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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Glen, J. |
| Abstract: | This thesis contains five essays addressing a variety of topics relating to aspects of the UK residential property market. The first essay examines the long run drivers of real residential house prices, and then seeks to develop a short run error correction model to examine the adjustment of real house prices to their long run equilibrium vales. The second essay, examines the extent to which the introduction of a congestion charge in London, and the associated improvement in environmental amenity is capitalised into residential property prices. The third essay and fourth essays focus on the extent to which high performing schools create a neighborhood amenity that is capitalised into residential property prices. The third essay examines this relationship in seven major English cities. Essay four focuses on London and Bristol, two UK cities with significant differences in the average performance of their secondary schools. This paper highlights the extent to which a greater premium for good schools exists in cities where the supply of good schools is low. The fifth essay examines the factors that influence the level of mortgage arrears in the UK housing market. A long run co-integrating vector is estimated and a short run error correction model describes the way in which short run arrears adjust to their long run equilibrium values. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:tilbur:urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-5391553&r=ure |
| By: | Lo, Ria S. Hutabarat |
| Abstract: | Walking is the main mode of transportation for many of the world’s people, particularly those in cities of the majority world. In the metropolitan region of Jakarta, walking in the public realm constitutes the main transportation mode for almost 40 percent of trips—a massive contribution to urban mobility. On the other hand, there is no comprehensive planning for pedestrians in an analogous manner to other modes of transportation. Pedestrian facilities are often dilapidated, damaged, dangerous, or missing completely. Additionally, there is no process for assessing the inventory of pedestrian facilities, planning pedestrian facilities at a region-wide level, or even identifying the location of vernacular pedestrian routes in low-income and informal areas. Provincial pedestrian planning focuses on piecemeal, symbolic spaces such as monumental plazas that serve the nation-building project, but overlooks the functional network of routes that address the daily needs of the city’s residents. This dissertation examines the issue of walkability planning in Jakarta by investigating what matters to pedestrians and how pedestrian space is produced. The research employs mixed methods, including pedestrian network groundtruthing, structured streetscape observations, multimodal traffic counts, pedestrian activity mapping, pedestrian surveys and interviews with policy-makers. Data is analyzed through a combination of in-depth qualitative analysis as well as quantitative and statistical analysis. Based on this research, six key elements of walkability planning are proposed for Jakarta: multidisciplinarity, ethnography, accessibility, legibility, integrated activity, and shared streets. A literature review of walkability metrics reveals that walking is a highly multidisciplinary activity, with very different metrics emerging from different fields. In order to effectively encourage pedestrian activity, new multidisciplinary metrics should integrate the perspectives of all of these related disciplines and pedestrian planning should occur through inter-agency coordination. In Jakarta, interviews with policy-makers suggested that pedestrian planning is hindered by the fact that there is no lead agency for pedestrian planning, and there is a lack of cooperation between the different agencies that plan and produce urban public space. Pedestrian planning is also hindered by a discursive framework that is both modally and geographically biased—favoring motorized, long-distance modes of transportation and employing method derived from a Western research and planning norms. In order to overcome this discursive bias, ethnography should become a standard part of urban research, planning and design. The need for ethnography and qualitative analysis was made visible by the mismatch between standard transportation terminology, and prevailing practices observed in pedestrian mapping exercises and raised by pedestrians in on-the street interviews. For example, standard survey categories do not account for informal or integrated activity patterns like mobile street vending. From surveys conducted with mobile street vendors, it was difficult to separate their pedestrian activities into categories of travel from home to work, business-related travel, and visiting friends and relatives. In fact, it was difficult to even separate their travel from their activities since many vendors carried out business as they made their way through the neighborhood. With a large portion of the population engaged in the informal sector, the discrepancy between assumed and actual behavior severely compromises the quality of transportation-related research that is conducted in Jakarta and many other majority world cities. Ethnographic and qualitative research methods may therefore assist in producing more context-sensitive planning data and outcomes. These context-sensitive methods could include new analytical methods that focus on integrated activity, rather than trip-based or activity-based analysis. In relation to pedestrian activity, context-sensitive planning encompasses new approaches to accessibility that combine the notion of transportation accessibility with disabled access and universal access standards. The need for such an approach was revealed during interviews with policy-makers, who described accessibility in terms of market goods rather than human rights. Within the market for urban public space, ordinary pedestrians were unable to compete with other modes of transportation; within the market for urban impressions, ordinary pedestrian spaces were outcompeted by prominent, symbolic spaces; and within the market for cultural capital, ordinary pedestrians were excluded from planning processes because even the discourse of pedestrian planning was inaccessible to regular residents. In response to this problem of exclusion, integrated accessibility may facilitate inclusion in both planning processes and urban spaces within the city. In particular, integrated accessibility would aim to provide comprehensive routes of travel for all pedestrians, rather than isolated pockets of so-called accessible (yet unreachable) facilities. More context sensitive planning would also be facilitated through greater legibility of fine-grained and vernacular pedestrian networks that were missing from standard planning maps. These fine-grained networks represent highly connected facilities that serve much of Jakarta’s pedestrian transportation task. While the current synoptic illegibility of these areas may conveniently allow some communities to avoid state intrusion, it also means that low-income populations are chronically under-served with respect to basic urban planning and services. Increased legibility therefore allows for improvement and maintenance of urban systems like safe, functional pedestrian networks, and it may also play a role in increasing tenure security for Jakarta’s significant floating population. In many of these vernacular spaces, new street design approaches would also benefit pedestrians, who tend to use the streets as shared spaces, rather than spaces that are rigidly segregated by mode. Pedestrian activity mapping revealed that only an overwhelming majority of pedestrians used streets as hybrid spaces, with activity types falling into the categories of surface sensitive, risk-averse, distance-minimizing and stationary pedestrians. More realistic shared street designs would therefore accommodate —rather than ignore—the types of activities that occur along Jakartan streets. Design standards for “great streets†in Jakarta would also emphasize the safe sharing of streets through self-enforcing approaches to speed limits, and the integration of various urban elements like drainage, mobility and public-private interaction. While walkability planning in Jakarta displays many “wicked problem†features, there is much that can be done to improve, if not resolve, conditions for pedestrians within the region. Recommended strategies for walkability planning in Jakarta include a regional walkability plan and environmental policy developed using participatory planning, reformed governance and institutional arrangements, and a constituency building approach. The strategies also include expansion of road designations and an integrated accessibility strategy that draws upon new data sources from a WikiPlaces network map, an integrated activity study and pedestrian network cost-benefit analysis. In addition to Jakarta specific proposals, a number of proposals are made to advance discourse on walkability more generally. These approaches include decentered analysis of integrated activity, informal economic activity analysis, vernacular placemaking and Asian shared street design. Pedestrians and pedestrian plans traverse diverse physical, administrative and disciplinary spaces in cities of the world. Integrated and multidisciplinary approaches are therefore required to understand and accommodate these key users of public space. In Jakarta, walkability planning has potential to improve urban transportation efficiency while contributing to traffic safety, economic vitality, environmental quality and democratic governance. Successful walkability planning in Jakarta may also provide a model for planning in other cities where Western models of planning are unrealistic, inequitable and inappropriate. Jakartan lessons on walkability planning are particularly relevant, and improvements in walkability are particularly powerful, for cities characterized by relatively low median incomes, high land use densities, a substantial informal sector, rapid urbanization and rapid motorization. By improving walkability planning in Jakarta and other cities of the majority world, policy-makers and planners can move toward more sustainable, socially equitable and efficient cities. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies and Planning |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt05p5r596&r=ure |
| By: | Eric Marcon (ECOFOG - Ecologie des forêts de Guyane - CIRAD : UMR93 - CNRS : UMR2728 - INRA : UMR0745 - Université des Antilles et de Guyane - AgroParisTech); Florence Puech (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - CNRS : UMR5593 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat) |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, distance-based methods have been introduced and then improved in the field of spatial economics to gauge the geographic concentration of activities. There is a growing literature on this theme including new tools, discussions on specific properties and various applica-tions. However no typology of distance-based methods exists. This paper fills this gap. The proposed classification helps understanding all properties of distance-based methods and proves that they are variations on the same framework. |
| Keywords: | Spatial concentration ; Aggregation ; Point patterns Agglomeration ; Economic geography |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00679993&r=ure |
| By: | Reinhold Kosfeld (University of Kassel); Jorgen Lauridsen (Southern University of Denmark) |
| Abstract: | More recently, there has been a renewed interest in cluster policies for supporting industrial and regional development. By virtue of the linkage between growth and innovation, R&D intensive industries play a crucial role in cluster development strategies. Empirical cluster research has to contribute to the understanding the process of cluster formation. Some experiences with the use of local spatial methods like local Moran’s Ii and Getis-Ord Gi tests in pattern recognition are already available. However, up to now the utilisation of spatial scan techniques in detecting economic clusters is largely ignored (Kang, 2010). In this paper, the performance of the above-mentioned local spatial methods in identifying German R&D clusters is studied. Differences in cluster detection across the tests are traced. In particular, the contribution of Kulldorff’s spatial scan test in detecting industry clusters is critically assessed. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Clusters, R&D Intensive Industries, Local Spatial Methods, Spatial Scan Test |
| JEL: | R12 R15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201214&r=ure |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser; Joshua D. Gottlieb; Kristina Tobio |
| Abstract: | Popular discussions often treat the great housing boom of the 1996-2006 period as if it were a national phenomenon with similar impacts across locales, but across metropolitan areas, price growth was dramatically higher in warmer, less educated cities with less initial density and higher initial housing values. Within metropolitan areas, price growth was faster in neighborhoods closer to the city center. The centralization of price growth during the boom was particularly dramatic in those metropolitan areas where income is higher away from the city center. We consider four different explanations for why city centers grew more quickly when wealth was more suburbanized: (1) gentrification, which brings rapid price growth, is more common in areas with centralized poverty; (2) areas with centralized poverty had more employment concentration which led to faster centralized price growth; (3) areas with centralized poverty had the weakest supply response to the boom in prices in the city center; and (4) poverty is centralized in cities with assets, like public transit, at the city center that became more valuable over the boom. We find some support for several of these hypotheses, but taken together they explain less than half of the overall connection between centralized poverty and centralized price growth. |
| JEL: | D0 R3 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17914&r=ure |
| By: | Susilo, Yusak O. (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)); Williams, Katie (University of the West of England (UWE)); Lindsay, Morag (Oxford Brookes University); Dair, Carol (Oxford Brookes University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the influence of individuals’ environmental attitudes and urban design features on travel behavior, including mode choice. It uses data from residents of 13 new neighborhood UK developments designed to support sustainable travel. It is found that almost all respondents were concerned about environmental issues, but their views did not necessarily ‘match’ their travel behavior. Individuals’ environmental concerns only had a strong relationship with walking within and near their neighborhood, but not with cycling or public transport use. Residents’ car availability reduced public transport trips, walking and cycling. The influence of urban design features on travel behaviors was mixed, higher incidences of walking in denser, mixed and more permeable developments were not found and nor did residents own fewer cars than the population as a whole. Residents did, however, make more sustainable commuting trips than the population in general. Sustainable modes of travel were related to urban design features including secured bike storage, high connectivity of the neighborhoods to the nearby area, natural surveillance, high quality public realm and traffic calming. Likewise the provision of facilities within and nearby the development encouraged high levels of walking. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable urban design; Travel patterns; Attitudes and beliefs; Sustainable travel modes |
| JEL: | O18 O21 O44 R21 R28 R31 R42 R58 Z10 |
| Date: | 2012–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2012_001&r=ure |
| By: | Chapple, Karen; Wegmann, Jake; Nemirow, Alison; Dentel-Post, Colin |
| Abstract: | California’s implementation of SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, is putting new pressure on communities to support infill and affordable housing development. As the San Francisco Bay Area adds two million new residents by 2035, infilling the core (in targeted Priority Development Areas, or PDAs) could accommodate over half of the new population, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). But at the same time, infill could increase housing costs and exacerbate the region’s affordability crisis. One potential solution is secondary units (also called in-law units or accessory dwelling units). Self-contained, smaller living units on the lot of a single-family home, secondary units can be either attached to the primary house, such as an above-the-garage unit or a basement unit, or detached (an independent cottage). Secondary units are particularly well-suited as an infill strategy for low-density residential areas because they offer hidden density, housing units not readily apparent from the street – and relatively less objectionable to the neighbors. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies/Affairs |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt6fz8j6gx&r=ure |
| By: | Iwata, Shinichiro; Sumita, Kazuto; Fujisawa, Mieko |
| Abstract: | This paper examines real estate pricing featuring the price response curve, both theoretically and empirically. The Bertrand model with differentiated products suggests that the price response of real estate may differ when properties in the vicinity are priced by an affiliated firm or one's own firm. This is because the firm can maintain the collusive state if real estate prices in the neighborhood are priced by allies, whereas it loses it if prices are priced by rivals. To examine this prediction, a spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances, including a share of allies in the vicinity, is estimated using data on the residential condominium market in central Tokyo. Empirical results provide support for the model prediction. |
| Keywords: | Real estate prices; Strategic pricing; Spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | D21 L85 C31 D43 R31 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37438&r=ure |
| By: | Darlene C. Chisolm; George Norman |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical assessment of movie theatre attendance in two major metropolitan markets and provides strong support for the importance of spatial characteristics in determing attendance. We consider the hypothesis that attendance at particular movie theatres reflects a tension between two effects: a negative competion effect and a positive agglomeration effect. We find evidence that the competition effect dominates. Further, we identify a pattern of systematic spatial decay in the impact of this effect on demand. |
| JEL: | L11 D43 L82 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0763&r=ure |
| By: | Banerjee, Abhijit; Duflo, Esther; Qian, Nancy |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of access to transportation networks on regional economic outcomes in China over a twenty-period of rapid income growth. It addresses the problem of the endogenous placement of networks by exploiting the fact that these networks tend to connect historical cities. Our results show that proximity to transportation networks have a moderate positive causal effect on per capita GDP levels across sectors, but no effect on per capita GDP growth. We provide a simple theoretical framework with empirically testable predictions to interpret our results. We argue that our results are consistent with factor mobility playing an important role in determining the economic benefits of infrastructure development. |
| Keywords: | firms; growth; inequality; infrastructure |
| JEL: | D2 O4 R4 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8874&r=ure |
| By: | Crescenzi, Riccardo; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | Transport infrastructure has represented one of the cornerstones of development and cohesion strategies in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere in the world. However, despite the considerable funds devoted to it, its impact remains controversial. This paper revisits the question of to what extent transport infrastructure endowment -- proxied by regional motorways -- has contributed to regional growth in the EU between 1990 and 2004. It analyses infrastructure in relationship to other factors which may condition economic growth, such as innovation, migration, and the local ‘social filter’, taking also into account the geographical component of intervention in transport infrastructure and innovation. The results of the two-way fixed-effect (static) and GMM-diff (dynamic) panel data regressions indicate that infrastructure endowment is a relatively poor predictor of economic growth and that regional growth in the EU results from a combination of an adequate ‘social filter’, good innovation capacity, both in the region and in neighbouring areas, and a region's capacity to attract migrants. The meagre returns of infrastructure endowment on economic growth raises interesting questions about the opportunity costs of further infrastructure investments across most of Western Europe. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth; European Union; Infrastructure; Innovation; Regions; Spillovers |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R42 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8882&r=ure |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explore the structure of cities as a function of labor differentiation, gains to trade, a fixed cost for constructing the transportation network, a variable cost of commodity transport, and the commuting costs of consumers. Firms use different types of labor to produce different outputs. Locations of all agents are endogenous as are prices and quantities. This is among the first papers to apply smooth economy techniques to urban economics. Existence of equilibrium and its determinacy properties depend crucially on the relative numbers of outputs, types of labor and firms. More differentiated labor implies more equilibria. We provide tight lower bounds on labor differentiation for existence of equilibrium. If these sufficient conditions are satisfied, then generically there is a continuum of equilibria for given parameter values. Finally, an equilibrium allocation is not necessarily Pareto optimal in this model. |
| Keywords: | city structure; general equilibrium; heterogeneous labour; transportation network |
| JEL: | D51 R14 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8840&r=ure |
| By: | Shoup, Donald |
| Abstract: | Practical policies can mean big benefits for the streets on which they are enacted. With performance-based parking prices, local revenue return, and parking increment finance, everybody wins. This chapter was adapted from a speech delivered at the Urban Land Institute’s Great Streets Symposium in Washington, D.C., January 17-20, 2006. How can curb parking contribute to a great street? To help create great streets, a city should (1) charge performance-based prices for curb parking and (2) return the revenue to the metered districts to pay for added public services. With these two policies, curb parking will help to create great streets, improve transportation, and increase the economic vitality of cities. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies/Affairs |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt1mc080gg&r=ure |
| By: | Marius Brülhart; Céline Carrère; Frederico Trionfetti |
| Abstract: | We study the response of regional employment and nominal wages to trade liberalization, exploiting the natural experiment provided by the opening of Central and Eastern European markets after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. Using data for Austrian municipalities, we examine differential pre- and post-1990 wage and employment growth rates between regions bordering the formerly communist economies and interior regions. If the ‘border regions’ are defined narrowly, within a band of less than 50 kilometers, we can identify statistically significant liberalization effects on both employment and wages. While wages responded earlier than employment, the employment effect over the entire adjustment period is estimated to be around three times as large as the wage effect. The implied slope of the regional labor supply curve can be replicated in an economic geography model that features obstacles to labor migration due to immobile housing and to heterogeneous locational preferences. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalization, spatial adjustment, regional labor supply, natural experiment |
| JEL: | F15 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2012_02&r=ure |
| By: | XXX, Shuya; Iwata, Shinichiro |
| Abstract: | Cross-sectional data yield the interesting result that fertility rates and home ownership rates tend to correlate positively, while time-series data suggest an inverse (or no) relationship between them. Although these associations can be explained by observed economic variables, doubt remains as to whether these links are due to the existence of omitted regional and time effects. Thus, controlling for regional-specific fixed effects and nationwide common time effects, this paper tests the link between the user cost of home ownership, which is the purchase price of housing, and total fertility rates. The empirical results, which use a panel of Japanese regional aggregate data, suggest that the impact of user costs on fertility considerably decreased when compared with the pooled OLS regression result without controlling for the above effects, but remained significantly negative. In the Japanese context, the association between the number of children and home ownership seems to be complementary. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Home ownership; User cost; Panel data |
| JEL: | J13 C23 R21 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37387&r=ure |
| By: | Howard, Emma; Carol, Newman; Thijssen, Jacco |
| Abstract: | We present a new approach for the empirical investigation of agglomeration patterns. We examine the clustering of manufacturing firms by identifying patterns of spatial network formation that deviate from randomly generated networks. Using firm-level panel data from Vietnam we calculate transitivity, a measure to determine the strength of clustering of manufacturing firms. We then test whether the observed clustering of firms is greater than that of a randomly generated network. Our findings suggest that the extent of clustering is over and above that which can be attributed to the legal and regulatory framework, economic zoning, or population patterns. |
| Keywords: | clustering, network formation, manufacturing firms, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2011-87&r=ure |
| By: | Dalal, Pamela; Chen, Yali; Ravulaparthy, Srinath; Goulias, Konstadinos G. |
| Abstract: | Accessibility, defined as the ease (or difficulty) with which activity opportunities can be reached from a given location, can be measured using the cumulative amount of opportunities from an origin within a given amount of travel time. These indicators can be used in regional planning and modeling efforts that aim to integrate land use with travel demand and an attempt should be made to compute at the smallest geographical area. The primary objective of this paper is to illustrate the creation of realistic space-sensitive and time-sensitive fine spatial level accessibility indicators that attempt to track availability of opportunities. These indicators support the development of the Southern California Association of Governments activity-based travel demand forecasting model that aims at a second by-second and parcel-by-parcel modeling and simulation. They also provide the base information for mapping opportunities of access to fifteen different types of industries at different periods during a day. The indicators and their maps are defined for the entire region using largely available data to show the polycentric structure of the region and to illustrate the method as a generator of choice sets in discrete choice models. |
| Keywords: | hierarchical spatial choice, spatial cluster analysis, multi-scale representation, Urban Studies and Planning |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt474714fg&r=ure |
| By: | Christophe CARRINCAZEAUX (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113); Frédéric GASCHET (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113) |
| Abstract: | This article aims at assessing the diversity of regional innovation systems and their economic performances within Europe. We propose to adapt the Social Systems of Innovation and Production (SSIP) framework developed by Amable, Barré and Boyer (1997) at the regional level by identifying specific arrangements of each part of the innovation and production system. A key feature of this approach is the concept of complementary institutions, allowing a limited number of viable and stable configurations to be identified. Three key features of European regions are investigated using this framework: the diversity of regional SSIPs, the interplay of regional and national determinants of such systems, and the impact of SSIPs on regional performance. We identify a typology of regional configurations resulting from the combination of scientific, technological, educational and industrial indicators, using multivariate data analysis. We then test the existence of specific regional growth regimes. The results highlight a persistently high level of diversity of regional configurations, notably among knowledge intensive regions, but also show that national institutional settings remain of fundamental importance in shaping a number of regional configurations. A final conclusion relates to the weak correlation observed between the structural characteristics of regions and their performances over the 2003-2007 period: regional performance remains primarily shaped by national trends. Overall, the paper questions the regional dimension of these “systems”. |
| Keywords: | Regional innovation systems, knowledge, regional growth, institutions |
| JEL: | R11 O43 O18 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2012-06&r=ure |
| By: | Schneider, Robert James |
| Abstract: | In the two decades since the United States Congress passed the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, there has been a surge of interest in making urban transportation systems more sustainable. Many agencies, representing all levels of government, have searched for strategies to reduce private automobile use, including policies to shift local driving to pedestrian and bicycle modes. Progress has been made in a number of communities, but the automobile remains the dominant mode of transportation in all metropolitan regions. Sustainable transportation advocates are especially interested in routine travel, such as shopping and other errands, because it tends to be done frequently and for distances that could be covered realistically by walking or bicycling. According to the 2009 National Household Travel Survey, Americans made more trips for shopping than for any other purpose, including commuting to and from work. One-third of these shopping trips were shorter than two miles (3.2 km). However, 76% of these short shopping trips were made by automobile, while only 21% were made by walking and 1% by bicycling. In order to identify effective strategies to change travel behavior, practitioners need a greater understanding of why people choose certain modes for routine travel. Choosing to walk or bicycle rather than travel by automobile may help individuals get exercise, save money, interact with neighbors, and reduce tailpipe emissions. Yet, in some communities, non-motorized modes may also require more time and physical effort to run a series of errands, be less convenient for carrying packages and traveling in bad weather, and be perceived as having a higher risk of traffic crashes or street crime than driving. A mixed-methods approach was used to develop a more complete understanding of factors that are associated with walking or bicycling rather than driving for routine travel. An intercept survey was implemented to gather travel data from 1,003 customers at retail pharmacy stores in 20 San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods in fall 2009. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 26 survey participants in spring and summer 2010 to gain a deeper understanding of factors that influenced their transportation decisions. The methodological approach makes several contributions to the body of research on sustainable transportation. For example, the study: Explored multiple categories of factors that may be associated with walking and bicycling, including travel, socioeconomic, attitude, perception, and shopping district characteristics. Few studies of pedestrian or bicycle mode choices have included all of these categories of factors. Statistical models showed that variables in all categories had significant associations with mode choice. Documented and analyzed short pedestrian movements, such as from a parking space to a store entrance or from a bus stop to home. These detailed data provided a greater understanding of pedestrian activity than traditional travel survey analyses. Walking was used as the primary mode for 65% of respondent trips between stops within shopping districts, and 52% of all respondents walked along a street or between stops at some time between leaving and returning home. Maps of respondent pedestrian path density revealed distinct pedestrian activity patterns in different types of shopping districts. Used four different approaches to capture participant travel mode information. Respondents reported the primary mode of transportation they were using on the day of the survey, the mode they typically used, and all modes that they would consider using to travel to the survey store. They also mapped all stops on their tour and said what modes they used between each stop. These four approaches revealed nuanced travel habits and made it possible to correct inaccuracies in self-reported primary travel mode data. Measured and tested fine-grained local environment variables in shopping districts rather than around respondents' homes. These variables characterized the shopping district area (e.g., sidewalks, bicycle facilities, metered parking, and tree canopy coverage), the main commercial roadway (e.g., posted speed limit, number of automobile lanes, and pedestrian crossing distance), and the survey store site (e.g., number of automobile and bicycle parking spaces and distance from the public sidewalk to the store entrance). This dissertation adds to the small number of studies that have explored how the characteristics of activity destinations are related to travel behavior. The study results contribute to the body of knowledge about factors that may encourage people to shift routine travel from automobile to pedestrian or bicycle modes. After controlling for travel factors such as time and cost, socioeconomic characteristics, and individual attitudes, mixed logit models showed that automobile use was negatively associated with higher employment density, smaller parking lots, and metered on-street parking in the shopping district. Walking was positively associated with higher population density, more street tree canopy coverage, lower speed limits, and fewer commercial driveway crossings. The exploratory analysis of a small number of bicycle tours found that bicycling was associated with more extensive bicycle facility networks and more bicycle parking. However, people were more likely to drive when they perceived a high risk of crime. Results also suggest the magnitude of mode shifts that could occur if short- and long-term land use and transportation system changes were made to each study shopping district. The mode choice model representing travel only to and from the study shopping districts (N = 388) was used to estimate respondent mode shares under the following three scenarios: 1) double population and employment densities in each study shopping district, 2) double street tree canopy coverage in each study shopping district, and 3) eliminate half of the automobile parking 3 spaces at the survey store. Based on the model, the combination of these three changes could increase pedestrian mode share among the 388 sample respondents from 43% to 61% and decrease automobile mode share from 50% to 31%. This shift could eliminate 129 (13%) of the 983 respondent vehicle miles traveled (208 of the 1,580 respondent vehicle kilometers traveled), and 110 (36%) of the 308 times respondents parked their automobiles in the shopping district. The mode choice model of walking versus driving within survey shopping districts (N = 286) was used to test the combination of the following scenarios: 1) cluster separated stores around shared parking lots, 2) consolidate commercial driveways so that there are half as many driveway crossings along the main commercial roadway, 3) reduce all main commercial roadway speed limits to 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour), and 4) install metered parking in all shopping districts. These changes could increase the percentage of the 286 sample respondents walking between shopping district activities from 32% to 54%. This shift could eliminate 29 (38%) of the 76 respondent vehicle miles traveled (47 of the 122 respondent vehicle kilometers traveled), and 105 (22%) of the 469 times respondents parked their automobiles in the shopping district. Note that these forecasted mode shifts are illustrative examples based on cross-sectional data and do not account for the process of modifying travel behavior habits. Qualitative interviews provided a foundation for a proposed Theory of Routine Mode Choice Decisions. This five-step theory also drew from survey results and other mode choice theories in the transportation and psychology fields. The first step, 1) awareness and availability, determines which modes are viewed as possible choices for routine travel. The next three steps, 2) basic safety and security, 3) convenience and cost, and 4) enjoyment, assess situational tradeoffs between modes in the choice set and are supported by many of the statisticallysignificant factors in the mode choice models. The final step, 5) habit, reinforces previous choices and closes the decision process loop. Socioeconomic characteristics explain differences in how individuals view each step in the process. Understanding each step in the mode choice decision process can help planners, designers, engineers, and other policy-makers implement a comprehensive set of strategies that may be able to shift routine automobile travel to pedestrian and bicycle modes. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies and Planning |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt06v2g6dh&r=ure |
| By: | H. Cagri Akkoyun; Yavuz Arslan; Birol Kanik |
| Abstract: | We use annual, quarterly and monthly data from the US to show that the correlation between housing prices and transaction volume (number of existing houses sold) di¤ers across di¤erent frequencies. While the correlation is high at the low frequencies it declines to the levels close to zero at high frequencies. Granger causality tests for di¤erent frequencies show the way of causality in housing market goes from transactions to housing prices. Our ?ndings provide a litmus test for the existing theories that are proposed to explain the positive correlation between transaction volume and housing prices. |
| JEL: | C1 E3 G1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1211&r=ure |
| By: | Deutsch, Kathleen E; Yoon, Seo Youn; Goulias, Konstadinos G. |
| Abstract: | With the introduction and increasing reliance on the activity based approach in travel demand analysis and forecasting, discrete choice methods are more often in spatial contexts (e.g., residential location, job location, destination/activity choice). A necessity in specifying spatial choice models is the inclusion of the alternatives decision makers consider, and a realistic inclusion in the specification of the attributes of these alternatives, the characteristics of the decision making context, and the relevant characteristics of the decision maker. These details describe differences that exist among choices and individuals making choices. In the case of travel behavior, attributes of the alternatives have traditionally included attributes such as cost, distance, time, level of service and opportunities. Researchers however have recognized the benefit of attitudes in the estimation of choice models, showing improvement in explanatory power with the inclusion of attitudinal attributes of the individual. There is still however a vast expanse of unexplored attitudinal attributes in choice modeling. Particularly lacking in choice modeling is a strong theoretical underpinning of attitude formation and attitude relation to choice. Theorists in geography in the mid to late 1970s recognized and developed one such theory regarding the emotional and attitudinal association that people have with places. This became known as the theory of sense of place, which is the “affective ties with the material environment†(Tuan, 1974). This theory presents great potential in furthering the descriptive power of choice models, particularly destination choice. However, challenges abound, as this theory is rich in development, but poor in computational operationalization. In addition, everyday activity locations have not been adequately explored in sense of place quantification. In this paper, an overview of developments in discrete choice methods is presented, followed by a discussion of sense of place. Current and future work is discussed and benefits to choice modeling are presented. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies and Planning |
| Date: | 2011–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt78t5j0x1&r=ure |
| By: | Sridhar, Kala Seetharam |
| Abstract: | In this study an attempt has been made to assess the potential of land as a municipal financing tool in four Indian cities, to enable better public service delivery and attainment of the MDGs. The institutional arrangements for land use are fragmented in India.s cities between the urban development authorities, which are state agencies, and the cities. To determine whether or not transfer of revenues from land to cities from the para-statal entities is justified, stochastic frontier analysis is used to determine the efficiency of Indian cities and the Indian states. The efficiency of service provision is examined taking the case of roads. |
| Keywords: | land lease, efficiency of cities, India, urban infrastructure finance, stochastic frontier analysis |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2011-54&r=ure |
| By: | Dessí, Roberta |
| Abstract: | Innovative start-ups and venture capitalists are highly clustered, benefiting from localized spillovers: Silicon Valley is perhaps the best example. There is also substantial geographical variation in venture capital contracts: California contracts are more 'incomplete'. This paper explores the economic link between these observations. In the presence of significant spillovers, it becomes optimal for an innovative start-up and its financier to adopt contracts with fewer contingencies: these contracts maximize their ability to extract (part of) the surplus they generate through positive spillovers. This relaxes ex-ante financing constraints and makes it possible to induce higher innovative effort. |
| Keywords: | incomplete contracts; innovation; spillovers; venture capital |
| JEL: | D82 D86 G24 L22 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8731&r=ure |
| By: | Bofinger, Peter; Debes, Sebastian; Gareis, Johannes; Mayer, Eric |
| Abstract: | Can monetary policy trigger pronounced boom-bust cycles in house prices and create persistent business cycles? We address this question by building heuristics into an otherwise standard DSGE model. As a result, monetary policy sets off waves of optimism and pessimism ('animal spirits') that drive house prices, which, in turn, have strong repercussions on the business cycle. We compare our findings to a standard model with rational expectations by means of impulse responses. We suggest that a standard Taylor rule is not well-suited to maintain macroeconomic stability. Instead, an augmented rule that incorporates house prices is shown to be superior. |
| Keywords: | animal spirits; housing markets; monetary policy |
| JEL: | D83 E32 E52 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8804&r=ure |
| By: | Leitão, Nuno Carlos |
| Abstract: | This manuscript analysis the relationships between urban agglomeration and economic growth. We apply a static and dynamic panel data approach from European Union (EU-27), the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Mexico for the period 1990 to 2008. The results show that growth is highly correlated with urban agglomeration. The econometric models evidence that international trade is an important vehicle to expand the economic growth. The models also indicate that human capital promotes the economic growth. |
| Keywords: | economic growth; urban agglomeration and panel data approach |
| JEL: | R12 R11 O4 |
| Date: | 2012–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37501&r=ure |
| By: | Aron, Janine; Muellbauer, John |
| Abstract: | There is widespread disagreement about the role of housing wealth in explaining consumption. This paper exploits liquid and illiquid wealth time series from household balance sheet data for South Africa, previously constructed by the authors, to explain fluctuations in the ratios of consumption and household debt to income in South Africa, from 1971 to 2005. The paper emphasizes the role of substantial credit liberalization and of wealth, treating credit conditions as a latent variable with key interactions with drivers of consumption and debt. Credit conditions are proxied by a spline function entering jointly estimated consumption, debt and income expectations equations in a 'latent interactive variable equation system' (LIVES). The empirical results corroborate the theory in the paper, confirming that consumption relative to income is driven by credit liberalization, fluctuations in a range of asset values and asset accumulation, uncertainty and income expectations, inter alia. The paper confirms a collateral interpretation of housing wealth on consumption as opposed to a life-cycle interpretation. The paper also throws important light on the monetary policy transmission mechanism in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | consumption; credit conditions; credit market liberalisation; household debt; housing collateral; housing wealth; liquid and illiquid wealth |
| JEL: | C52 E21 E27 E32 E44 E51 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8800&r=ure |
| By: | S Bradley; Jim Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which exam performance at the end of compulsory education has been affected by three major education reforms: the introduction of a quasi-market following the Education Reform Act (1988); the specialist schools initiative introduced in 1994; and the Excellence in Cities programme introduced in 1999. We use data for all state-funded secondary schools in England over the period 1992-2006. The empirical analysis, which is based on the application of panel data methods, indicates that the government and its agencies have substantially overestimated the benefits flowing from these three major reforms. Only about one-third of the improvement in GCSE exam scores during 1992-2006 is directly attributable to the combined effect of the education reforms. The distributional consequences of the policy, however, are estimated to have been favourable, with the greatest gains being achieved by schools with the highest proportion of pupils from poor families. But there is evidence that resources have not been allocated efficiently. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:974&r=ure |
| By: | Anderstig, Christer (WSP Analysis & Strategy); Berglund, Svante (WSP Analysis & Strategy); Eliasson, Jonas (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)); Andersson, Matts (WSP Analysis & Strategy); Pyddoke, Roger (VTI) |
| Abstract: | The presence of distortive taxation and agglomeration benefits in the labour market means that there are benefits and losses not captured by standard cost-benefit analyses of transport policy measures. Recent theoretical analyses have raised concerns that the labour market effects of congestion charges may constitute considerable losses in the form of reduced aggregate labour income, over and above what is captured by the consumer surplus in the standard analysis of congestion charges – possibly to the extent that congestion charges may reduce aggregate social welfare, contrary to conventional wisdom in transport economics. The sign and size of these effects are an empirical question, however. We investigate this issue by estimating the labour income effects of the Stockholm congestion charges, using an estimated relationship between workplace accessibility and labour income. Results show positive effects on labour income, meaning that the “wider economic benefits” of this system are in fact benefits, not losses. It turns out to be crucial that the model accounts for value-of-time heterogeneity in the income/accessibility relationship and in the calculation of generalized travel costs. |
| Keywords: | Congestion pricing; wider economic benefits; labour market distortions; cost-benefit analysis. |
| JEL: | D62 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2012–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2012_004&r=ure |
| By: | Fligstein, Neil; Goldstein, Adam |
| Keywords: | Social Sciences, Mortgage Crisis, Securitization, Subprime Lending |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt83x2h03n&r=ure |
| By: | Johannes Vatter |
| Abstract: | This paper examines regional differences in subjective well-being (SWB) in Germany. Inferential statistics indicate a diminishing but still significant gap between East and West Germany, but also differing levels of SWB within both parts. The observed regional pattern of life satisfaction reflects macroeconomic fundamentals, where labor market conditions play a dominant role. Differing levels of GDP and economic growth have contributed rather indirectly to regional well-being such that the years since the German reunification can be considered as a period of joyless growth. In total, approximately half of "satisfaction gap" between East and West Germany can be attributed to differing macroeconomic conditions. Moreover, the effects of unemployment and income differ in size between regions such that one can assume increasing marginal disutility of unemployment. The comparably high levels of life satisfaction in Northern Germany are driven mostly by couples and go along with significantly higher fertility rates. Overall, we conclude that comparisons of SWB within a single country provide valid information. |
| Keywords: | Subjective well-being, regional disparities, unemployment, economic growth, fertility rate |
| JEL: | R10 I31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp435&r=ure |
| By: | Eduardo Lora; Andrew Powell |
| Abstract: | A growing number of cities around the world have established systems of monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective and subjective information and attempt to cover a wide variety of topics. This paper introduces a simple method that takes advantage of both types of information and provides criteria to identify and rank the issues of potential importance for urban dwellers. The method combines the so-called ‘hedonic price’ and ‘life satisfaction’ approaches to value public goods. Pilot case results for six Latin American cities are summarized and policy applications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | urban economics, quality of life, Latin America, public goods, hedonic price method, life satisfaction method |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2011-12&r=ure |
| By: | Charlotte Geay; Sandra McNally; Shqiponja Telhaj |
| Abstract: | In recent years there has been an increase in the number of children going to school in England who do not speak English as a first language. We investigate whether this has an impact on the educational outcomes of native English speakers at the end of primary school. We show that the negative correlation observed in the raw data is mainly an artefact of selection: non-native speakers are more likely to attend school with disadvantaged native speakers. We attempt to identify a causal impact of changes in the percentage of non-native speakers within the year group. In general, our results suggest zero effect and rule out negative effects. |
| Keywords: | language, immigration, education |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0137&r=ure |
| By: | Galiani, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of titles on parcel valuation and urban land market development (real estate transfers, rentals, and mortgages), and the dynamics of deregularization by exploiting a natural experiment in the allocation of land titles to very poor families in a suburban area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This natural experiment has been previously exploited to study effects of land titling on child health (Galiani and Schargrodsky 2004), on the formation of beliefs (Di Tella et al. 2007), and on investment, credit access, household structure, and educational achievement (Galiani and Schargrodsky 2010). |
| Keywords: | land titling, deregularization, titling premium |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2011-88&r=ure |
| By: | Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay (Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi); Indira Rajaraman (Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi) |
| Abstract: | An exogenously defined poverty line yields poverty headcounts between any two points in time that are a net outcome of hte two-way traffic into and out of poverty. This paper arugues that, for the rural Indian context, where housing is too lumpy and illiquid to be used for consumption smoothing transitions in housing quality in cross sectional data sets can provide revealed evidence of household perceptions of downside risk to their current consumption levels... |
| Keywords: | tracking poverty, rural housing |
| JEL: | D31 R21 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:isipdp:11-10&r=ure |
| By: | Angelini, Viola; Brugiavini, Agar; Weber, Guglielmo |
| Abstract: | We use life history data covering households in thirteen European countries to analyse residential moves past age 50. We observe four types of moves: renting to owning, owning to renting, trading up or trading down for home-owners. We find that in the younger group (aged 50-64) trading up and purchase decisions prevail; in the older group (65+), trading down and selling are more common. Overall, moves are rare, particularly in Southern European countries. Most moves are driven by changes in household composition (divorce, widowhood, nest-leaving by children), but economic factors play a role: low income households who are house-rich and cash-poor are more likely to sell their home late in life. |
| Keywords: | housing; life-cycle |
| JEL: | D19 E21 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8889&r=ure |
| By: | Marques, Bruno Pereira |
| Abstract: | The present work has the purpose of making a comparative analysis of local development processes at a metropolitan scale, territories whose administrative and institutional limits do not always match with their political and economic identity and are inserted in global processes of socioeconomic transformation. The main purpose of this work is to analyze and understand the competitive advantages that the local and metropolitan political powers have over the Central State in what may concern the creation of favorable measures for companies’ productivity and competitiveness; analyze new forms of democratic political participation, namely around the so-called Territorial Governance. In terms of Territorial Strategic Planning, the focus has been, frequently, in the realization of great cultural and sport events and in urban rehabilitation. In this sense, the perspective will be more centered in the analysis of processes that lead to Local Development Initiatives in the fields of Education, Professional Formation or support for Entrepreneurship, rather then more “traditionalist” analysis. Given the nature of the present work, a Master Degree Project Work, the practical component will be postponed for future Doctoral studies. Nevertheless, we have the intention of testing some hypothesis, more in Lisbon Metropolitan Area, then Barcelona Metropolitan Area, namely throughout statistical data analysis and interviews to local actors. |
| Keywords: | Barcelona; Lisbon; Metropolitan Areas; Regional and Local Development; Territorial Strategic Planning |
| JEL: | R58 R1 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37457&r=ure |
| By: | Carlos Gradín; Coral del Río; Olga Alonso-Villar |
| Abstract: | Using the 2005–2007 American Community Survey, this paper analyzes the extent of geographical disparities in occupational segregation by race and ethnicity across the United States. Although the unconditional analysis shows great geographical variation in segregation, with the largest levels in the Southwest, the analysis of segregation conditioned on the distribution of characteristics reveals that segregation of workers with similar characteristics is generally greater in the East Central region. To quantify conditional segregation, this paper adapts a propensity score technique that simultaneously controls for several characteristics, allowing the identification of the factors that explain the geographical variation of unconditional segregation. |
| Keywords: | occupational segregation; race; ethnicity; states; United States |
| JEL: | J15 J71 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vig:wpaper:1102&r=ure |
| By: | Bonhomme, Stéphane; Jolivet, Grégory; Leuven, Edwin |
| Abstract: | Abstract Job characteristics can affect worker turnover through their effect on utility and through their effect on outside job opportunities. We separately identify and estimate the roles of these two channels. Our method exploits information on job changes and relies on an augmented sample selection correction. Taking our approach to an exhaustive register of Dutch primary school teachers, and using arguably plausible exclusion restrictions, we show a detailed picture of preferences for school characteristics. We also study how preference estimates may be biased when ignoring information on job opportunities and discuss the implications for the analysis of teacher turnover. |
| Keywords: | compensating differentials; labour turnover; sample selection; teaching labour markets |
| JEL: | C34 C36 J40 J62 J63 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8841&r=ure |
| By: | Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This research proposes that the geographical distance from the location of the pre-industrial technological frontier has a non-monotonic and persistent effect on development. While remoteness from this frontier diminished imitation, it fostered the emergence of a culture conducive to innovation and knowledge creation, which has persisted into the modern era even after barriers to movement dissipated. I construct a novel measure of geographical distance in the pre-industrial era, which measures the travel time along the optimal route between any two locations. Using this measure I show that the distance to the technological frontier in the past has a robust and persistent U-shaped relation with measures of economic development both in the pre-industrial and modern eras. Furthermore, a distance of 6 weeks of travel, which is roughly the distance from Ethiopia to the UK, is the least desirable distance from the technological frontier in the pre-industrial era as it generates the largest adverse effects on contemporary development. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth, comparative development, culture and technology, technological innovation, technological diffusion, globalization, geographical distance, technological imitation |
| JEL: | E02 F15 F43 N10 N70 O11 O14 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1201&r=ure |
| By: | Shah, Anwar |
| Abstract: | In the new information age in the globalized and interconnected world, metropolitan areas hold the key to the future prosperity and growth of nations. This paper takes a closer look at grant-financing regimes faced by metropolitan areas and their role in facilitating or hindering improvements in economic and social outcomes of residents of metropolitan areas. A review of 42 large metropolitan areas worldwide shows that, with a few notable exceptions, metropolitan areas in general are hamstrung from playing their potential role in economic advancement. Metro areas have large economic bases and therefore little a priori needs for grant financing, yet they have strong dependence on central transfers. This is because of the highly constrained fiscal autonomy given to these areas, especially in developing countries, with the singular exception of metro areas in China. Such a strong reliance on transfers undermines local autonomy and local accountability. General purpose transfers are formula based , transparent and predictable yet they discriminate against metropolitan areas as they utilize a one size fit all (common formula) for all local governments -- large or small. Such formula typically incorporate equal per jurisdiction component that discriminates against large metropolitan areas. Compactness is rarely rewarded and the greater needs of metro areas for transportation, education, health, culture and welfare go unrecognized. Overall the emphasis in grant financing of metro areas deals with vertical fiscal gaps or project based specific purpose grants. To ensure that metropolitan areas can play their dual roles in improving economic and social outcomes for residents, it is important to strengthen their fiscal autonomy while at the same time enhancing their accountability to local residents. The paper argues that results based grant financing of social and transportation services and tournament based approaches to encourage inter-jurisdictional competition need to be given serious consideration to ensure metropolitan autonomy while strengthening citizen based accountability. |
| Keywords: | Municipal Financial Management,Subnational Economic Development,Public Sector Economics,Access to Finance,Public Sector Management and Reform |
| Date: | 2012–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6002&r=ure |
| By: | Ballester, Coralio; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We consider a model where the criminal decision of each individual is affected by not only her own characteristics, but also by the characteristics of her friends (contextual effects). We determine who the key player is, i.e. the criminal who once removed generates the highest reduction in total crime in the network. We generalize the intercentrality measure proposed by Ballester et al. (2006) by taking into account the change in contextual effects following the removal of the key player. We also provide an example that shows how the new formula can be calculated in practice. |
| Keywords: | contextual effects.; Crime; key players; peer effects |
| JEL: | A14 D85 K42 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8806&r=ure |
| By: | Criscuolo, Chiara; Martin, Ralf; Overman, Henry G; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to support manufacturing jobs ('Regional Selective Assistance'). Area eligibility is governed by pan-European state aid rules which change every seven years and we use these rule changes to construct instrumental variables for program participation. We match two decades of UK panel data on the population of firms to all program participants. IV estimates find positive program treatment effect on employment, investment and net entry but not on TFP. OLS underestimates program effects because the policy targets underperforming plants and areas. The treatment effect is confined to smaller firms with no effect for larger firms (e.g. over 150 employees). We also find the policy raises area level manufacturing employment mainly through significantly reducing unemployment. The positive program effect is not due to substitution between plants in the same area or between eligible and ineligible areas nearby. We estimate that 'cost per job' of the program was only $6,300 suggesting that in some respects investment subsidies can be cost effective. |
| Keywords: | employment; industrial policy; investment; productivity; regional policy |
| JEL: | H25 L52 L53 O47 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8818&r=ure |
| By: | Shoup, Donald |
| Abstract: | “Paying for parking is like going to a prostitute,†George Costanza, one of the most prominent cheapskates in the history of TV, once said. “Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free?†Although most people would probably choose more subtle analogies, this punch line of the short and chubby Seinfeld sidekick aptly sums up most Americans’ attitude toward paying for parking. And where has this attitude led us? Where curb parking is underpriced and overcrowded, a surprisingly large share of traffic may be cruising in search of a place to park. Sixteen studies conducted between 1927 and 2001 found that, on average, 30 percent of the cars in congested traffic on city streets were cruising for parking. For example, when researchers interviewed drivers who were stopped at traffic signals in New York City, they found that 28 percent of the drivers on a street in Manhattan and 45 percent on a street in Brooklyn were cruising for curb parking. In another study, the average time to find a curb space on 15 blocks in the Upper West Side of Manhattan was 3.1 minutes and the average cruising distance was 0.6 kilometers. These findings were used to estimate that cruising for underpriced parking in this small area alone creates about 590,000 excess vehicle kilometers of travel and 295 tons of CO2 per year. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies/Affairs |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt6hz481dk&r=ure |
| By: | Shoup, Donald |
| Abstract: | Universities have tried almost every possible way to deal with the shortage of campus parking: lotteries, hunting licenses, first-come-first-served, waiting lists, seniority, and need-based systems. As another way to eliminate parking shortages, this paper proposes using the Goldilocks Principle of parking prices to balance supply and demand: the price at any location is too high if many spaces are vacant, and too low if no spaces are vacant. When a few vacant spaces are available everywhere, the prices are just right and drivers can always find a place to park. The chapter concludes by proposing a pilot program to test drivers’ responses to performance prices for campus parking. |
| Keywords: | Urban Studies/Affairs |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt2zk4v5k3&r=ure |
| By: | Sebastian G. Kessing; Chiara Strozzi |
| Abstract: | We analyze the optimal regional pattern of public employment in an information constrained second-best redistribution policy showing that regionally differentiated public employment can serve as an expenditure side tagging device, bypassing or relaxing the equity-effciency trade-off. The optimal pattern exhibits higher levels of public employment in low productivity regions and is more pronounced the higher is the degree of regional inequality within the country. Empirically, using a panel of European regions from 1995-2007, we found evidence that public employment is systematically higher in low productivity regions. The latter effect is stronger in countries with higher levels of regional inequality. |
| Keywords: | Public employment, redistribution, regional inequality, European regions |
| JEL: | H11 J45 R12 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:079&r=ure |
| By: | Hirota, Haruaki; Yunoue, Hideo |
| Abstract: | The number of municipalities in Japan has decreased from 3,232 in 1999 to 1,820 in 2006 because of municipal mergers, called Heisei-no-Daigappei. This paper estimates the political choices of local council members in Japan’s municipal mergers. In Japan, being a local council member is a full-time job. The local council has “veto powers” over local administration. Since the wage for a local council member is quite high, council members like to keep their seats. The jobs of local council members are affected by municipal mergers, as preferential treatment and penalties are delivered by the central government to the local government in municipal mergers. In our results, merged municipalities apply “Special Provisions” for local council members because of the size of the municipality. The choice of municipality is also affected by the national government’s political power. In addition, Special Provisions lead to additional fiscal burdens. These fiscal burdens will transfer to the whole country because “the Local Allocation Tax grants system” (abbreviated as LAT grants), a national grants system, works well in Japan. The municipalities that choose the Special Provisions exploit the benefits from other municipalities without any additional costs. Our results show that the central government induces the free-rider problem in Japan. |
| Keywords: | municipal mergers; local council size; intergovernmental relations; free riding |
| JEL: | H77 H11 D72 |
| Date: | 2011–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37485&r=ure |
| By: | Landier, Augustin; Sraer, David; Thesmar, David |
| Abstract: | Using loan level data, we provide evidence consistent with risk-shifting in the lending behavior of a large subprime mortgage originator { New Century Financial Corporation { starting in 2004. This change follows the monetary policy tightening implemented by the Fed in the spring of 2004, which resulted in an adverse shock to the large portfolio of loans New Century was holding for investment. New Century reacted to this shock by massively resorting to deferred amortization loan contracts (\interest-only" loans). We show that these loans were not only riskier, but also that their returns were by design more sensitive to real estate prices than standard contracts. New Century was thus financing projects with a high beta on its own survival, as predicted by a standard model of portfolio selection in financial distress. Our findings shed new light on the relationship between monetary policy and risk taking by financial institutions. They also contribute to better characterizing the type of risk taken by financially distressed firms. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:25604&r=ure |
| By: | Lee, Lung-Fei; Liu, Xiaodong; Patacchini, Eleonora; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We analyze delinquent networks of adolescents in the United States. We develop a dynamic network formation model showing who the key player is, i.e. the criminal who once removed generates the highest possible reduction in aggregate crime level. We then structurally estimate our model using data on criminal behaviors of adolescents in the United States (AddHealth data). Compared to other criminals, key players are more likely to be a male, have less educated parents, are less attached to religion and feel socially more excluded. We also find that, even though some criminals are not very active in criminal activities, they can be key players because they have a crucial position in the network in terms of betweenness centrality. |
| Keywords: | Bonacich centrality; crime policies; dynamic network formation |
| JEL: | A14 D85 K42 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8772&r=ure |
| By: | Börjesson, Maria (KTH); Eliasson, Jonas (KTH) |
| Abstract: | We provide a synthesis of results and insights from the Swedish Value of Time study, with focus on what is relevant for transport appraisal and understanding travel behaviour. We summarize recent econometric advances, and show how these enable a better understanding and identification of the value of time distribution. The influence of the sign and size of changes is estimated and discussed, including the problems of loss aversion and the value of small time savings. Further, we show how the value of time depends on trip and traveller characteristics, discuss in what dimensions the value of time should be differentiated in appraisal, and provide recommended values for use in applied transport appraisal. |
| Keywords: | Value of time; Appraisal; Cost-benefit analysis; Travel behaviour; Weighted cost-benefit analysis |
| JEL: | C25 D61 J22 R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2012–03–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2012_008&r=ure |