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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Ryan M. Gallagher; Haydar Kurban; Joseph J. Persky |
| Abstract: | Efforts to estimate the degree to which local property taxes are capitalized into house values are complicated by any spurious correlation between property taxes and unobserved public services. One public service of particular interest is the provision of local public schools. Not only do public schools bulk large in the local property tax bill, but the inherent difficulty in measuring school quality has potentially undermined earlier attempts at achieving unbiased estimates of property tax capitalization. This particular problem has been of special concern since Oates’ (1969) seminal paper. We sidestep the problem of omitted or misspecified measures of school quality by focusing on a segment of the housing market that likely places little-to-no value on school quality: small homes. Because few households residing in small homes have public school children, we anticipate that variations in their value does not account for differentials in public school quality. Using restricted-access microdata provided by the U.S. Census, and a quasi- experimental identification strategy, we estimate that local property taxes are nearly fully capitalized into the prices of small homes. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-04&r=ure |
| By: | Chao Li (University of Waikato); John Gibson (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | The large literature on regional inequality in China is hampered by incomplete evidence on price dispersion across space, making it hard to distinguish real and nominal inequality. The two main methods used to calculate spatial deflators have been to price a national basket of goods and services across China’s different regions or else to estimate a food Engel curve and define the deflator as that needed for nominally similar households to have the same food budget shares in all regions. Neither approach is convincing with the data available in China. Moreover, a focus on tradable goods like food may be misplaced because of the emerging literature on the rapid convergence of traded goods prices within China that contrasts with earlier claims of fragmented internal markets. In a setting where traded goods prices converge rapidly, the main source of price dispersion across space should come from non-traded items, and especially from housing given the fixity of land. In this paper we use newly available data on dwelling sales in urban China to develop spatially-disaggregated indices of house prices, which are then used as spatial deflators for both provinces and core urban districts. These new deflators complement existing approaches that have relied more on traded goods prices, and are used to re-examine the evidence on the level of regional inequality. Around one-quarter of the apparent spatial inequality disappears once account is taken of cost-of-living differences. |
| Keywords: | housing; inequality; prices; spatial; China |
| JEL: | E31 O15 R31 |
| Date: | 2013–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:13/06&r=ure |
| By: | Honglin Wang (Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research); Chu Zhang (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research); Weihang Dai (The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the interaction between housing prices and housing rentals. Standard economic models treat housing prices as the present discounted value of future rentals with the latter treated as exogenous. Casual observation, however, suggests that changes in rental prices often follow housing price changes. Economic theory also supports the view that rental prices may not be exogenous. Extending the user-cost model of house price determination, we propose that expected returns on alternative investments contribute positively to the rental adjustment process. We estimate an empirical model for Hong Kong house prices and show that a 1% change in the gap between rental yields and equilibrium whole economy capital returns, the return gap, implies a 0.30% change in real rents. One policy implication is that price changes in the housing market can impact the rental adjustment process by changing the return gap. Consequently, variation in the price-to-rent ratio, which is often used to measure the divergence of housing prices from their equilibrium level can underestimate the size of any housing market 'bubble'. |
| Keywords: | Rental Adjustment, Residential Property Market, Price-To-Rent Ratio |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hkm:wpaper:012013&r=ure |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Robert D. Buschman (Fiscal Research Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); David L. Sjoquist (Department of Economics, Georgia State University) |
| Keywords: | property tax, state and local finance, assessment, tax base elasticity |
| JEL: | H2 H7 R3 R5 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1308&r=ure |
| By: | Riccardo Crescenzi; Carlo Pietrobelli & Roberta Rabellotti |
| Abstract: | "This paper investigates the geography of multinational corporations’ investments in the EU regions. The ‘traditional’ sources of location advantages (i.e. agglomeration economies, market access and labour market conditions) are considered together with innovation and socio-institutional drivers of investments, captured by means of regional social filter conditions. The introduction of a wider set of attraction factors makes is possible to empirically assess the different role played by such advantages in the location decision of investments at different stages of the value chain and disentangle the differential role of national vs. local and regional factors. The empirical analysis covers the EU-25 regions and suggests that regional-socio economic conditions are crucially important for an understanding of the location investment decisions in the most sophisticated knowledge-intensive stages of the value chain."</HEAD |
| Keywords: | regions |
| Date: | 2012–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:leqsxx:p0053&r=ure |
| By: | Diana Gutiérrez Posada; Fernando Rubiera Morollón; Ana Viñuela Jimémez (Regional Economics Laboratory (REGIOlab), University of Oviedo) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this work is to study employment growth and its determinants in Spain at a high degree of spatial disaggregation. The impossibility of accessing data on GDP at local scale makes this a particularly interesting issue, as employment growth can be used as a proxy of local economic growth and can therefore be expected to provide some insights into the factors determining local economic development. Using the 2001 Census database, we have information on several economic variables at local level (municipalities) which we then aggregate into Local Labour Market Areas (LLMs), as we believe these functional regions may be the ideal level of disaggregation to study employment or economic growth. Based on the ideas of New Economic Geography (NEG), we first analyze the influence of size and geographical position of the LLM on employment growth. As well as considering the Euclidean distance from the LLM to the main metropolitan areas we also use a novel approach based on the notion of incremental distances. Once the importance of the NEG approach is confirmed, we also examine the traditional determinants of economic growth used in macroeconomic studies, but in this occasion applied at local level, such as education, diversification and sectoral structure. Finally, to confirm the relevance of location, spatial auto-regressive models are estimated. Our results show that employment growth is mainly driven by geo-economic variables such as size and distance instead of the economic policy variables in the hands of the central or regional governments. |
| Keywords: | local employment growth, local labour markets, NEG, incremental distances, local and regional policies, Spain |
| JEL: | R1 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edg:irenen:0005&r=ure |
| By: | Julia Schwenkenberg; James VanderHoff |
| Abstract: | The reasons for charter school failure may determine if charter school competition improves public education. We estimate survival regressions to assess the effects of various factors on the probability of school failure. We find that students’ test scores are the most important determinant of survival: a one standard deviation increase reduces the probability of failure by at least 72%. Higher expenditures on facilities and a longer waitlist result in smaller but significant reductions in the probability of failure. Factors like administrative and class room expenditures, total enrollment, and student demographics do not have significant effects on school survival. |
| Keywords: | Charter schools, Education policy, School choice, Charter school failure |
| JEL: | I21 H75 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:run:wpaper:2013-002&r=ure |
| By: | Tomás Rau; Loreto Reyes; Sergio S. Urzúa |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of early lead exposure on academic achievement and adult earnings. We analyze longitudinal information from individuals attending primary and secondary schools in the city of Arica (in northern Chile). Between 1984 and 1989, Arica received more than 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals containing high concentrations of lead. Initially, the chemical waste was located several kilometers from the city. However, Arica's rapid expansion, which included the construction of housing projects just meters away from the waste deposit, put a large number of families at risk. Our data include information on residential proximity to the polluted area, levels of lead exposure, comprehensive demographic information, nationally representative academic test scores and administrative data on adult earnings. We document a strong relationship between blood lead levels and student academic performance. We find that an increase of one microgram of lead per deciliter of blood reduces math and language scores by 0.15 and 0.21 standard deviations, respectively. For earnings, we estimate that for each extra microgram of lead, monthly earnings decrease by CLP 11,458 (or USD 22.92). This translates into a reduction of USD 6,000 in lifetime earnings per microgram of lead per deciliter of blood. |
| JEL: | I15 I18 I25 J17 O1 Q5 Q51 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18915&r=ure |
| By: | Tony Champion; Mike Coombes; Ian Gordon |
| Abstract: | In the urban resurgence accompanying the growth of the knowledge economy, second-order cities appear to be losing out to the principal city, especially where the latter is much larger and benefits from substantially greater agglomeration economies. The view that any city can make itself attractive to creative talent seems at odds with the idea of a country having just one 'escalator region' where the rate of career progression is much faster, especially for in-migrants. This paper takes the case of England, with its highly primate city-size distribution, and tests how its second- order cities (in size order, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield, Liverpool, Nottingham and Leicester) compare with London as human- capital escalators. The analysis is based on the ONS Longitudinal Study of linked census records, primarily for 1991-2001, and uses one key indicator of upward social mobility, the transition from White Collar Non-core to White Collar Core. For non- migrants, the transition rates for all the second-order cities are found to fall well short of London's. In only one case - Manchester - is the rate significantly higher than the average for other areas outside the Greater South East (GSE) and its performance is matched by the non-London part of the GSE. Those moving to the second-order cities during the decade experienced much stronger upward social mobility than their non-migrants. This 'migrant premium' was generally similar to that for London, suggesting that it results from people moving only after they have secured a better job. If so, second-order cities cannot rely on the speculative migration of talented people but need suitable jobs ready for them to access. |
| Keywords: | human-capital escalator, second-order cities, England, ONS Longitudinal Study, career progression, city region |
| JEL: | J24 J61 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0132&r=ure |
| By: | Ing-Haw Cheng; Sahil Raina; Wei Xiong |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether mid-level managers in securitized finance were aware of the housing bubble and a looming crisis in 2004-2006 using their personal home transaction data. To the extent that the practice of securitization may have led to lax screening of subprime borrowers, we find that the average person in our sample did not expect it to lead to problems in the wider housing market. Certain groups of securitization agents were particularly aggressive in increasing their exposure to housing during this period, suggesting the need to expand the incentives-based view of the crisis to incorporate a role for beliefs. |
| JEL: | G01 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18904&r=ure |
| By: | Christian Helmers; Henry Overman |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of the establishment of a GBP 380 million basic scientific research facility in the UK on the geographical distribution of related research. We investigate whether the siting of the Diamond Light Source, a 3rd generation synchrotron light source, in Oxfordshire induced a clustering of related research in its geographic proximity. To account for the potentially endogenous location choice of the synchrotron, we exploit the availability of a `runner-up' site near Manchester. We use both academic publications and patent data to trace the geographical distribution of related knowledge and innovation. Our results suggest that the siting of the synchrotron in Oxfordshire created a highly localized cluster of related scientific research. |
| Keywords: | Synchrotron, location, innovation, patents |
| JEL: | R12 R58 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0131&r=ure |
| By: | Atalay, Kadir; Whelan, Stephen; Yates, Judith |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades a number of countries have experienced an increase in house prices at the same time that aggregate consumption has been observed to increase. Alternative hypotheses have been put forward to explain this pattern. In this paper we test these hypotheses by using repeated Household Expenditure Surveys from Canada and Australia to identify the transmission mechanism that links consumption and household wealth. The empirical analysis suggests that neither a direct wealth effect nor a common causal factor is a likely explanation for the observed correlation between wealth and consumption. Rather, indirect factors such as relaxation of credit constraints are more likely explanations. |
| Keywords: | common causality; collateral effects; wealth effects; household consumption; House prices |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:syd:wpaper:2123/8975&r=ure |
| By: | Thomas J. Miceli (University of Connecticut); Katherine A. Pancak (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | A handful of economically distressed cities and counties are considering using their power of eminent domain to write down the principal of underwater mortgage loans. Analogous to the condemnation of tangible real estate for public use, the city would “take” intangible mortgage loans from the lenders or investors holding the loans. According to the proposed idea, the underwater mortgage loans would be acquired for less than their stated face value, and then written down, refinanced, and sold to investors. This article reviews the legal basis and economic impact of such government forced write-down and refinancing. We develop a model of negative equity mortgage default both with and without government takings, to determine if the use of eminent domain is socially desirable from a policy perspective. We find a trade-off between the immediate benefits of avoiding current mortgage defaults and longer term costs of increased interest rates. The weighting of this trade-off is impacted by the determination of just compensation. |
| Keywords: | Default, eminent domain, mortgages |
| JEL: | K11 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2013-05&r=ure |
| By: | Schneider, Robert J.; Henry, Todd; Mitman, Meghan F.; Stonehill, Laura; Koehler, Jesse |
| Abstract: | The San Francisco pedestrian volume modeling process refined the methodology used to develop previous intersection-based models and incorporated variables that were tailored to estimate walking activity in the local urban context. The methodology included two main steps. First, manual and automated pedestrian counts were taken at a sample of 50 study intersections with a variety of characteristics. A series of factor adjustments were applied to produce an annual pedestrian crossing estimate at each intersection. Second, log-linear regression modeling was used to identify statistically-significant relationships between the annual pedestrian volume estimate and land use, transportation system, local environment, and socioeconomic characteristics near each intersection. Twelve alternative models were considered, and the preferred model had a good overall fit (adjusted-R 2= 0.804). As identified in other communities, pedestrian volumes were positively associated with the number of households and the number of jobs near each intersection. Uniquely, this San Francisco model also found significantly higher pedestrian volumes at intersections in high-activity zones with metered on-street parking, in areas with fewer hills, near university campuses, and controlled by traffic signals. The model was based on a relatively small sample of intersections, so the number of significant factors was limited to six. Results are being used by public agencies in San Francisco to better understand pedestrian crossing risk and to inform citywide pedestrian safety policy and investment. |
| Keywords: | City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning, Transportation and Highway Engineering |
| Date: | 2013–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt8cs2g40c&r=ure |
| By: | Umit G. Gurun; Gregor Matvos; Amit Seru |
| Abstract: | We use a unique dataset that combines information on advertising by subprime lenders and mortgages originated by them from 2002 to 2007 to study the relationship between advertising and the nature of mortgages obtained by consumers. We exploit the richness of our data and measure the relative expensiveness of a given mortgage as the excess rate of a mortgage after accounting for a broad set of borrower, contract, and regional characteristics associated with a given mortgage--less expensive mortgages, all else equal, are better products from the perspective of the consumer. We find a strong positive relationship between the intensity of local advertising and the expensiveness of mortgages extended by lenders within a given region, with the relationship strongest for advertising through newspapers, the most heavily used channel for local advertising of mortgages. This pattern survives even after conditioning for a rich set of borrower, loan and region characteristics and exploiting differences in advertising within a given lender. Advertisers lend to consumers who, all else equal, default less, making it unlikely that our results are driven by unobservable borrower quality. We also exploit variation in mortgage advertising induced by the entry of Craigslist across different regions to demonstrate that the relation between advertising and expensiveness of mortgages is not likely to be spurious. We corroborate that advertising is most effective when targeted at groups that might be less informed about mortgages, such as the poor, the less educated and minorities. These findings are inconsistent with the “informative view” under which advertising allows consumers to find cheaper products, and instead support the “persuasive view” that advertising in the subprime mortgage market was used to steer consumers into expensive choices. |
| JEL: | E65 G18 G21 L85 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18910&r=ure |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg; Nils Bruzelius; Bert van Wee |
| Abstract: | Because of the prominent position of urban rail in reducing urban transport-related problems, such as congestion and air pollution, insights into the costs of possible new urban rail projects is very relevant for those involved with cost estimations, policy makers, cost-benefit analysts, and other target groups. Knowledge of the differences in costs per kilometre, including explanations of differences and their breakdowns is currently lacking in the literature. This paper aims to provide a first stage insight into how cost per kilometre varies across urban rail projects. The methodology applied is a simple cost comparison across projects where the data collected are comparable. We conclude that capital costs per route-kilometre of urban rail vary highly between projects. Looking at European projects and excluding outliers, the total capital costs per route-kilometre (including stations and rolling stock) lie mainly between US$50-100 million (2002 prices). Including US projects, the range is US$50-150 million. The main reasons for the high variation in the route-kilometre costs are differences between projects as regards the ratio of underground to above-ground construction, ground conditions, station spacing, type of rolling stock, environmental and safety constraints and labour costs. We warn, however, that the observations used to reach the conclusions are too few to obtain results with statistical significance. Our results must therefore be seen as a first step towards collecting more data so that a more succinct statistical analysis can be conducted. Another conclusion is therefore that this area has future research potential. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.6569&r=ure |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Peng, Shin-Kun; Wang, Ping |
| Abstract: | This paper demonstrates that a pollution tax with a fixed cost component may lead, by itself, to stratification between clean and dirty firms without heterogeneous preferences or increasing returns. We construct a simple model with two locations and two industries (clean and dirty) where pollution is a by-product of dirty good manufacturing. Under proper assumptions, a completely stratified configuration with all dirty firms clustering in one city emerges as the only equilibrium outcome when there is a fixed cost component of the pollution tax. Moreover, a stratified Pareto optimum can never be supported by a competitive spatial equilibrium with a linear pollution tax that encompasses Pigouvian taxation as a special case. To support such a stratified Pareto optimum, however, an effective but unconventional policy prescription is to redistribute the pollution tax revenue from the dirty to the clean city residents. |
| Keywords: | Pollution Tax; Agglomeration of Polluting Producers; Endogenous Stratification |
| JEL: | D62 H23 R13 |
| Date: | 2013–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45520&r=ure |
| By: | Alessandra Colombelli; Francesco Quatraro |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between the creation of new firms and the properties of the local knowledge bases, like coherence, cognitive distance and variety. By combining the literature on the knowledge spillovers of entrepreneurship and that on the recombinant knowledge approach, we posit that locally available knowledge matters to the entrepreneurial process, but the type of knowledge underlying theses dynamics deserve to be analyzed. The analysis is carried out on 104 Italian NUTS 3 regions observed over the time span 1995-2011. The results confirm that local knowledge is important, and suggest that the creation of new firms in Italy is associated to the exploitation of well established technological trajectories grounded on competences accumulated over time, rather than to the commercialization of brand new knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Coherence, Variety, Cognitive Distance, Italy, Knowledge-Spillovers Theory of Entrepreneurship, New Firms, Recombinant Knowledge |
| JEL: | L26 M13 R11 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1303&r=ure |
| By: | Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to build a stronger evidence base on the role of faith-inspired and private secular schools in sub-Saharan Africa using nationally representative household surveys as well as qualitative data. Six main findings emerge from the study: (1) Across a sample of 16 countries, the average market share for faith-inspired schools is at 10-15 percent, and the market share for private secular schools is of a similar order of magnitude; (2) On average faith-inspired schools do not reach the poor more than other groups; they also do not reach the poor more than public schools, but they do reach the poor significantly more than private secular schools; (3) The cost of faith-inspired schools for households is higher than that of public schools, possibly because of a lack of access to public funding, but lower than that of private secular schools; (4) Faith-inspired and private secular schools have higher satisfaction rates among parents than public schools; (5) Parents using faith-inspired schools place a stronger emphasis on religious education and moral values; and (6) Students in faith-inspired and private schools perform better than those in public schools, but this may be due in part to self-selection. |
| Keywords: | Education; Private Schools; Faith; Development; Poverty; Satisfaction; Cost |
| JEL: | I25 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45363&r=ure |
| By: | Bertacchini Enrico; Dalle Nogare Chiara (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Cultural policy often implies the transfer of public resources to private cultura l institutions. In this contribution we focus on the determinants of a government’s choice between cultural transfers and in-house cultural production. We argue that in the cultural field transfers may be seen as a proxy for the value of outsourced services, and we make reference to the empirical literature on outsourcing of local public services. We consider Italian cities’ cultural policies in the1998-2008 period, a time when overall cultural expenditure shrank while cultural transfers increased. Using dynamic panel data analysis and controlling for specific characteristics of each city, we find that outsourcing of cultural services is negatively affected by cultural assets specificity and is more likely tooccur in cities subject to fiscal stress. The results also highlight that the timing of elections affects the transfer of public resources to private cultural institutions |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201312&r=ure |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Keywords: | property tax, state and local finance, assessment, tax base elasticity |
| JEL: | H2 H7 R3 R5 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1307&r=ure |
| By: | Isabel Tecu |
| Abstract: | What explains the location of industrial innovation? Economists have traditionally attempted to answer this question by studying firm-external knowledge spillovers. This paper shows that firm-internal linkages between production and R&D play an equally important role. I estimate an R&D location choice model that predicts patents by a firm in a location from R&D productivity and costs. Focusing on large R&D-performing firms in the chemical industry, an average-sized plant raises the firm’s R&D productivity in the metropolitan area by about 2.5 times. The elasticity of R&D productivity with respect to the firm’s production workers is almost as large as the elasticity with respect to total patents in the MSA, while proximity to academic R&D has no significant effect on R&D productivity in this sample. Other manufacturing industries exhibit similar results. My results cast doubt on the frequently-held view that a country can divest itself of manufacturing and specialize in innovation alone. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-09&r=ure |
| By: | Carolina Castaldi; Koen Frenken; Bart Los |
| Abstract: | We investigate how variety affects the innovation output of a region. Borrowing arguments from theories of recombinant innovation, we expect that related variety will enhance innovation as related technologies are more easily recombined into a new technology. However, we also expect that unrelated variety enhances technological breakthroughs, since radical innovation often stems from connecting previously unrelated technologies opening up whole new functionalities and applications. Using patent data for US states in the period 1977-1999 and associated citation data, we find evidence for both hypotheses. Our study thus sheds a new and critical light on the related-variety hypothesis in economic geography. |
| Keywords: | recombinant innovation, regional innovation, superstar patents, technological variety, evolutionary economic geography |
| JEL: | O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1302&r=ure |
| By: | Gerardo Marletto |
| Abstract: | A socio-technical approach is used to show that the future of urban mobility will depend on the competition between coalitions of innovative actors who support alternative transport systems. The current positioning of these coalitions is mapped with reference to innovation and power. The supporting coalition of the ‘individual car’ system benefits from a dominant position on current alternatives, but faces external pressures for change. Three transition pathways to 2030 are considered - 1) ‘AUTO-city’, i.e. the reconfiguration of the ‘individual car’ supporting coalition through the stable integration of producers of batteries; 2) ‘ECO-city’, i.e. the empowering of local coalitions which integrate all non-car modes, and their diffusion from pioneering to laggard cities; 3) ‘ELECTRI-city’, i.e. the empowering of a new coalition centered on electric operators which establish a new ‘electric vehicles + smart grids’ system. The deployment of one or another transition pathway also depends on the ability of supporting coalitions to influence political institutions. Without a political action for the weakening of the dominant position of the ‘individual car’ system, the ‘AUTO-city’ transition pathway will prevail. To support the ‘ECO-city’ and the ‘ELECTRI-city’ transition pathways, a multilevel transport policy or a national/federal industrial policy is needed, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Urban mobility; socio-technical analysis; socio-technical transition; innovative actor; supporting coalition |
| JEL: | R40 L14 O18 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201306&r=ure |
| By: | Tripathi, Sabyasachi |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to analyze the recent past trends and patterns of urbanization, urban economic growth, and urban equity measured by urban poverty and inequality in India. In addition, it reviews the different urban development policies and programmes which are undertaken in different Plan Periods in India. The analysis shows that higher rate of urbanization is associated with higher economic growth, lower level of poverty and higher extent of inequality in urban India. Finally, the study suggests that Indian government needs to speed up the urbanization rate as it contributes higher share of national GDP by reducing urban poverty and inequality. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, Economic Growth, Inequality, Poverty, Urban India. |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45537&r=ure |
| By: | Ligthart, J.E.; Rider, M.; Wang, R. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Abstract This paper empirically investigates the effect of fiscal decentralization on public safety, which is widely taken as an important issue in evaluating the performance of public service. In addition, we provide evidence to the transmission channels of the decentralization effect. In a decentralized setting, the fiscal competition between jurisdictions motivates local governments to provide better crime control service, but as illustrated in this paper, the externality in the prevention of mobile crime can offset the beneficial effect of jurisdictional competition. Using panel data for the United States from 1990 to 2009, we find the fiscal decentralization generally lowers the crime rate, but the effect is smaller for mobile crime than immobile crime. The findings provide strong empirical support to our hypothesis and the underlying mechanism, and the results are robust to various fiscal decentralization measures and model specifications. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Decentralization;Crime rate;Mobility of Crime |
| JEL: | H54 H77 K42 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013021&r=ure |
| By: | Ludovica Gambaro; Kitty Stewart; Jane Waldfogel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how the quality of formal early childhood education and care is associated with children's background. By using different indicators of quality, the research also explored how the relationship varies depending on the way quality is measured. The analysis combines information from three administrative datasets - the Early Years Census, the Schools Census and the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) dataset on inspections (2010-11). The results suggest that children from disadvantaged background have access to better qualified staff. However, services catering for more disadvantaged children are more segregated and receive poorer quality ratings from Ofsted, the national inspectorate. |
| Keywords: | Early childhood, Pre-school, Child care, Quality, Disadvantaged families |
| JEL: | I24 I38 J13 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:casecase171&r=ure |
| By: | ADRIENNE M. LUCAS (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Primary school enrollments have increased rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, spurring concerns about low levels of learning. We analyze field experiments in Kenya and Uganda that assessed whether the Reading to Learn program, implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation in both countries, improved early-grade literacy as measured by common assessments. We find that Ugandan literacy (in Lango) increased by 0.2s. We find a smaller effect (0.08s) on a Kenyan literacy test in Swahili. We find no evidence that differential effects are explained by baseline differences in students or classrooms, or by implementation fidelity. We conclude that differences between countries can likely be attributed to differential effective exposure to the literacy treatment in the tested languages. Students in Kenya were tested in Swahili, which is not necessarily the primary language of instruction, despite official policy. |
| Keywords: | education, literacy, teacher training, Kenya, Uganda, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | I2 O15 H52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:13-03.&r=ure |
| By: | Newman, John L.; Azevedo, Joao Pedro |
| Abstract: | Reaching agreement on a reasonable performance target is a challenge, with costs associated with getting it wrong. Attention in the literature has focused on the potential negative effects of gaming or of creaming. However, even if there is no gaming or creaming taking place, there can still be costs associated with setting a level of the performance target that is either too low or too high. On the one hand, if the negotiated performance target is too low, there is a strong risk that the target would be met without any change in behavior or performance from what would have been realized without a performance management system. In that case, there would be no benefit -- only the cost of covering the administrative costs associated with developing the monitoring and management systems. On the other hand, if the negotiated performance target is too high, there could also be significant costs. The exact nature of the costs depends on which one of two unattractive options the principal chooses to follow once it becomes apparent that the performance targets were set unrealistically high. If the principal chooses simply to waive any possible repercussions for the agents for not meeting the performance targets, this can undermine the credibility of the system. If the principal insists on holding agents to meeting the performance targets -- no matter how unrealistic they were -- this can breed resentment and adversely affect future productivity. This paper considers some approaches to target setting that have been used in the literature and proposes an approach based on the use of quantile regressions to construct a Characteristic Adjusted Performance distribution of performance to guide the selection of targets. The paper then presents two concrete examples of applications of this approach related to the setting of targets on School Test Scores and Improvement in Homicide rates in Police Districts in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Tertiary Education,Teaching and Learning,Educational Sciences,Education For All |
| Date: | 2013–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6385&r=ure |
| By: | Berardi, N. |
| Abstract: | We develop a theoretical framework that considers the role played by moral hazard and the diversity of networks and cultures in the choice of hiring channel. In favoritism contexts social networks, and particularly strong ties, are adopted as hiring channels for unskilled jobs and result in wage penalties, while otherwise the opposite happens. We estimate an endogenous switching model for the case of Senegal's manufacturing formal sector and find, consistently with our theoretical predictions in case of favoritism, that informal hiring channels are preferred to fill unskilled vacancies and are associated with a wage penalty, especially when ties are stronger. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, Hiring channel, Wage differential. |
| JEL: | O12 J31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:429&r=ure |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg; Mette K. Skamris Holm; S{\o}ren L. Buhl |
| Abstract: | This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of cost escalation in transportation infrastructure projects. Based on a sample of 258 transportation infrastructure projects worth US$90 billion and representing different project types, geographical regions, and historical periods, it is found with overwhelming statistical significance that the cost estimates used to decide whether such projects should be built are highly and systematically misleading. Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying. The policy implications are clear: legislators, administrators, investors, media representatives, and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analyses produced by project promoters and their analysts. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.6604&r=ure |
| By: | Ludovica Gambaro; Kitty Stewart; Jane Waldfogel |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticab:32&r=ure |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg; Mette Skamris Holm; S{\o}ren L. Buhl |
| Abstract: | This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of traffic forecasts in transportation infrastructure projects. The sample used is the largest of its kind, covering 210 projects in 14 nations worth US$59 billion. The study shows with very high statistical significance that forecasters generally do a poor job of estimating the demand for transportation infrastructure projects. The result is substantial downside financial and economic risks. Such risks are typically ignored or downplayed by planners and decision makers, to the detriment of social and economic welfare. For nine out of ten rail projects passenger forecasts are overestimated; average overestimation is 106 percent. This results in large benefit shortfalls for rail projects. For half of all road projects the difference between actual and forecasted traffic is more than plus/minus 20 percent. Forecasts have not become more accurate over the 30-year period studied. If techniques and skills for arriving at accurate demand forecasts have improved over time, as often claimed by forecasters, this does not show in the data. The causes of inaccuracy in forecasts are different for rail and road projects, with political causes playing a larger role for rail than for road. The cure is transparency, accountability, and new forecasting methods. The challenge is to change the governance structures for forecasting and project development. The article shows how planners may help achieve this. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.6654&r=ure |