|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Antonio Accetturo (Bank of Italy); Francesco Manaresi (Bank of Italy); Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy); Elisabetta Olivieri (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of immigration on the residential market within urban areas. We develop a spatial equilibrium model that shows how the effect of an immigrant inflow in a district affects local housing prices through changes in how natives perceive the quality of their local amenities and how this influences their mobility. Predictions of the model are tested using a novel dataset on housing prices and population variables at the district level for a sample of 20 large Italian cities. To address endogeneity problems we adopt an instrumental variable strategy which uses historical enclaves of immigrants across districts to predict current settlements. We find that immigration raises average housing prices at the city level; however it reduces price growth in a district affected by an inflow vis-Ã -vis the rest of the city. This pattern is driven by the natives’ flight from immigrant-dense districts towards other areas of the city. These findings are consistent with native preferences to live in predominantly native areas. |
| Keywords: | migration, housing, spatial segregation |
| JEL: | R23 J15 R21 F22 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_866_12&r=ure |
| By: | Lerbs, Oliver W. |
| Abstract: | This paper employs panel data on 413 German counties and cities from 2004 to 2009 to investigate the supply of new single-family housing in local housing markets. New local housing supply is measured by the annual number of construction permits in relation to the existing single-family housing stock. This supply indicator is econometrically related to existing home prices and new housing development costs, which include the costs of housing construction and vacant land in a given location. The results suggest that both higher prices for existing homes and recent increases in development costs are positively associated with local single-family home permit rates. Instead, higher levels of development costs turn out to dampen construction activity. The average local price elasticity of new single-family home supply is considerably less than one, with surprising differences across the urban hierarchy. -- |
| Keywords: | new housing supply,local housing markets,panel data |
| JEL: | R12 R31 C31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cawmdp:57&r=ure |
| By: | Angrist, Joshua (MIT); Pathak, Parag A. (MIT); Walters, Christopher R. (MIT) |
| Abstract: | Estimates using admissions lotteries suggest that urban charter schools boost student achievement, while charter schools in other settings do not. Using the largest available sample of lotteried applicants to charter schools, we explore student-level and school-level explanations for this difference in Massachusetts. In an econometric framework that isolates sources of charter effect heterogeneity, we show that urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond that of urban public school students, while non-urban charters reduce achievement from a higher baseline. Student demographics explain some of these gains since urban charters are most effective for non-whites and low-baseline achievers. At the same time, non-urban charter schools are uniformly ineffective. Our estimates also reveal important school-level heterogeneity within the urban charter sample. A non-lottery analysis suggests that urban charters with binding, well-documented admissions lotteries generate larger score gains than under-subscribed urban charter schools with poor lottery records. Finally, we link charter impacts to school characteristics such as peer composition, length of school day, and school philosophy. The relative effectiveness of urban lottery-sample charters is accounted for by these schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to urban education. |
| Keywords: | human capital, charter schools, achievement |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6525&r=ure |
| By: | Patrick Bayer; Marcus D. Casey; Fernando Ferreira; Robert McMillan |
| Abstract: | This paper sets out a new research design to test for price discrimination by sellers in the housing market. The design controls carefully for unobserved differences in the quality of neighborhoods and homes purchased by buyers of each race, using novel panel data from over two million repeat-sales housing transactions in four metropolitan areas. The results indicate that black and Hispanic homebuyers pay premiums of around 3 percent on average across the four cities – differences that are not explained by variation in buyer income, wealth or access to credit. The estimated premiums do not vary significantly with the racial composition of the neighborhood or, most strikingly, the race of the seller. This latter result rules out racial prejudice or animosity on the part of sellers as the primary explanation for the estimated premiums. |
| Keywords: | Price Discrimination, Housing Market, Home Sales, Discrimination, Racial Differences, Racial Animosity, Prejudice |
| JEL: | H0 J15 K4 R2 R3 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duk:dukeec:12-10&r=ure |
| By: | Jesús Duarte; Carlos Gargiulo; Martín Moreno |
| Abstract: | This study explores the state of infrastructure in the region's primary education schools, using the SERCE database, and analyzes the connection between school infrastructure conditions and language and mathematics tests results for third and sixth grade students. The results of the analysis indicate that school infrastructure and the access to basic services (electricity, water, sewerage and telephone) in the region's schools are highly deficient; there exists a large disparity between countries as well as between private urban, public urban and public rural schools; and there are large gaps between schools with children from high income families and schools with children from low income families. The analysis on the relationship between school infrastructure and academic results in the SERCE tests indicate that the highest factors most significantly associated with learning outcomes are: the presence of spaces that support teaching (libraries, science and computer labs); the connection to electric and telephone utilities; access to potable water, drainage and bathrooms. This indicates that countries in the region must strengthen investment geared towards improving school infrastructure in order to close the gaps that negatively affect rural areas, public sector schools, and schools with students from low income families. Likewise, public policies must prioritize infrastructure areas that have an impact on learning. |
| Keywords: | Education :: Primary & Secondary Education, Education :: Educational Assessment, Learning Outcomes, Impact on Learning, and Educational Resources |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:67958&r=ure |
| By: | Modibo Sidibe (CREST) |
| Keywords: | heterogenous agents, inequalities, wealth distribution, housing |
| JEL: | E24 I30 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2012-08&r=ure |
| By: | Todd M. Sinai |
| Abstract: | This paper describes six stylized patterns among housing markets in the United States that potential explanations of the housing boom and bust should seek to explain. First, individual housing markets in the U.S. experienced considerable heterogeneity in the amplitudes of their cycles. Second, the areas with the biggest boom-bust cycles in the 2000s also had the largest boom-busts in the 1980s and 1990s, with a few telling exceptions. Third, the timing of the cycles differed across housing markets. Fourth, the largest booms and busts, and their timing, seem to be clustered geographically. Fifth, the cross sectional variance of annual house price changes rises in booms and declines in busts. Finally, these stylized facts are robust to controlling for housing demand fundamentals – namely, rents, incomes, or employment – although changes in fundamentals are correlated with changes in prices. |
| JEL: | G12 R12 R21 R3 Y1 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18059&r=ure |
| By: | Anthony Briant (SG-CIV - Secrétariat Général du Comité Interministériel des Villes - Ministère de la ville); Miren Lafourcade (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, ADIS - Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales - Département d'Economie - Université Paris XI - Paris Sud); Benoît Schmutz (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, ADIS - Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales - Département d'Economie - Université Paris XI - Paris Sud, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - INSEE - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique) |
| Abstract: | This paper providesempirical support to the intuitive statement that urban geography matters to the success or failure of place-based public policies, using the French enterprise zone program as a case study. According to the few existing evaluations, this program has only had a small positive average impact on firm and job creation rates. In addition, this impact was shown to be strongly heterogeneous across the treated neighborhoods may account for part of these results. We estimate a series of augmented difference-in-differences models in which we interact the treatment indicator with a series of original indicators of spatial isolation, wich account for severance, peripherality and disconnection to transportation networks within the urban area. Results indicate that isolation does matter to explain spatial differentials in job creation and firm settlement rates across enterprise zones: only accessible neighborhoods were able to draw benefits from tax breaks and social exemptions. moreover, whereas the program mostly worked through a displacement effect on pre-existing firms, we show that urban geography was a clear determinant of the decision to create new firms from scratch. |
| Keywords: | Enterprise Zones ; Spatial Isolation ; Transportation Accessibility ; Urban Severance |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00695225&r=ure |
| By: | Michael F. Lovenheim; C. Lockwood Reynolds |
| Abstract: | The higher education system in the United States is characterized by a large degree of quality heterogeneity, and there is a growing literature suggesting students attending higher quality universities have better educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper, we use NLSY97 data combined with the difference in the timing and strength of the housing boom across cities to examine how short-run home price growth affects the quality of postsecondary schools chosen by students. Our findings indicate a $10,000 increase in a family’s housing wealth in the four years prior to a student becoming of college-age increases the likelihood she attends a flagship public university relative to a non-flagship public university by 2.0 percent and decreases the relative probability of attending a community college by 1.6 percent. These effects are driven by relatively lower and middle-income families. We show that these changes are due to the effect of housing wealth on where students apply, not on whether they are admitted. We also find that short-run increases in home prices lead to increases in direct quality measures of the institutions students attend. Finally, for the lower-income sample, we find home price increases reduce student labor supply and that each $10,000 increase in home prices is associated with a 1.8% increase in the likelihood of completing college. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 J24 R31 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18075&r=ure |
| By: | Driouchi, Ahmed; Mertou, Amat |
| Abstract: | Abstract: The objective of this research is to investigate the situation of the poor in Morocco through assessing the implicit charges of informal housing transactions in different cities. A model allowing the calculation of the implicit interest rate from the traditional-mortgage transactions is applied. Data about traditional-mortgage housing transactions, duration, and rental values are collected from a sample of households in different cities. The results reveal that these transactions are costly although they involve small amounts of money. On average, a rate higher than 6% but lower than 50 % is implicitly implied in traditional-mortgage transactions. The overall results confirm that poor households are implicitly charged higher interest rates in their housing transactions in comparison with the explicit rates charged by formal credit markets, including microfinance. This implies that administrative and economic policies are to be further developed to ensure that poor households can easily access formal credit markets. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Implicit interest rate- Informal Traditional Housing- Poverty-Morocco |
| JEL: | D86 D72 R21 G21 |
| Date: | 2012–04–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38732&r=ure |
| By: | Valentin Bolotnyy |
| Abstract: | The U.S. mortgage crisis that began in 2007 generated questions about the role played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), in its causes. Some have claimed that the Affordable Housing Goals (AHGs), introduced by Congress through the GSE Act of 1992, and the resulting purchases of single-family mortgages the GSEs made to meet those goals, drove lending to high-risk borrowers. Using regression discontinuity analysis, I measure the effect of one of the goals, the Underserved Areas Goal (UAG), on the number of whole single-family mortgages purchased by the GSEs in targeted census tracts from 1996 to 2002. Focusing additionally on tracts that became UAG-eligible in 2005-2006, when the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began to determine eligibility using the 2000 Census, I measure the effect of the UAG on the GSEs' whole single-family mortgage purchases during peak years for the subprime mortgage market. Under the first approach, I estimate that the GSEs purchased 0 to 3 percent more goal-eligible mortgages than they would have without the UAG in place. Under the second approach, I estimate this effect to be 2.5 to 5 percent. The results suggest a small UAG effect and challenge the view that the goals caused the GSEs to supply substantially more credit to high-risk borrowers than they otherwise would have supplied. Although the goals may have spurred the GSEs to purchase more multi-family mortgages and REMICs than they otherwise would have, my analyses suggest that the GSEs' purchases of whole single-family mortgages to satisfy the goals did not drive the subprime lending boom of 2002-2006. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2012-25&r=ure |
| By: | Marina Murat; Davide Ferrari; Patrizio Frederic |
| Abstract: | Using data from PISA 2006 on 29 countries, this paper analyses immigrant school gaps (difference in scores between immigrants and natives) and focuses on tracking and comprehensive educational systems. Results show that the wider negative gaps are present where tracking is sharp and less frequently in countries with comprehensive schooling. In both cases, negative gaps are concentrated in continental Western Europe, where they are also often related to immigrants and natives attending different schools, or are significant within schools |
| Keywords: | Immigrant students, educational systems, PISA |
| JEL: | F22 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:080&r=ure |
| By: | Marie-Estelle Binet (University of Rennes 1 - CREM (UMR 6211 CNRS)); François Facchini (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, University of Paris 1) |
| Abstract: | This article tackles one central issue in the regional science literature: the persistence of regional disparities in unemployment within national economies. Our approach is original as Okun’s coefficients are estimated for each of the 22 administrative French regions over the period 1990–2008, taking into account cross-regional disparities in a panel data specification. Estimates show that the coefficients exhibit regional differences. Indeed, Okun’s law is confirmed in fourteen regions, although it does not hold in the other eight regions. Finally, region-specific factors that explain the results that are not significant are identified, and policies to reduce unemployment in French regions are examined. |
| Keywords: | Okun’s law, regional labour markets, panel data |
| JEL: | C23 O18 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201222&r=ure |
| By: | Hoffmann, Mathias; Krause, Michael U.; Laubach, Thomas |
| Abstract: | We provide an analysis that might help distinguish rationally justified movements in house prices from potentially non-rational movements, using a two-sector business cycle model, in which investment in housing is subject to collateral constraints. A large portion of the evolution of U.S. house prices during the past 20 years can be reproduced when expectations of future income growth as published in surveys are used as an input into the model. Changes in growth expectations translate into corresponding changes in house prices, since the value of housing must be linked to expected aggregate income. Only since about 2005 do actual and model-implied house prices clearly diverge, calling for explanations not based on economic fundamentals. -- |
| Keywords: | House prices,trend growth,Kalman filter,real-time data,borrowing constraints |
| JEL: | E13 E32 D83 O40 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:122012&r=ure |
| By: | Rink, Dieter; Haase, Annegret; Bernt, Matthias; Arndt, Thomas; Ludwig, Johanna |
| Abstract: | This report describes the process of shrinkage as it has occurred within the city of Halle. It examines the reasons, dynamics and patterns of change as well as the consequences for different fields of urban development and planning. The period covered in the report runs from the 1980s to the present day; in particular cases, longer or shorter time periods are considered. While Halle’s new part, Halle-Neustadt, saw a rapid growth of population during the 1960s and 1970s, the old city of Halle underwent population losses throughout the whole time of the GDR. During the 1980s, both parts (at that time two different cities in administrative terms) were stagnating, the old parts of the city suffered from decay. Since 1990, Halle (including Halle-Neustadt) has seen a continuous and rapid process of population loss that hit the city after the systemic change and German reunification. Today, Halle still represents a shrinking city and expects further population losses for the decades to come. The most visible sign of decline are housing vacancies in different parts of the city, even of renovated stock. At the same time, the city has to cope with the consequences of hitherto shrinkage processes. Although migration balances with the hinterland recently show, in contrast to former years, a slight plus for the city, Halle has not yet been able to stabilize its population. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzrep:022011&r=ure |
| By: | de Jaeger, Simon (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven); Eyckmans, Johan (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven) |
| Abstract: | Local policy makers in Flanders often claim that an important fraction of waste presented at their municipal recycling centres originates from nearby municipalities. If neighbouring municipalities charge significantly different prices at their recycling centres, residents indeed have an incentive to present their waste at the cheapest location. As the prices often do not reflect the true processing costs for the municipalities, waste imports are perceived as problematic by the local policy makers. In this paper we present a simple theoretical model of consumers’ demand for waste disposal facilities and test the predictions from the model using a set of spatial econometric tools. Our estimation results indicate that bulky household refuse quantities depend on the prices charged in neighbouring municipalities. For other waste fractions like demolition waste, garden waste, scrap metal and wood waste we find no proof of waste export. This is not surprising as we argue some waste fractions are more sensitive to spatial differences in prices than others. |
| Keywords: | waste tourism, municipal solid waste, recycling centre |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hub:wpecon:201221&r=ure |
| By: | R. Basile; Stefano Usai |
| Abstract: | Endogenous growth theory has deeply influenced regional growth analyses and inspired regional development policies. Evidence of lack of convergence, club convergence and spatial polarization of per worker income levels has led scholars to question the explanatory power of neoclassical exogenous growth models and to look at endogenous growth theories as proper frameworks to interpret regional development. In particular, those models, which emphasize the role of knowledge spillovers as driving forces for economic growth and identify a large set of self- reinforcing mechanisms that can potentially cause low-productivity traps, have become central in the scientific debate. Only during the last ten years, however, there have been some analytical attempts to regionalize endogenous growth theory. This paper provides a critical survey of the growing literature on regional extensions of endogenous growth analysis. The focus is on those theoretical and empirical studies which have tried to explain lack of regional convergence, multiple equilibria and spatial polarization. The paper also suggests some directions for future research in this field. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth; regional analysis |
| JEL: | R11 O4 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201211&r=ure |
| By: | Burde, Dana (New York University); Linden, Leigh L. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children's academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern Afghanistan. The program significantly increases enrollment and test scores among all children, eliminates the 21 percentage point gender disparity in enrollment, and dramatically reduces the disparity in test scores. The intervention increases formal school enrollment by 42 percentage points among all children and increases test scores by 0.51 standard deviations (1.2 standard deviations for children that enroll in school). While all students benefit, the effects accrue disproportionately to girls. Evidence suggests that the village-based schools provide a comparable education to traditional schools. Estimating the effects of distance on academic outcomes, children prove very sensitive: enrollment and test scores fall by 16 percentage points and 0.19 standard deviations per mile. Distance affects girls more than boys – girls' enrollment falls by 6 percentage points more per mile (19 percentage points total per mile) and their test scores fall by an additional 0.09 standard deviations (0.24 standard deviations total per mile). |
| Keywords: | Afghanistan, RCT, education, gender |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 O12 O22 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6531&r=ure |
| By: | Vittorio Peretti (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Roula Inglesi-Lotz (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the existence of spillovers from the housing sector onto consumption and the interest rate for South Africa using a time-varying vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model with stochastic volatility. In this regard, we estimate a three-variable TVP-VAR model comprising of real consumption growth rate, the nominal three-months Treasury bill rate and the growth rate of real house prices. The results suggest that, in general, consumption responded positively to a house price shock over the entire sample, with the effect being stronger post financial liberalization. On the other hand, a positive delayed response of nominal interest rate followed a house price shock, with the effect being weaker post financial liberalization until the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) moved to the official inflation-targeting regime. The effect of house prices on both consumption and interest rate was understandably weak during the financial crisis. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian Inference, Consumption, House Price, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Monetary Policy, Structural Vector Autoregression; Stochastic Volatility, Time-Varying Paremeter |
| JEL: | C11 C15 C32 E31 E32 E44 E52 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201216&r=ure |
| By: | Pauline Givord (CREST); Roland Rathelot (CREST); Patrick Sillard (INSEE) |
| Keywords: | enterprise zones, local employment, place-based policies, propensity-score matching, externalities |
| JEL: | C23 J23 R38 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-19&r=ure |
| By: | Nepelski, Daniel; De Prato, Giuditta |
| Abstract: | We apply network analysis to study the ICT R&D locations at the city level. We use a dataset on the location and R&D activity of over 3000 R&D centres belonging to 175 MNEs, located in over 1300 cities around the world. The results show that most of the cities have few R&D connections and are grouped into "cliques", linked through network hubs. Hence, not only is the R&D activity concentrated in space, but also the nexus of connections between locations is limited. Asian and Japanese cities are favoured as a source of R&D services, as compared to European or US cities. |
| Keywords: | Networks; innovation and R&D; globalization; R&D complexity; network |
| JEL: | M2 O32 M10 |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38796&r=ure |
| By: | de Jaeger, Simon (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven); Eyckmans, Johan (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), KULeuven); Van Parys, Stefan (Nationale Bank Van België, UGent); Verbeke, Tom (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), UGent) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we set up a two-stage theoretical model of consumers’ demand and municipalities’ pricing policy for residual municipal solid waste collection and processing. Local policy makers set the local residual municipal solid waste price in order to maximize welfare in the municipality net of waste disposal costs, potential perks and political costs associated with high waste tax rates. As consumers might use prices in neighboring municipalities as a yardstick when judging the local politicians performance, our theoretical model includes the possibility for municipalities to take account of other municipalities’ waste prices. Using spatial econometric estimation methods to test the predictions of our model on Flemish data shows that local jurisdictions do indeed interact strategically with each other when deciding on waste prices. As expected this interaction is stronger when municipalities are members of the same municipal waste joint venture |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hub:wpecon:201220&r=ure |
| By: | Alessio Ciarlone (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I investigate the characteristics of house price dynamics for a sample of 16 emerging economies from Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, over the period 1995-2011. Linking housing valuations to a set of conventional fundamental determinants – relative to both the supply and the demand side of the market, institutional factors and other asset prices – and modeling short-term price dynamics – which reflect gradual adjustment to underlying fundamentals – I draw conclusions about the existence, and the basic nature, of house price overvaluation (undervaluation). Overall, I find that actual house prices in the sample of emerging economies are not overly disconnected from fundamentals. Rather, they tend to reflect a somewhat slow adjustment to shocks to the latter. Moreover, the evidence that housing valuations may be driven by overly optimistic (or pessimistic) expectations is in general weak, even if this feature may have played a more prominent role up to the end of 2007, before the onset of the recent global real and financial crisis. |
| Keywords: | house prices, housing market, emerging markets, panel co-integration, asset prices |
| JEL: | E20 E21 E32 E44 C23 D12 P25 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_863_12&r=ure |
| By: | Otto, Alkis Henri; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the effect of immigration on election outcomes. Our analysis makes use of data on city districts in Hamburg, Germany, during a period of substantial inflows of immigrants and asylum seekers. We find significant and robust effects for changes in foreigner shares on the electoral success of parties that built up a distinctive reputation in immigration politics. In particular, our fixed-effects estimates indicate a positive effect for xenophobic, extreme right-wing parties and an adverse effect for the Green party that actively campaigned for liberal immigration policies and minority rights. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that changes in local compositional amenities shape individual attitudes towards immigration. -- |
| Keywords: | immigration,elections,xenophobia |
| JEL: | D72 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:122&r=ure |
| By: | Hülsbeck, Marcel; Kitzinger, Elena N. |
| Abstract: | Similar to the creation and distribution of new knowledge through industrial R&D and university research, entrepreneurial activity tends to vary across regions. Therefore the regionalized production of new knowledge is a prerequisite of entrepreneurial innovation. Based on endogenous growth theory, in particular the so-called Griliches-Jaffe-Model of regional knowledge production, we investigate industrial and university characteristics as determinants of technologically oriented entrepreneurship. Using hand-collected data from multiple sources, our results clearly show that high technology entrepreneurship is highly dependent on regional knowledge production by industry and university, while medium technology entrepreneurship does largely not dependent on these factors. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:auguow:0311&r=ure |
| By: | Trude Lappegård, Randi Kjeldstad and Torbjørn Skarðhamar (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between the division of housework in couples and the local gender equality context. We use data from the Norwegian Generations and Gender survey 2007 combined with a range of macrolevel measures on gender equality in the municipality where the respondents live. Results show that in married and cohabiting couples, the division of housework is associated with local gender equality context. Irrespective of their individual characteristics, couples living in municipalities with high gender equality have more equal division of housework. The within country regional variation in women’s status and participation on various arenas as compared to men’s, seems to influence housework arrangements in the family. This corresponds to findings from previous studies comparing countries, hence indicating that several of the operating mechanisms are also present at a lower aggregate level. However, in contrast to cross-national comparisons, we find that individual characteristics are not associated differently with the division of housework according to regional gender context. This might be due to the fact that Norway is a relatively homogeneous and egalitarian country at both the regional and individual level. |
| Keywords: | division of housework; regional gender equality index; multilevel analysis; Norway |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:689&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew A. Cole (Department of Economics, University of Birmingham); Robert J R Elliott (University of Birmingham); Toshihiro Okubo (Keio University, Japan); Ying Zhou (Aston University, UK) |
| Abstract: | In order to gain a greater understanding of firms' 'environmental behaviour' this paper explores the factors that influence firms' emissions intensities and provides the first analysis of the determinants of firm level carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Focussing on Japan, the paper also examines whether firms' CO2 emissions are influenced by the emissions of neighbouring firms and other possible sources of spatial correlation. Results suggest that size, the capital-labour ratio, R&D expenditure, the extent of exports and concern for public profile are the key determinants of CO2 emissions. Local lobbying pressure, as captured by regional community characteristics, does not appear to play a role, however emissions are found to be spatially correlated. This raises implications for the manner in which the environmental performance of firms is modelled in future. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kei:dpaper:2012-003&r=ure |
| By: | PF Blaauw; WF Krugell |
| Abstract: | The South African labour market is characterised by sharp segmentation, high unemployment and apparently limited informal sector employment. Recent work has focussed on the importance of the quality of education while others have argued that the rigidity of the labour market constrains employment growth. This paper considers the spatial aspects of the day labour market and argues that the size and proximity of economic activity found in agglomerations ensure a thick labour market that allows for better matching between workers and jobs. The results indicate that the day labourers, who were hired by the same employer more often, receive higher earnings and the thicker metropolitan labour market allows workers to become more specialised and receive higher earnings. |
| Keywords: | Day labourers, Labour market, Agglomeration |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:282&r=ure |
| By: | Alex Kaufman |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a novel instrumental variables approach to quantify the effect that GSE purchase eligibility had on equilibrium mortgage loan terms in the period from 2003 to 2007. The technique is designed to eliminate sources of bias that may have affected previous studies. GSE eligibility appears to have lowered interest rates by about 10 basis points, encouraged fixed-rate loans over ARMs, and discouraged low-documentation and brokered loans. There is no measurable effect on loan performance or on the prevalence of certain types of "exotic" mortgages. The overall picture suggests that GSE purchases had only a modest impact on loan terms during this period. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2012-33&r=ure |
| By: | David Neumark; Matthew Thompson; Francesco Brindisi; Leslie Koyle; Clayton Reck |
| Abstract: | Policy researchers often have to estimate the future effect of imposing a policy in a particular location. There is often historical information on the effects of similar policies in other jurisdictions, but no information on the effects of the policy in the jurisdiction in question, and the policy may have specific features not reflected in the experiences of other areas. It is then necessary to combine the historical evidence from other locations with information and data specific to the jurisdiction in question. In this paper, we illustrate and use this approach in estimating the impact of a proposed living wage mandate for New York City. We explain how we combined elements of “ex ante” evaluations of living wage laws with before-and-after (longitudinal) estimates of the effects of living wage laws. We also incorporate detailed location-specific information on workers, families, and employers using administrative data and other new public data sources. |
| JEL: | J18 J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18055&r=ure |
| By: | Felbermayr, Gabriel; Jung, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | In New Trade Theory models, the larger region hosts an overproportionate share of producers. This Home Market Effect (HME) exacerbates regional income discrepancies caused by trade frictions or technology differences. With homogeneous firms, it requires inter-industry reallocations to emerge. We present a heterogeneous firms single-sector model with fixed market access costs, in which the HME arises exclusively from empirically more relevant intra-industry reallocations. It is magnified by lower trade costs or higher heterogeneity. In contrast to multi-industry models, a more pronounced HME leads to regional income convergence as adjustment of the firm size distribution counteracts the effects of firmentry. -- |
| Keywords: | Home Market Effect,Regional Inequality,Monopolistic Competition,Heterogeneous Firms,Economic Geography |
| JEL: | F12 R12 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:33&r=ure |
| By: | Kondo, Kazumine |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether credit associations put competitive pressure on regional banks in Japanese regional lending markets. It was found that credit associations pressure regional banks to set lower lending interest rates in regional markets. In addition, the competitive pressure from credit associations in a prefecture whose share of credit associations is more than 20% is much stronger than in a prefecture whose share of credit associations is less than 20%. In particular, regional banks in a prefecture whose share of credit associations is from 25% to 30% experience the strongest pressure. |
| Keywords: | regional lending markets; regional banks; credit associations; lending interest rates; competitive pressure |
| JEL: | G21 |
| Date: | 2012–05–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38769&r=ure |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Morne Oosthuizen; Carlene Van Der Westhuizen (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | One of the key interventions aimed at improving the welfare of South African households has been local government’s provision of a package of free basic services (FBS) to poor households. It is, however, not completely clear how different municipalities identify households which are eligible for FBS. Evidence suggests that many municipalities currently provide services to all households with a monthly income of less than R1500 per month. This “FBS poverty line” is, however, low in comparison with a number of unofficial poverty lines utilised by policymakers and researchers in South Africa. This paper considers the impact of increasing the value of the FBS line, both in terms of the additional share and number of households eligible for support as well as the additional financial cost. We find that urban municipalities will face the steepest increases in their FBS budgets with any potential increase in the FBS poverty line. |
| Keywords: | free basic services, poverty line, municipal services, South Africa |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:11142&r=ure |
| By: | Sylvie Démurger (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | Internal labour migration has become an important part of the process of China's industrialization and urbanisation in the 2000s. Using micro data for the year 2007, this chapter attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the motives of and the constraints to labour mobility in China. Drawing on various empirical investigations at the household level, it examines both the decision and the level of migration and provides a mapping of the main factors driving different types of labour mobility across space (by destination) and time (by duration). |
| Keywords: | rural-urban migration; destination; duration; migration networks; China |
| Date: | 2012–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00695632&r=ure |
| By: | Brown, W. Mark<br/> Newbold, Bruce |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the process by which migrants experience gains in earnings subsequent to migration and, in particular, the advantage that migrants obtain from moving to large, dynamic metropolitan labour markets, using Toronto as a benchmark. There are two potentially distinct patterns to gains in earnings associated with migration. The first is a step upwards in which workers realize immediate gains in earnings subsequent to migration. The second is accelerated gains in earnings subsequent to migration. Immediate gains are associated with obtaining a position in a more productive firm and/or a better match between worker skills and abilities and job tasks. Accelerated gains in earnings are associated processes that take time, such as learning or job switching as workers and firms seek out better matches. Evaluated here is the expectation that the economies of large metropolitan areas provide workers with an initial productive advantage stemming from a one-time improvement in worker productivity and/or a dynamic that accelerates gains in earnings over time through the potentially entwined processes of learning and matching. A variety of datasets and methodologies, including propensity score matching, are used to evaluate patterns of income gains associated with migration to Toronto. |
| Keywords: | Population and demography, Labour, Mobility and migration, Wages, salaries and other earnings |
| Date: | 2012–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp1e:2012023e&r=ure |
| By: | Eleonora Granziera; Sharon Kozocki |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether expectations that are not fully rational have the potential to explain the evolution of house prices and the price-to-rent ratio in the United States. First,a Lucas type asset-pricing model solved under rational expectations is used to derive a fundamental value for house prices and the price-rent ratio. Although the model can explain the sample average of the price-rent ratio, it does not generate the volatility and persistence observed in the data. Then, we consider an intrinsic bubble model and two models of extrapolative expectations developed by Lansing (2006, 2010) in applications to stock prices: one that features a constant extrapolation parameter and one in which the extrapolation coefficient depends on the dividend growth process. We show that these last two models are equally good at matching sample moments of the data. However, a counterfactual experiment shows that only the extrapolative expectation model with timevarying extrapolation coefficient is consistent with the run up in house prices observed over the 2000-2006 period and the subsequent sharp downturn. |
| Keywords: | Asset pricing; Domestic demand and components; Economic models |
| JEL: | E3 E65 R21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:12-12&r=ure |
| By: | Carlo Castellana |
| Abstract: | One of the main issues affecting the Italian NHS is the healthcare deficit: according to current agreements between the Italian State and its Regions, public funding of regional NHS is now limited to the amount of regional deficit and is subject to previous assessment of strict adherence to constraint on regional healthcare balance sheet. Many Regions with previously uncontrolled healthcare deficit have now to plan their "Piano di Rientro" (PdR) and submit it for the approval of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finances. Those Regions that will fail to comply to deficit constraints will suffer cuts on their public NHS financing. A smart Health Planning can make sure health spending is managed appropriately. Indeed a restructuring of the Italian healthcare system has recently been enforced in order to cope for the clumsy regional healthcare balance sheets. Half of total Italian healthcare expenditure is accounted by hospital services which therefore configure as one of the main restructuring targets. This paper provides a general framework for planning a re-engineering of a hospital network. This framework is made of economic, legal and healthcare constraints. We apply the general framework to the particular case of Puglia region and explore a set of re-engineered solutions which to different extent could help solve the difficult dilemma: cutting costs without worsening the delivery of public healthcare services. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1205.3519&r=ure |
| By: | Liu, Hong (Central University of Finance and Economics); Fang, Hai (University of Colorado Denver); Zhao, Zhong (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes urban–rural disparities of China's child health and nutritional status using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data from 1989 to 2006. We investigate degrees of health and nutritional disparities between urban and rural children in China as well as how such disparities have changed during the period 1989–2006. The results show that on average urban children have 0.29 higher height-for-age z-scores and 0.19 greater weight-for-age z-scores than rural children. Urban children are approximately 40% less likely to be stunted (OR = 0.62; P < 0.01) or underweight (OR = 0.62; P < 0.05) during the period 1989-2006. We also find that the urban–rural health and nutritional disparities have been declining significantly from 1989 to 2006. Both urban and rural children have increased consumption of high protein and fat foods from 1989 to 2006, but the urban-rural difference decreased over time. Moreover, the urban-rural gap in child preventive health care access was also reduced during this period. |
| Keywords: | urban-rural disparities, health and nutritional status, child, China |
| JEL: | I14 I15 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6528&r=ure |
| By: | Xavier d'Haultfoeuille (CREST); Roland Rathelot (CREST) |
| Keywords: | segregation, small units, partial identification |
| JEL: | C13 C14 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-18&r=ure |