pass a centrally organized exam that classified them into different levels of secondary school, and that ultimately determined their educational degree. A major feature of this exam was the local randomization around the classification threshold due to the impossibility of strategic sorting. Our preliminary results suggest large and significant effects on earnings, political interest, and attitudes toward immigrants. The extension to a wider set of data is part of ongoing research. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education; causality; endogeneity; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | D72 I21 J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp1103&r=ure |
| By: | Admir Antonio Betarelli Junior (Cedeplar-UFMG); Rodrigo Ferreira Simões (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The main aim of this paper is to analyze the locational factors of urbanization in State of São Paulo (Brazil) between 2000 and 2005. Using a micro-regional database, we apply a set of techniques: a) the method shift-share (Esteban-Marquillas), b) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluste Analysisr. The main results indicate that the process of occupation of the countryside by economic activities and migration (began in the late 70s) has directly benefited the micro-regions of Campinas, São José dos Campos, Sorocaba, Ribeirão Preto, Santos and Jundiaí. The effects of this process have spilled over to the surrounding regions, creating the present competitive and locational advantages, and forming urban agglomerations in the State area. |
| Keywords: | Locational factors; Internalization of the industry; Shift-share; Multivariate Analysis; Brazil. |
| JEL: | C02 R11 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td418&r=ure |
| By: | Xianwen Shi; Aloysius Siow |
| Abstract: | In frictional matching markets with heterogeneous buyers and sellers, sellers incur discrete showing costs to show goods to buyers who incur discrete inspection costs to assess the suitability of the goods on offer. This paper studies how brokers can help reduce these costs by managing the level and mix of goods in their inventory. We find that intermediaries emerge and improve social welfare when there is sufficient heterogeneity in the types of goods and preferences. Our analysis highlights how learning and inventory management enable search intermediaries to internalize information externalities generated in unintermediated private search. |
| Keywords: | Search, Intermediation, Brokers, Housing Markets |
| JEL: | D83 D82 |
| Date: | 2011–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-426&r=ure |
| By: | John Schmitt; David Rosnick |
| Abstract: | This report analyzes the wage and employment effects of the first three city-specific minimum wages in the United States –San Francisco (2004), Santa Fe (2004), and Washington, DC (1993). We use data from a virtual census of employment in each of the three cities, surrounding suburbs, and nearby metropolitan areas, to estimate the impact of minimum-wage laws on wages and employment in fast food restaurants, food services, retail trade, and other low-wage and small establishments. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, employment |
| JEL: | E E2 E24 E6 E64 E65 J J2 J21 J3 J31 J33 J38 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2011-07&r=ure |
| By: | Paulo Neto (University of Évora, Department of Economics and CEFAGE-UE); Maria Manuel Serrano (University of Évora, Department of Sociology and SOCIUS – ISEG/UTL) |
| Abstract: | Governance has become a central topic among policymakers. There is an international consensus that policymaking is evolving from a traditional top-down government approach towards a system of governing that focuses on engaging the citizens within an area (Cabus, 2003). New forms of governance targeting urban competitiveness are increasingly oriented to vertical (between lower and high levels of government and cooperation forms between entities and firms along the production chain) and horizontal (between firms or different municipalities or public and private entities) cooperation (OEDC, 2005). Based on a study research methodology, this article seeks to contribute to answer to the following research questions: i) what is the role of governance in the processes of urban regeneration?; ii) what is the role of governance in the development of creative processes for urban regeneration? and iii) what is the potential of governance to support urban regeneration strategies based on creativity and creative industries? |
| Keywords: | Territorial governance, Creativity, Urban regeneration. |
| JEL: | R58 R52 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2011_07&r=ure |
| By: | Kiff, John (International Monetary Fund); Kisser, Michael (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | In order to incentivize stronger issuer due diligence effort, European and U.S. authorities are amending securitization-related regulations to force issuers to retain an economic interest in the securitization products they issue. The idea is that if loan originators and securitizers have more skin in the game they will more diligently screen the loans they originate and securitize. This paper uses a simple model to explore the economics of equity and mezzanine tranche retention in the context of systemic risk, accounting frictions and reduced form informational asymmetries. It shows that screening levels are highest when the loan originating bank retains the equity tranche. However, most of the time a profit maximizing bank would favor retention of the less risky mezzanine tranche, thereby implying a suboptimal screening effort from a regulator's point of view. This is mainly due to lower capital charges, loan screening costs and lower retention levels. This distortion gets even more pronounced in case the economic outlook is positive or profitability is high, thereby making the case for dynamic and countercyclical credit risk retention requirements. Finally, the paper also illustrates the importance of loan screening costs for the retention decision and thereby shows that an unanimous imposition of equity tranche retention might run the risk of shutting down securitization markets. |
| Keywords: | Securitization-related regulations; the economics of equity |
| JEL: | G00 |
| Date: | 2011–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2011_007&r=ure |
| By: | Norbäck, Pehr-Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Persson, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Tåg, Joacim (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Why do so many high-priced acquisitions of entrepreneurial firms take place in network industries? We develop a theory of commercialization (entry or sale) in network industries showing that high equilibrium acquisition prices are driven by the incumbents' desire to prevent rivals from acquiring innovative entrepreneurial firms. This preemptive motive becomes more important when there is an increase in network effects. A consequence is higher innovation incentives under an acquisition relative to entry. A policy enforcing strict compatibility leads to more entry, but can be counterproductive by reducing bidding competition, thereby also reducing acquisition prices and innovation incentives. |
| Keywords: | Acquisitions; Commercialization; Compatibility; Entry; Network effects; Innovation; R&D; Regulation |
| JEL: | L10 L15 L26 L50 L86 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0867&r=ure |
| By: | Bianchi, Milo; Buonanno, Paolo; Pinotti, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We examine the empirical relationship between immigration and crime across Italian provinces during the period 1990-2003. Drawing on police administrative records, we first document that the size of the immigrant population is positively correlated with the incidence of property crimes and with the overall crime rate. Then, we use instrumental variables based on immigration toward destination countries other than Italy to identify the causal impact of exogenous changes in Italy's immigrant population. According to these estimates, immigration increases only the incidence of robberies, while leaving un- affected all other types of crime. Since robberies represent a very minor fraction of all criminal offenses, the effect on the overall crime rate is not significantly different from zero. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Crime |
| JEL: | F22 J15 K42 R10 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1023&r=ure |
| By: | Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Norman, Therese (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines a set of fundamental changes in the global economy that have altered the nature of the innovation process, brought about global challenges, and stimulated cross border phenomena and network formation responses. These changes has brought about an increase of the demand for knowledge as well as changed the conditions for knowledge production and innovation. Against the background of a changing global economy, the purpose of the paper is to make an overview over the role and drivers of innovation, technology and knowledge. The role of absorptive capacity and knowledge flows between economic agents from different spatial units for economic growth is further emphasized. Furthermore, it is recognized in the paper that national innovative productivity depends upon the national innovation systems. Multinationals play an increasingly central role for the transfer of knowledge between different parts of the world. This paper thoroughly examines the way multinationals contribute to innovation, technology and knowledge dispersion. The distribution of knowledge investments is uneven across the globe and the occurrence of the “European paradox” highlights where Europe has failed in this context. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; technology; knowledge; globalisation; multinationals; European paradox |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2011–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0247&r=ure |