|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Tscharaktschiew, Stefan; Hirte, Georg |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to examine efficiency, distributional, environmental (CO2 emissions) and spatial effects of increasing different kinds of transport subsidies discriminating between household types, travel purposes and travel modes. The effects are calculated by applying a numerical spatial general equilibrium approach calibrated to an average German metropolitan area. In extension to most studies focusing on only one kind of subsidy, we compare the effects of different transport subsidies within the same unified framework that allows to account for two features not yet considered simultaneously in studies on transport subsidies: endogenous labor supply and location decisions. Furthermore, congestion, travel mode choice, travel related CO2 emissions and institutional details regarding the tax system in Germany are taken into account. The results suggest that optimal subsidy levels are either small or even zero. While subsidizing public transport is welfare enhancing, subsidies to urban road traffic reduce aggregate urban welfare. Concerning the latter it is shown that making investments in urban road infrastructure capacity or reducing gasoline taxes may even be harmful to residents using predominantly automobile. In contrast, pure commuting subsidies hardly affect aggregate urban welfare, but distributional effects are substantial. All policies contribute to urban sprawl by raising the spatial imbalance of residences and jobs but the effect is relatively small. In addition, the policies induce a very differentiated pattern regarding distributional effects, environmental effects and benefits of landowners. -- |
| Keywords: | urban general equilibrium model,transport policy,transport subsidy,commuting |
| JEL: | H24 R13 R14 R20 R48 R51 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuddps:0111&r=ure |
| By: | DAUTEL Vincent; WALTHER Olivier |
| Abstract: | The main objective of the paper is to analyse the local determinants of innovation in the Luxembourg metropolitan region. We are particularly interested in the impact of the local milieu and characteristics of firms. Our paper addresses two specific research questions. Firstly, we examine the extent to which geographic space is a determinant of innovation for five intra-regional units based on an aggregation of municipalities. Secondly, we investigate whether innovation is dependent on accessibility to the mean centre. In both cases, we examine innovation propensity and innovation output using microdata from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS 2006) carried out in Luxembourg. The paper shows that space matters both in terms of spatial units and accessibility within the intra-regional context of Luxembourg. It provides, in particular, first evidence of a close link between the effects on innovation at the intra-regional level of firms? profiles and agglomeration externalities. Both favour innovation for firms from Luxembourg-City and, to a lesser extent, from the Suburban Area. |
| Keywords: | intra-regional innovation; firms' profile; location factors; local polynomial regression; Luxembourg metropolitan region |
| JEL: | C14 O31 O38 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-38&r=ure |
| By: | Michael J. Artis (Department of Economics, University of Swansea); Ernest Miguélez (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rosina Morenos (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the influence of agglomeration economies on economic outcomes across British regions. The concentration of economic activity in one place can foster economic performance due to the reduction in transportation costs, the ready availability of customers and suppliers, and knowledge spillovers. However, the concentration of several types of intangible assets can boost productivity as well. Thus, using an interesting dataset which proxies regional productivity, we will assess the relative importance of agglomeration and other assets, controlling for endogeneity, spatial autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity at the same time. Our results suggest that agglomeration has a definite positive influence on productivity, although our estimates of its effect are dramatically reduced when spatial dependence and other hitherto omitted variables proxying intangible assets are controlled for. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration economies, intangible assets, endogeneity, spatial autocorrelation, spatial HAC estimation. JEL classification:C21, J24, R10, R11, R12. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201112&r=ure |
| By: | Patrick Bayer; Robert McMillan; Alvin Murphy; Christopher Timmins |
| Abstract: | We develop a tractable model of neighborhood choice in a dynamic setting along with a computationally straightforward estimation approach. This approach uses information about neighborhood choices and the timing of moves to recover moving costs and preferences for dynamically-evolving housing and neighborhood attributes. The model and estimator are potentially applicable to the study of a wide range of dynamic phenomena in housing markets and cities. We focus here on estimating the marginal willingness to pay for non-marketed amenities – neighborhood racial composition, air pollution, and violent crime – using rich dynamic data. Consistent with the time-series properties of each amenity, we find that a static demand model understates willingness to pay to avoid pollution and crime but overstates willingness to pay to live near neighbors of one’s own race. These findings have important implications for the class of static housing demand models typically used to value urban amenities. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood Choice, Housing Demand, Hedonic Valuation, Dynamic Discrete Choice |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duk:dukeec:11-16&r=ure |
| By: | Dearden, Lorraine (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Micklewright, John (Institute of Education, University of London); Vignoles, Anna (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | 'League table' information on school effectiveness in England generally relies on either a comparison of the average outcomes of pupils by school, e.g. mean exam scores, or on estimates of the average value added by each school. These approaches assume that the information parents and policy-makers need most to judge school effectiveness is the average achievement level or gain in a particular school. Yet schools can be differentially effective for children with differing levels of prior attainment. We present evidence on the extent of differential effectiveness in English secondary schools, and find that even the most conservative estimate suggests that around one quarter of schools in England are differentially effective for students of differing prior ability levels. This affects an even larger proportion of children as larger schools are more likely to be differentially effective. |
| Keywords: | school effectiveness, school choice, value added, England |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5839&r=ure |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This work aims to study the Portuguese regional agglomeration process, using the linear form the New Economic Geography models that emphasize the importance of spatial factors (distance, costs of transport and communication) in explaining of the concentration of economic activity in certain locations. In a theoretical context, it is intended to explain the complementarily of clustering models, associated with the New Economic Geography, and polarization associated with the Keynesian tradition, describing the mechanisms by which these processes are based. As a summary conclusion, we can say which the agglomeration process shows some signs of concentration in Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (which is evidence of regional divergence in Portugal) and the productivity factor significantly improves the results that explain the regional clustering in Portugal (despite being ignored in the models of New Economic Geography). |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; Portuguese regions; linear models. |
| JEL: | O18 C23 R12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32337&r=ure |
| By: | Víctor Islas Rivera; Salvador Hernández G.; José A. Arroyo Osorno; Martha Lelis Zaragoza; J. Ignacio Ruvalcaba |
| Abstract: | This report describes the main challenges to urban travel in Mexico. We focus on some of the basic causes of urban transport problems, and we analyze some urban travel policies that could be considered good practices towards sustainable urban development. Mexico City is the emblematic case. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2011/14-en&r=ure |
| By: | C. Kirabo Jackson |
| Abstract: | I analyze changes in teacher turnover, hiring, effectiveness, and salaries at traditional public schools after the opening of a nearby charter school. While I find small effects on turnover overall, difficult to staff schools (low-income, high-minority share) hired fewer new teachers and experienced small declines in teacher quality. I also find evidence of a demand side response where schools increased teacher compensation to better retain quality teachers. The results are robust across a variety of alternate specifications to account for non-random charter entry. |
| JEL: | I2 I28 J00 J18 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17225&r=ure |
| By: | Hirte, Georg; Tscharaktschiew, Stefan |
| Abstract: | Germany like many other European countries subsidize commuting by granting the right to deduct commuting expenses from the income tax base. This regulation has often been changed and has regularly been under debate during the last decades. The pros (e.g. causing efficiency gains with respect to the spatial allocation of labor) and cons (e.g. causing urban sprawl) are well documented. Nonetheless, there is need for further research. For reasons of tractability the few models applied in the tax deduction related literature are based on restrictive assumptions particularly concerning the design of the income taxation scheme and the structure of households (neglecting household heterogeneity) and, most importantly, they do not integrate labor supply and location decision problems simultaneously. Here, for the first time, those and more features are taken into account in a full spatial general equilibrium simulation approach calibrated to an average German city. This model is applied to calculate the impacts of tax deductions on an urban economy thereby considering different funding schemes. Our results suggest that the tax deduction level currently chosen is below the optimal level in the case of income tax funding. If a change in the tax base occurs, e.g. toward consumption tax or energy tax funding, the optimal size of the subsidy should be even higher. Furthermore, the different policy packages cause a very differentiated pattern regarding welfare distribution, environmental (CO2 emissions) and congestion effects. We also find surprisingly small effects on urban sprawl characterized by suburbanization of residences and jobs, increasing commuting distances and spatial city growth. -- |
| Keywords: | urban general equilibrium model,commuting subsidies,income tax deduction |
| JEL: | C68 R12 R13 R14 R20 R51 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuddps:0211&r=ure |
| By: | Helmers, Christian; Patnam, Manasa |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies the effect of neighborhood peer groups on childhood skill acquisition using observational data. We incorporate spatial peer interaction, defined as a child's nearest geographical neighbors, into a production function of child cognitive development in Andhra Pradesh, India. Our peer group definition takes the form of networks, whose structure allows us to separately identify endogenous peer effects and contextual effects. We exploit variation over time to avoid confounding correlated with social effects. Our results suggest that spatial peer and neighborhood effects are strongly positively associated with a child's cognitive skill formation. Further, we find that the presence of peer groups helps provide insurance against the negative impact of idiosyncratic shocks to child learning. We show that peer effects are robust to different specifications of peer interactions and investigate the sensitivity of our estimates to potential mis-specification of the network structure using Monte Carlo experiments. -- |
| Keywords: | Children,peer effects,cognitive skills,India |
| JEL: | C21 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:40&r=ure |
| By: | MORIKAWA Masayuki |
| Abstract: | The achievement of both sustainable economic growth and reductions in CO2 emissions has been an important policy agenda in recent years. This study, using novel establishment-level microdata from the Energy Consumption Statistics, empirically analyzes the effect of urban density on energy intensity in the service sector. According to the analysis, the efficiency of energy consumption in service establishments is higher for densely populated cities. Quantitatively, after controlling for differences among industries, energy efficiency increases by approximately 12% when the density in a municipality population doubles. This result suggests that, given a structural transformation toward the service economy, deregulation of excessive restrictions hindering urban agglomeration, and investment in infrastructure in city centers would contribute to environmentally friendly economic growth. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11058&r=ure |
| By: | Torrisi, Gianpiero; Pike, Andy; Tomaney, John; Tselios, Vassilis |
| Abstract: | The existence of an economic dividend - in terms of regional disparities -of the global devolutionary trend registered over the past three decades is still ambiguous both on theoretical and empirical grounds and it is likely to be casespecific. With respect to the Italian case it has been argued that since 1996, even in an indirect way, a negative effect of devolution on regional disparities arose. However, our empirical analysis suggests that the decline in Italian regional disparities over the decade 1996-2006 has been decisively driven by the dynamic of population and, to some extent, by the loss of competitiveness and consequent low relative performance of northern regions. Therefore, the link between devolution and spatial disparities appears to be rather spurious and, if any, its beneficial effect has been uneven both in time and space. |
| Keywords: | Economic Dividend; Devolution; Spatial Disparities; Spatial Economic Policy; Decentralisation; Italy |
| JEL: | R58 O18 H1 R5 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32212&r=ure |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This paper pretends to analyze the importance which the natural advantages and local resources are in the manufacturing industry location, in relation with the "spillovers" effects and industrial policies. To this, we estimate the Rybczynski equation matrix for the various manufacturing industries in Portugal, at regional level (NUTS II) and for the period 1980 to 1999. Estimations are displayed with the model mentioned and for four different periods, namely 1980 to 1985, from 1986 to 1994, from 1980 to 1994 and from 1995 to 1999. The consideration of the various periods until 1994, aims to capture the effects of our entrance at the, in that time, EEC (European Economic Community) and the consideration of a period from 1995 is because the change in methodology for compiling statistical data taken from this time in Portugal. As a summary conclusion, noted that the location of manufacturing in Portugal is still mostly explained by specific factors, with a tendency to increase in some cases the explanation by these factors, having the effect "spillovers" and industrial policies little importance in this context. |
| Keywords: | geographical concentration; Portuguese regions; specific factors. |
| JEL: | R58 O18 C23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32317&r=ure |
| By: | Salima Bouayad-Agha; Nadine Turpin; Lionel Vedrine |
| Keywords: | Dynamic panels, GMM, Regional Convergence, Spatial Dependence, Structural Funds |
| JEL: | C21 C23 O52 R11 R15 |
| Date: | 2010–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tep:teppwp:wp1017&r=ure |
| By: | Haixiao Pan |
| Abstract: | Urban transport will have a great impact on sustainable development. China is now the leading producer of motorized vehicles, and people have gradually realized that we cannot sustain endless motorization. China has adopted a sustainable development policy for many years, promoting public transport in successive five-year plans. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2011/12-en&r=ure |
| By: | Charles J. Courtemanche; Art Carden |
| Abstract: | Prior research shows grocery stores reduce prices to compete with Walmart Supercenters. This study finds evidence that the competitive effects of two other big box retailers – Costco and Walmart-owned Sam's Club – are quite different. Using city-level panel grocery price data matched with a unique data set on Walmart and warehouse club locations, we find that Costco entry is associated with higher grocery prices at incumbent retailers, and that the effect is strongest in cities with small populations and high grocery store densities. This is consistent with incumbents competing with Costco along non-price dimensions such as product quality or quality of the shopping experience. We find no evidence that Sam’s Club entry affects grocery stores’ prices, consistent with Sam’s Club’s focus on small businesses instead of consumers. |
| JEL: | L11 L13 L81 R10 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17220&r=ure |
| By: | Miroslav, Foret |
| Abstract: | The contribution is based on the theoretical presumption that the successful and balanced spatial development at all hierarchical levels (local, regional, national, EU, global) depends on close and effective partnership, cooperation and communication of many groups of the different actors. It brings own definition of partnership for local and regional development and there is included basic categorisation of different kind of partnerships as well. The importance of partnership and cooperation for territorial development is demonstrated on analyses of the concrete issues from Znojmo region (Czech Republic). |
| Keywords: | life conditions; wine trails; marketing research; spatial development; Partnership |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsu:apasro:324&r=ure |
| By: | Maya Bar-Hillel |
| Abstract: | Since its inception, psychology has studied position effects. But the position was a temporal one in sequential presentation, and the dependent variables related to memory and learning. This paper attempts to survey position effects when position is spatial (namely, position=location), all stimuli are presented simultaneously, and the dependent variable is choice. Unlike the ubiquitous "serial position curve", position effects in simultaneous choice are not consistent. A middle bias (advantage to being away from the edges) is the most common, but advantages to being first, last, or both, have also been recorded. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:huj:dispap:dp580&r=ure |
| By: | Chang, Kuang Liang; Chen, Nan Kuang; Leung, Charles Ka Yui |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the dynamics of housing returns in Singapore. We first extract the movements of Singapore's economic aggregates that are free from foreign (U.S. and rest of the world) factors, and then examine the determinants of its housing returns. We find that both the domestic variables (such as GDP growth rate, volume of international trade, and exchange rate) and U.S. variables (such as the Federal Fund Rate and the External Finance Premium) are important during the boom regime. The bust regime is very different. Directions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | house price; international transmission mechanism; regime-switching; regime-dependent response; two-stage procedure. |
| JEL: | F40 E30 G10 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32255&r=ure |
| By: | Deininger, Klaus; Ali, Daniel Ayalew; Alemu, Tekie |
| Abstract: | As countries increasingly strive to transform their economies from agriculture-based into a diversified one, land rental will become of greater importance. It will thus be critical to complement research on the efficiency of specific land rental arrangements -- such as sharecropping -- with an inquiry into the broader productivity impacts of the land rental market. Plot-level data for a matched landlord-tenant sample in an environment where sharecropping dominates allows this paper to explore both issues. The authors find that pure output sharing leads to significantly lower levels of efficiency that can be attenuated by monitoring while the inefficiency disappears if inputs are shared as well. Rentals transfer land to more productive producers but realization of this productivity advantage is prevented by the inefficiency of contractual arrangements, suggesting changes that would prompt adoption of different contractual arrangements could have significant benefits. |
| Keywords: | Labor Policies,Municipal Housing and Land,Economic Theory&Research,Land and Real Estate Development,Real Estate Development |
| Date: | 2011–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5727&r=ure |
| By: | OZAKI Masahiko; NAKANISHI Hodaka |
| Abstract: | Central and local governments of Japan have made efforts to invigorate the regional economies for more than half a century, but the goal has not yet been achieved. People who have been directly or indirectly involved with regional polices indicated that problems were encountered during the process of making and executing regional policies. The problems can be attributed to the following three points:<ol><li>There has not been enough coordination among regional policies.</li><li>Almost all of the regional policies have been formulated by the central government.</li><li>There has not been enough cooperation in the regional areas.</li></ol>After analyzing some of the above cases and considering the economic theory, we conclude that the aforementioned three points are appropriate. We also discuss the necessity of forming a new regional system that fosters more decentralized regional economies and brings about sustainable economic growth in such regions. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rpdpjp:11014&r=ure |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the processes of polarization and agglomeration, to explain the mechanisms and causes of these phenomena in order to identify similarities and differences. As the main implication of this study should be noted that both process pretend to explain the concentration of economic activity and population in certain places, through cumulative phenomena, but with different perspectives, in other words, the polarization with a view of economic development and agglomeration with a perspective of space. |
| Keywords: | polarization; agglomeration; economic activity. |
| JEL: | O11 O18 O12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32339&r=ure |
| By: | Ingrid Nappi-Choulet (Public and Private Policy Department - ESSEC Business School); Aurélien Décamps (Public and Private Policy Department - ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an analysis of the impact of sustainable principles on corporate property decisions and attractiveness for business districts in the French context. It is based on a behavioural survey conducted across a large sample of corporate property managers and a MCA approach which highlights key factors about the influence of sustainable principles among traditional determinants of territorial attractiveness. This approach allows us to draw up a typology of actors regarding the diffusion of sustainability issues. It emphasizes a general improvement of sustainability on location choice especially for listed companies, owners of their head office and companies located into the main business districts of the Paris metropolitan area. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable City ; Corporate Real Estate Management ; Territorial Attractiveness ; Office Business Districts |
| Date: | 2011–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00609149&r=ure |
| By: | Fitjar, Rune Dahl; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the sources of firm product and process innovation in Norway. It uses a purpose-built survey of 1604 firms in the five largest Norwegian city-regions to test, by means of a logit regression analysis, Jensen et al.’s (2007) contention that firm innovation is both the result of ‘science, technology and innovation’ (STI) and ‘doing, using and interacting’ (DUI) modes of firm learning. The paper classifies different types of firm interaction into STI-mode interaction (with consultants, universities, and research centres) and DUI-mode interaction, distinguishing between DUI interaction within the supply-chain (i.e. with suppliers and customers) or not (with competitors). It further controls for the geographical locations of partners. The analysis demonstrates that engagement with external agents is an important source of firm innovation and that both STI and DUI-modes of interaction matter. However, it also shows that DUI modes of interaction outside the supply chain tend to be irrelevant for innovation, with frequent exchanges with competitors having a detrimental effect on a firm’s propensity to innovate. Collaboration with extra-regional agents is much more conducive to innovation than collaboration with local partners, especially within the DUI mode. |
| Keywords: | Competitors; Customers; DUI; Firms; Innovation; Norway; STI; Suppliers; Universities |
| JEL: | L14 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8484&r=ure |
| By: | Harttgen, Kenneth; Günther, Isabel |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze if an 'urban mortality penalty' exists for today's developing countries, repeating the history of industrialized nations during the 19th century. We analyze the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 19 Sub-Saharan African countries for differences in child and adult mortality between rural and urban areas. Our findings indicate that child mortality is higher in rural areas for almost all countries. On average child mortality rates are 13.6 percent in rural areas and 'only' 10.8 percent in urban areas. In contrast, average urban adult mortality rates (on average 14.5 percent) have indeed exceeded rural adult mortality rates (on average 12.8 percent) in many of our sample countries in the 2000s. For many countries high child mortality pockets do, however, exist in slum areas within cities. Child mortality rates in slum areas are on average 1.65 times higher than in the formal settlements of cities, but still lower than in rural areas. -- |
| Keywords: | mortality,urban,slum,inequality |
| JEL: | I10 I30 J10 R00 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:39&r=ure |
| By: | Francesca Bruno (Università di Bologna); Daniela Cocchi (Università di Bologna); Alessandro Vagheggini (Università di Bologna) |
| Abstract: | When statistical inference is used for spatial prediction, the model-based framework known as kriging is commonly used. The predictor for an unsampled element of a population is a weighted combination of sampled values, in which weights are obtained by estimating the spatial covariance function. This solution can be affected by model misspecification and can be influenced by sampling design properties. In classical design-based finite population inference, these problems can be overcome; nevertheless, spatial solutions are still seldom used for this purpose. Through the efficient use of spatial information, a conceptual framework for design-based estimation has been developed in this study. We propose a standardized weighted predictor for unsampled spatial data, using the population information regarding spatial locations directly in the weighting system. Our procedure does not require model estimation of the spatial pattern because the spatial relationship is captured exclusively based on the Euclidean distances between locations (which are fixed and do not require assessment after sample selection). The individual predictor is a design-based ratio estimator, and we illustrate its properties for simple random sampling. |
| Keywords: | spatial sampling; ratio estimator; design-based inference; model-based inference; spatial information in finite population inference campionamento spaziale, stimatore del rapporto, inferenza da disegno, inferenza da modello; informazione spaziale nell’inferenza da popolazioni finite |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bot:quadip:107&r=ure |
| By: | de Haan, Jan; Diewert, Erwin; Hendriks, Rens |
| Abstract: | The paper uses hedonic regression techniques in order to decompose the price of a house into land and structure components using readily available real estate sales data for a Dutch city. In order to get sensible results, it was useful to use a nonlinear regression model using data that covered multiple time periods. It also proved to be necessary to impose some restrictions on the price of structures. The resulting builder’s hedonic regression model was compared with the results for traditional logarithmic hedonic regression models. |
| Keywords: | House price indexes, land and structure components, time dummy hedonic regressions, Fisher ideal indexes. |
| JEL: | C2 C23 C43 D12 E31 R21 |
| Date: | 2011–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:bricol:erwin_diewert-2011-8&r=ure |
| By: | Ding, Weili; Lehrer, Steven F. |
| Abstract: | Proponents of class size reductions draw heavily on the results from Project STAR to support their initiatives. Adding to the political appeal of these initiative are reports that minority and economically disadvantaged students received the largest benefits from smaller classes. We extend this research in two directions. First, to address correlated outcomes from the same class size treatment, we account for the over-rejection of the Null hypotheses by using multiple inference procedures. Second, we conduct a more detailed examination of the heterogeneous impacts of class size reductions on measures of cognitive and noncognitive achievement using more flexible models. We find that students with higher test scores received greater benefits from class size reductions. Furthermore, we present evidence that the main effects of the small class treatment are robust to corrections for the multiple hypotheses being tested. However, these same corrections lead the differential impacts of smaller classes by race and freelunch status to become statistically insignificant. |
| Keywords: | class size; multiple inference; unconditional quantile regression; treatment effect heterogeneity; test score gaps; and education experiment |
| JEL: | I20 C21 C12 |
| Date: | 2011–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2011-12&r=ure |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London); Albrecht Glitz (Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona GSE); Uta Schoenberg (University College London and Institute for Employment Research (IAB)) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model and derives novel testable implications of referral-based job search networks in which employees provide employers with information about potential job market candidates that they otherwise would not have. Using unique matched employeremployee data that cover the entire workforce in one large metropolitan labor market over a 20 year period, we find strong support for the predictions of our model. We first show that firms are more likely to hire minority workers from a particular group if the existing share of workers from that group employed in the firm is higher. We then provide evidence that workers earn higher wages, and are less likely to leave their firms, if they were hired by a firm with a larger share of minority workers from their own group and are therefore more likely to have obtained the job through a referral. The effects are particularly strong at the beginning of the employment relationship and decline with tenure in the firm. These findings have important implications in suggesting that job search networks help to reduce informational deficiencies in the labor market and lead to productivity gains for workers and firms. |
| Keywords: | Networks, Referrals, Uncertainty |
| JEL: | J61 J63 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011012&r=ure |
| By: | Borsekova, Kamila; Petrikova, Katarina; Vanova, Anna |
| Abstract: | The main aim of the paper is to identify the meaning of factors which influence creation, identification and utilization of competitive advantage of territory on the regional level. Through the theoretical knowledge and its analogical using in the conditions of regions and through the results of own researches, we characterize the meaning of various factors on the regional competitiveness. The basic assumption of the paper is that the market is the key element which defines the real competitive advantage which has the strategic meaning for regional development. The paper identifies the key factors of competitiveness including the cooperation in the conditions of regions and brings new theoretical approach to the utilization of competitive advantage in t erritories. |
| Keywords: | factors; regions; Competitive advantage |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsu:apasro:314&r=ure |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper combines individual data from the British Household Panel Survey and yearly population estimates for England to analyse the impact of cultural diversity on individual wages and on different aspects of job satisfaction. Do people living in more diverse areas have higher wages and job satisfaction after controlling for other observable characteristics? The results show that cultural diversity is positively associated with wages, but only when cross-section data are used. Panel data estimations show that there is no impact of diversity. Using instrumental variables to account for endogeneity also show that diversity has no impact. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Diversity, Wages, Job Satisfaction. |
| JEL: | J28 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011010&r=ure |
| By: | Singh, Inderjeet; Singh, Lakhwinder |
| Abstract: | Because of policy relevance of regional input-output analysis, a vast literature on the construction of regional input-output tables has emerged in the recent past, especially on the non-survey and hybrid methods. Although, construction of regional input-output tables is not new in India, but generation of input-output table using non-survey methods is relatively a rare phenomenon. This work validates alternative non-survey, location quotient methodologies and finally uses comparatively better approach to generate the forty two sector regional input-output table for the state of Punjab for 2006-07. |
| Keywords: | Regional; Input-Output; Location Quotients |
| JEL: | R11 |
| Date: | 2011–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32344&r=ure |
| By: | Klaus Adam; Pei Kuang; Albert Marcet |
| Abstract: | A simple open economy asset pricing model can account for the house price and current account dynamics in the G7 over the years 2001-2008. The model features rational households, but assumes that households entertain subjective beliefs about price behavior and update these using Bayes' rule. The resulting beliefs dynamics considerably propagate economic shocks and crucially contribute to replicating the empirical evidence. Belief dynamics can temporarily delink house prices from fundamentals, so that low interest rates can fuel a house price boom. House price booms, however, are not necessarily synchronized across countries and the model is consistent with the heterogeneous response of house prices across the G7 following the reduction in real interest rates at the beginning of the millennium. The response to interest rates depends sensitively on agents' beliefs at the time of the interest rate reduction, which in turn are a function of the country specific history prior to the year 2000. According to the model, the US house price boom could have been largely avoided, if real interest rates had decreased by less after the year 2000. |
| JEL: | E44 F32 F41 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17224&r=ure |