|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Rafael González-Val (Universidad de Zaragoza & IEB) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the growth of American cities, understood as the growth of the population or of the per capita income, from 1990 to 2000. This empirical analysis uses data from all the cities (incorporated places) with more than 25,000 inhabitants in the year 2000 (1152 cities). The results show that while common convergence behaviour is observed in both population and per capita income growth, there are differences in the evolution of the distributions: the population distribution remains almost unchanged, while the per capita income distribution makes a great movement to the right. We use two different methodologies to test cross-sectional convergence across cities: linear growth models (allowing for spatial spillovers between locations) and spatial quantile regressions. We find evidence of significant spatial effects and non-linear behaviour. |
| Keywords: | City growth, linear model, spatial lag model, spatial error model, spatial quantile regression |
| JEL: | R00 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2014-17&r=ure |
| By: | André De Palma (ENS Cachan - École Normale Supérieure de Cachan - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Cachan); Alexandre Guimard (ENS Cachan - École Normale Supérieure de Cachan - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Cachan) |
| Abstract: | Past and current experiences can be studied in order to understand the main phenomena driving urbanization and thus to better anticipate the future challenges for cities. We distinguish between the main historical time periods of cities. Then, we discuss some regularities related to the internal structure and the spatial distribution of cities. We present some main demographic forecasts up until the end of the century, and highlight the major challenges for cities. We conclude with the need for Policymakers to take into account externalities (among regions and cities), and to define policy targets at the inter-city level. |
| Keywords: | urbanization, urban-growth, demography, forecasts, Zipf's law, externalities |
| Date: | 2014–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00969574&r=ure |
| By: | Mary Robertson (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of housing in households’ increasing financial activities. First, I build on quantitative work on the growth of housing related debt across Europe carried out under WP5 by presenting data on rates of homeownership, levels and types of mortgage debt, and house prices (and, by implication, housing wealth). I find that, although there is a general tendency for all to increase, differences in the structures of housing provision across countries lead to significant variation in both the data, and what can be drawn from it, across countries. Second, I consider accounts of households’ growing financial activities that attribute a central role to housing, including Lapavitsas and Dos Santos’s ‘financial expropriation’ thesis, and a growing body of literature that sees Europe as moving towards a housing asset-based welfare model. I argue that both, in different ways, are insufficiently attentive to the way in which housing provision, the role of finance within it, and the relationship of both to the reproduction of labour power more generally, are all uniquely and distinctly structured in different countries. I also show that even in the UK, where the role of finance in housing and welfare provision is thought to be most advanced, the restructuring of housing and welfare in favour of finance remains limited and contradictory. Finally, I outline some preliminary findings on the impact that a growing tendency to treat one’s home as an asset has had on well-being. |
| Keywords: | financialisation, housing, house prices, mortgage markets, systems of provision, well-being, asset-based welfare, financial expropriation, mortgage equity withdrawal. |
| JEL: | B59 D69 G10 G20 H31 H39 I31 I38 P16 P52 R21 |
| Date: | 2014–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:wpaper:wpaper14&r=ure |
| By: | Zelai Xu; Nong Zhu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution in size distribution of Chinese cities. Since the relaxation of restrictions on rural/urban migration in the 1980s, China has experienced rapid urban growth. However, cities of different sizes have experienced varying patterns of growth. We first describe the evolution of city size distribution in China by documenting the growth both of city size and of the number of existing cities. Then, focusing on the period from 1990-2000, we characterize the urban evolution trend with the Pareto law estimation, and examine the mobility of cities between different size groups with the Markov transition matrix. We also test the convergence hypothesis in the city population growth process. Our results suggest that, contrary to the expected dominance of large cities’ growth, Chinese city size distribution evened out over the 1990s, with small cities growing more rapidly than large cities. |
| Keywords: | City size distribution, Zipf’s law, Convergence, China., |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2014s-04&r=ure |
| By: | Carlos Augusto Olarte Bacares (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | The relationship between accessibility or the degree of improvement of urban transport and criminality has been underestimated and close to forgotten. This paper aims to reveal the importance of public transport policies in the evolution of crime configuration in a city. The hypothesis that the probability of transport improvements in a zone depends on some of its socio-economic characteristics is adopted. The use of the propensity score matching technique reveals that the presence of improvements of public transport in a zone of the city has a direct and significant impact on the increase of some types of crime. Likewise, spatial econometrics results expose that crime tends to be contagious in neighbouring zones. The presence of the Transmilenio system in Bogota may share out criminality to other zones of the city. Negative externalities like the better mobility of offenders and, then, their possible choice to expand their criminal activities to new zones, can spoil the positive effects of enhancement of public transport. Far from suggesting no developing public transport or isolating some "dangerous" neighbourhoods or inhabitants, this article shows that improvement of public transport may not only generate positive externalities; policy makers should take into consideration the mutation and shift of criminal behaviours in order to identify possible solutions such as the construction of more establishments providing health, welfare and sporting activities, as is evoked in the results. In this way, the "boomerang effect" of the improvement to transport will be reduced. |
| Keywords: | Urban public transports improvements; propensity score matching; crime contagion; spatial dependence |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00973408&r=ure |
| By: | Anastasia Klimova (Economics Discipline Group, University of Technology, Sydney); Adrian D. Lee (Finance Discipline Group, University of Technology, Sydney) |
| Abstract: | We measure the impact of murders on prices and rents of homes in Sydney. We find that housing prices fall by 3.9% for homes within 0.2 miles of the murder, in the year following the murder, and weaker results in the second year after a murder. We do not find any effects of murders on rents. Higher media coverage and being located closer to the murder (within 0.1 mile) have no additional effect on prices. Taken together, our findings suggest that proximity to a murder affects nearby property prices, particularly in the first year after the incident. |
| Keywords: | Crime; murder; homicide; house prices; rent; hedonic model |
| JEL: | G14 K32 Q51 R2 |
| Date: | 2014–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uts:wpaper:181&r=ure |
| By: | Lindner, Fabian |
| Abstract: | Much of the literature on the effect of housing wealth on consumption has been embedded in a simple life-cycle model in which housing price changes work as a wealth effect. In such models, windfall gains in housing always lead to positive changes in consumption. However, this might constitute a fallacy of composition. Such models ignore that changes in housing wealth have distributional consequences between those planning to sell their house and those planning to buy a house. Further, since most housing is not simply financed out of current cash holdings but by mortgages, the institutions on mortgage markets have to be considered when looking at the wealth effect of housing. In this paper, a model is presented from which the classic Ando-Modigliani consumption function augmented by housing wealth can be deduced. It is shown that the deeper structural model from which this equation is deduced implies that changes in housing wealth are not necessarily positively correlated with consumption. It will be argued that changes both in demographics (the composition of the age groups in the population) as well as in mortgage markets have led to a structural break in the effect of housing wealth on consumption in the mid-1980s in the US. In the empirical part of the paper, two VAR models are estimated and impulse-response functions are computed. The results show that housing wealth changes did affect consumption differently before the mid-1980s and afterward. While both models show that consumption was positively related to housing wealth shocks after the mid-1980s, there was no or even a negative relation before. -- |
| Keywords: | housing,consumption,wealth effect,demographics,mortgage markets |
| JEL: | C32 E21 E44 R31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201415&r=ure |
| By: | Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton); Zenou, Yves (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of strong versus weak ties in the rural-to-urban migration decision in China. We first develop a network model that puts forward the different roles of weak and strong ties in helping workers to migrate to the city. We then use a unique longitudinal data that allows us to test our model by focusing on first-time migration. Strong ties are measured by the closest family contact, while weak ties are determined by the fraction of migrants from the village in which the individual resides. We address the endogeneity of the network formation in the migration decision. Our results indicate that both weak and strong ties matter in the migration decision process, although the impact of weak ties is higher than that of strong ties. We also show that one underestimates the effect of social networks on migration by not taking into account the strong ties in the mobility process. We finally find that weak and strong ties act as complements in the migration decision, which indicates that the interactive effect between weak and strong ties is particularly strong above a certain threshold of the size of weak ties. |
| Keywords: | social networks, internal migration, China |
| JEL: | O15 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8089&r=ure |
| By: | David Neumark; Helen Simpson |
| Abstract: | Place-based policies commonly target underperforming areas, such as deteriorating downtown business districts and disadvantaged regions. Principal examples include enterprise zones, European Union Structural Funds, and industrial cluster policies. Place-based policies are rationalized by various hypotheses in urban and labor economics, such as agglomeration economies and spatial mismatch – hypotheses that entail market failures and often predict overlap between poor economic performance and disadvantaged residents. The evidence on enterprise zones is very mixed. We need to know more about what features of enterprise zone policies make them more effective or less effective, who gains and loses from these policies, and how we can reconcile the existing findings. Some evidence points to positive benefits of infrastructure expenditure, and also investment in higher education and university research – likely because of the public-goods nature of these policies. But to better guide policy we need to know more about what policies create self-sustaining longer-run gains. |
| JEL: | H23 H71 J23 J38 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20049&r=ure |
| By: | Zhang, Junfu (Clark University); Zheng, Liang (Central University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | It is difficult to determine whether ghettos are good or bad, partly because racial segregation may have some effects that are unobservable. To overcome this challenge, we present a migration choice model that allows for estimating the overall effects of racial segregation. The key idea underlying our empirical approach is that if segregation indeed has a negative overall effect, migrants should be willing to give up some earnings to avoid living in segregated cities. Using decennial census data from 1980 to 2000, we provide new evidence that ghettos are bad. It is shown that both black and white migrants prefer to live in less segregated cities. For example, for a one-percentage-point reduction in the dissimilarity index, the estimated marginal willingness to pay of blacks is $436 (in 1999 dollars) in 2000. Among whites, this marginal willingness to pay is $301. |
| Keywords: | residential segregation, internal migration, discrete choice model |
| JEL: | O15 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8093&r=ure |
| By: | Mark Skidmore (The Treasury) |
| Abstract: | Over the last two decades, New Zealand experienced a threefold increase in housing prices. The largest surge in prices in recent years occurred between 1998 and 2007, a period of housing price growth in many developed economies. Since 2007, housing price growth remained flat until 2011, and then prices once again embarked on an upward trend. However, recent housing price growth has been concentrated in Auckland and Christchurch. The purpose of this report is to compare and contrast New Zealand housing trends and policies with those of United States. The report summarizes lessons learned from the United States and highlights data needs and research questions that may require further consideration in order to better understand housing markets in New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | Housing; Land Use Regulation; Economic Development |
| JEL: | R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nzt:nztwps:14/11&r=ure |
| By: | Sandra Nieto (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Raul Ramos (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Our objective is to analyse the role of teacher and school quality to explain differences in students’ educational outcomes. With this aim, we use PISA microdata for 10 middle income and 2 high income countries and we apply decomposition methods in order to identify the role of these factors for different groups of students. Our results show that school and teacher quality and better practices matter even in different institutional settings. From a policy perspective, this evidence supports actions addressed at improving both factors in order to reduce cross-country differences but also between students at the top and bottom distribution in terms of socio-economic characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Educational outcomes, teacher and school quality, PISA, decomposition methods, middle-income countries. JEL classification: J24, I21, I25 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201404&r=ure |
| By: | Diego Battiston; Richard Dickens; Alan Manning; Jonathan Wadsworth |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of immigration on the probability of being in social housing in the UK. In recent years immigrant households are slightly more likely than natives to be in social housing but once one controls for relevant household characteristics immigrants are significantly less likely to be in social housing than natives. However, there has been change over time - the immigrant penalty has fallen over time probably because of changes in allocation rules. Overall we find that the rising number of immigrants and the change in the allocation rules can explain about one-third of the fall in the probability of being in social housing with two-thirds being the result of the fall in the social housing stock. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, social housing |
| JEL: | F22 R21 H75 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1264&r=ure |
| By: | Sebastian Garmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effect of a change in the nomination scheme of the city manager from appointment by the local council to election by the citizens on urban development policies. Using the fact that the timing of the reform was as good as random in municipalities of the German state Hesse, I can utilize a difference-in-difference framework to estimate this causal effect. I find that when the city manager is elected by the voters, there is significantly less urban development than when the city manager is appointed by the municipal council. |
| Keywords: | Urban development policies; form of local government; land use regulations; building licenses; difference-in-difference estimation; natural experiment |
| JEL: | H7 Q15 R52 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0476&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Gibbons |
| Abstract: | This study provides quantitative evidence on the local benefits and costs of wind farm developments in England and Wales, focussing on their visual environmental impacts. In the tradition of studies in environmental, public and urban economics, housing costs are used to reveal local preferences for views of wind farm developments. Estimation is based on quasi-experimental research designs that compare price changes occurring in places where wind farms become visible, with price changes in appropriate comparator groups. These comparator groups include places close to wind farms that became visible in the past, or where they will become operational in the future and places close to wind farms sites but where the turbines are hidden by the terrain. All these comparisons suggest that wind farm visibility reduces local house prices, and the implied visual environmental costs are substantial. |
| Keywords: | Housing prices, environment, wind farms, infrastructure |
| JEL: | R Q |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0159&r=ure |
| By: | Klein, Alexander (University of Kent); Leunig, Tim (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Gibrat’s law in England and Wales between 1801 and 1911using a unique data set covering the entire settlement size distribution.We find that Gibrat’s law broadly holds even in the face of population doubling every fifty years,an industrial and transportrevolution, and the absence of zoning laws to constrain growth. The result is strongest for the later period, and in counties most affected by the industrial revolution. The exception were villages in areas bypassed by the industrial revolution.We argue that agglomeration externalities balanced urban disamenities such as commuting costs and poor living conditions to ensure steady growth of many places, rather than exceptional growth of few. |
| Keywords: | Gibrat’s law, city-size distribution, industrial revolution |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:146&r=ure |
| By: | Berg, Erland (University of Oxford); Ghatak, Maitreesh (London School of Economics); Manjula, R (ISEC); Rajasekhar, D (ISEC); Roy, Sanchari (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interaction of incentive pay and social distance in the dissemination of information.We analyse theoretically as well as empirically the effect of incentive pay when agents have pro-social objectives,but also preferences over dealing with one social group relative to another. In a randomised field experiment under taken across 151 villages in South India,local agents were hired to spread information about a public health insurance programme.Relative to flat pay,incentive pay improves knowledge transmission to households that are socially distant from the agent,but not to households similar to the agent. |
| Keywords: | public services,information constraints,incentive pay, social proximity,knowledge transmission |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:134&r=ure |
| By: | Ludovica Gambaro (Institute of Education); Heather Joshi (Institute of Education); Ruth Lupton (University of Manchester); Mary Clare Lennon (City University New York) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a new indicator to track poverty from 2001 to 2006 in small areas in Great Britain. The indicator, called Unadjusted Means-tested Benefits Rate (UMBR), was devised by Fenton (2013) and is the ratio of claimants of means tested benefits to the number of households in a small area. The analysis presented here is threefold. We first explore in detail the correlation between UMBR and the indices of multiple deprivation. While conceptually different, UMBR appears to capture different aspects of deprivation beyond out-of-work income poverty. Second, we outline the different patterns of change in poverty across Great Britain and show how small areas in deprived urban communities and multiethnic urban areas have changed considerably between 2001 and 2006. Finally, we draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to explore the association between residents’ perceptions of their neighbourhood and the UMBR level of their area. We find that respondents living in areas of higher poverty tend to express more negative views of their neighbourhood and that those who changed area in search of a “better neighbourhood†end up in areas with lower poverty rates. However, small changes in poverty over time were not reflected in changes in residents’ views. |
| Keywords: | Poverty Measurement, Neighbourhood Characteristics, Regional Migration, Cohort, Children. |
| JEL: | I32 R23 J11 J13 |
| Date: | 2014–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1408&r=ure |
| By: | Görlitz, Katja; Rzepka, Sylvi |
| Abstract: | Using data from the National Educational Panel Study of 2009/2010, this paper investigates the relationship between regional training supply and employees´ training participation. Controlling for other regional factors such as the local unemployment rate, the educational level, the population density and the regional industry composition, the results indicate that training participation is significantly higher in regions with many firms in the training supply market. The predictive power of the other regional factors is rather minor. -- |
| Keywords: | training,local labor markets |
| JEL: | J24 R12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20149&r=ure |
| By: | Julie Beugnot; Bernard Fortin; Guy Lacroix; Marie-Claire Villeval |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender: they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, social networks, work effort, piece rate, experiment., |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2013s-27&r=ure |
| By: | Carlos Augusto Olarte Bacares (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Previous research has proved the existence of a causal relationship between the concentration of jobs in a city and the income of inhabitants. Other researchers have studied the close and nearly causal relationship between those variables and the infrastructure such as highways in different zones of a city. Nevertheless, no one study has taken into account the degree to which each area of a city benefits from the latest improvements to public transport. The aim of this research is to analyse the relationship between the size of the labour market, the income and the employment concentration with respect to improvements to public transport (Transmilenio) in Bogota. The degree of enhancement of public transport in a zone is suspected to be endogenous. Through the use of OLS estimations and then 2SLS, the validation of endogeneity provides sufficient tools to infer causality of improvement of public transport. The size of companies, defined by the number of jobs they offer, plays the role of instrumental variable. In essence, the number of jobs, the size of the labour market and income are largely defined by the level of improvement to urban public transport in each zone of the city but the causality relationship changes depending on the size of companies established in each zone. In the case of Bogota, public transport improvements seams to have a causality relationship with the income of inhabitants in each zone and the number of jobs, and this changes with respect to the size of enterprises. In contrast, the size of the labour market, defined as the number of jobs reachable in a specific time, is not determined by the degree of the presence of public transport enhancement. |
| Keywords: | Causality; improvements of public transports; endogeneity; effective size of labor market; size of enterprises |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00973398&r=ure |
| By: | Stan Veuger (American Enterprise Institute); Daniel Shoag |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the size of the externalities produced by big-box retail stores for other establishments and explore the effect of the externalities on local government policy. |
| Keywords: | subsidies,retail,big box |
| JEL: | A |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:40753&r=ure |
| By: | Frank Neffke; Matté Hartog; Ron Boschma; Martin Henning |
| Abstract: | Who introduces structural change in regional economies: Entrepreneurs or existing firms? And do local or non-local firms and entrepreneurs create most novelty in a region? Using matched employer-employee data for the whole Swedish workforce, we determine how unrelated and therefore how novel the activities of different establishments are to a region’s industry mix. Up- and downsizing establishments cause large shifts in the local industry structure, but these shifts only occasionally require an expansion of local capabilities because the new activities are often related to existing local activities. Indeed, these incumbents tend to align their production with the local economy, deepening the region’s specialization. In contrast, structural change mostly originates via new establishments, especially those with non-local roots. Moreover, although entrepreneurs start businesses more often in activities unrelated to the existing regional economy, new establishments founded by existing firms survive in such activities more often, inducing longer-lasting changes in the region. |
| Keywords: | Structural change, entrepreneurship, diversification, relatedness, regions, resource-based view |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1410&r=ure |
| By: | David Utting |
| Abstract: | This paper summarises key themes and research findings from papers presented at an event hosted by CASE on 23rd January 2014: - Blanden, J. & Macmillan, L. (2014) Education and Intergenerational Mobility: Help or Hindrance? CASEpaper (forthcoming) - Chowdry, H., Crawford, C., Dearden, L., Goodman, A. & Vignoles, A. (2013) Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series A), Vol. 176, Part 2, pp. 431-457. - Crawford, C. (2012) Socioeconomic gaps in HE participation: how have they changed over time? London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. - Whitty, G. & Anders, J. (2014) (How) did Labour narrow the achievement and participation gap? LLAKES Research Paper 46. London: Institute of Education. |
| Keywords: | education, social mobility, HE, GCSE, School,intergenerational, mobility, widening participation, gap, achievement, participation |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:spccrn:007&r=ure |
| By: | Ilhom Abdulloev (Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation, Tajikistan and IZA); Gil S. Epstein (Bar-Ilan University, CReAM, IZA and Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano); Ira N. Gang (Rutgers University, CReAM, IOS and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Some immigrants try to keep their ethnicity hidden while others become ever deeply more mired in their home culture. We argue that among immigrants this struggle manifests itself in the ethnic goods they choose to consume. Different types of ethnic goods have vastly different effects on immigrant assimilation. We develop a simple theoretical model useful for capturing the consequences of this struggle, illustrating it with examples of Central Asian assimilation into the Muscovite economy. |
| Keywords: | Assimilation, migrants, culture, ethnic goods |
| JEL: | J15 |
| Date: | 2014–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:364&r=ure |
| By: | Garcia Cruz, Gustavo Adolfo |
| Abstract: | The labor market in developing countries is remarkably heterogeneous with a small productive formal sector, enjoying high wages and attractive employment conditions and another large informal sector with low productivity and volatile wages. The informal sector is particularly diverse. In this paper we examine the heterogeneity of the informal sector at regional level in Colombia. In general, our findings suggest that, both voluntary and involuntary informal employment co-exist by choice and as a result of labor market segmentation. We also find that there are striking differences in labor market characteristics between cities, in particular in the traditional informal segment. |
| Keywords: | Informality, local labor markets, quantile regression, selection bias, formal/informal wage gap decomposition |
| JEL: | C21 J31 J42 O17 |
| Date: | 2014–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55224&r=ure |
| By: | Alesina, Alberto (Harvard University, NBER and IGIER); Michalopoulos, Stelios (Brown University and NBER); Papaioannou, Elias (London Business School, CEPR and NBER) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the consequences and origins of between-ethnicity economic inequality both across and within countries. First, combining satellite images of nighttime luminosity with the historical homelands of ethnolinguistic groups we construct measures of ethnic inequality for a large sample of countries and show that the latter is strongly inversely related to comparative development. Second, differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable portion of ethnic inequality contributing to its persistence over time. Third, exploiting across-district within-African countries variation using individual-level data on ethnic identification and well-being from the Afrobarometer Surveys we find that between ethnic-group inequality is systematically linked to regional under-development. In this sample we also explore the channels linking ethnic inequality to (under) development, finding that ethnic inequality maps to political inequality, heightened perceptions of discrimination and undersupply of public goods. |
| Keywords: | Ethnicity, Diversity, Inequality, Development, Geography |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:155&r=ure |
| By: | MEERSMAN, Hilde; STRANDENES, Siri Pettersen; VAN DE VOORDE, Eddy |
| Abstract: | Price level and price transparency are input to shippers’ choice of supply chain and transport mode. In this paper, we analyse current port pricing structures in the light of the pricing literature and consider opportunities for improvement. We present a detailed overview of pricing criteria, who sets prices and who ultimately foots the bill for port-of-call charges, cargo-handling fees and congestion charges. Current port pricing practice is based on a rather linear structure and fails to incorporate modern pricing tools such as price differentiation or revenue management. Consequently, ports apply neither profit maximising pricing nor pricing designed to exploit available capacity more efficiently. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure pricing, Pricing models, Seaports |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2014006&r=ure |
| By: | Cristina Cattaneo (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the determinants of ethnic heterogeneity of the Italian provinces. Among other factors, the paper tests empirically whether gradual improvements in distant communication boost the generation of ethnically heterogeneous provinces. Consequently to easier communication, movers increasingly rely on an enlarged community for identity transmission, rather than on localized peer effects of the ethnic enclaves. The empirical estimation provides support to this hypothesis. Improvements in internet communications are found to increase the ethnic diversity of the Italian provinces. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Ethnic Diversity, Productivity |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.34&r=ure |
| By: | Asako, Kazumi; Onodera, Takashi; Ueda, Atsuko |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to analyze regional business cycle movements in Japan. We construct regional monthly composite indexes by 47 prefectures over the period 1985-2010. In order to characterize the deviation of regional economies from the nationwide economy, we propose a method to match each prefectural composite index sequence to the national composite index sequence. High performance of the matching analysis indicates that regional deviations involve leads and lags in both the timing of the business cycle and time trends, although certain disparities remain for some prefectures. The analysis also suggests that there is a structural change between the post-bubble era of the 1990s and the long expansion phase of 2002-2008. Only a limited number of prefectures show better performance than the national average, while the majority tend to fall behind during the expansion phase. Also, we investigate the factors that exert influence on prefectural economies, and find that fiscal and monetary measures possibly help stimulate regional economies. |
| Keywords: | regional business cycle, composite index, structural change, public investment |
| JEL: | E32 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:603&r=ure |
| By: | Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali; Lauro Carnicelli |
| Abstract: | With the pre-salt discoveries, the discussions about the impact of oil windfalls – royalties and special participation – on Brazilian localities have intensified. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the issue, using a methodology that allows the building of a counterfactual for municipalities treated with oil resources. The aim is to investigate whether these transfers reduce the own tax effort of cities covered by such revenues. For this, we apply the doubly robust method to a panel of municipalities observed from 2000 to 2009. The method consists of two stages. Firstly, it estimates the likelihood of receiving oil revenues conditioned to observable variables; in the second stage, a fixed-effects model is estimated with data belonging to a common support constructed through the estimated propensity scores in the first stage. The results show that there is a negative effect of oil royalties on the fiscal effort of the cities benefited. However, this result does not occur when one computes the average effect on all cities. |
| Keywords: | Propensity score; doubly robust; oil royalties; fiscal effort; panel. |
| JEL: | H77 C21 |
| Date: | 2014–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2014wpecon03&r=ure |
| By: | Anke D Leroux; Vance L Martin |
| Abstract: | Although water portfolios have been proposed as a solution to water management under risk and uncertainty, the optimal mix of natural and manufactured sources of water remains largely unexplored. We develop a dynamic portfolio model of urban water supply that hedges against the supply risks from all potential water assets, by taking into account uncertainties of water flows as well as differences in supply costs. The optimal portfolio shares for an existing water supply system are derived and compared with the observed choices, revealing unexploited hedging opportunities between various naturally occurring water sources as well as an over-reliance on manufactured water in years of average and below average natural water availability. It is estimated that the optimization of the water supply portfolio for a medium-sized city results in cost-savings of between $43m and $165m per year. |
| Keywords: | urban water supply, optimization, portfolio choice, supply uncertainty, manufactured water |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-05&r=ure |
| By: | Coral del Rio (Universidade de Vigo and EQUALITAS); Olga Alonso-Villar (Universidade de Vigo and EQUALITAS) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes an index that quantifies the well-being (ill-being) of a target group as associated with its occupational segregation: that is, it assesses the gains/losses of that group which are derived from its underrepresentation in some occupations and overrepresentation in others. This index has several good properties. In particular, it is equal to zero when either the group has no segregation or all occupations have the same wage, and increases when individuals of the group move into occupations that have higher wages than those left behind. Moreover, our well-being measure permits to rank different demographic groups using distributive value judgments that are in the line of those conducted in the literature on economic inequality. |
| Keywords: | Segregation measures; occupations; status; well-being; ill-being. |
| JEL: | D63 J0 J15 J71 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2014-320&r=ure |
| By: | Stan Veuger (American Enterprise Institute); Daniel Shoag |
| Abstract: | We document the tight link between increased levels of economic and policy uncertainty and unemployment at the state-level during the 2007-2009 recession. |
| Keywords: | unemployment,Great Recession,geography,economic uncertainty |
| JEL: | A |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:38809&r=ure |
| By: | Dasgupta, Manjira; Dasgupta, Sambuddha N. |
| Abstract: | Given the indisputable fact that urbanization has long become the cornerstone of industrialization and development efforts in India, this paper specifically takes up the issues of urbanization as related to energy usage and sustainability issues. We find that urbanization has followed a model that is neither energy-efficient, nor, for the very same reasons, sustainable on a long-term planning horizon. The empirical relationship between urbanization and energy use is examined, with strong evidence of urbanization having led the continual increase in energy use per capita in India. The pattern of urbanization and some of its other salient characteristics are also examined and their energy and environment-related consequences discussed. Some important data and empirical evidence are highlighted and policy inferences drawn. Finally, some tentative policy suggestions have been offered as to the course along which future urbanization efforts should be directed. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, Energy prices, Energy use, India, Sustainable Development |
| JEL: | O13 O18 Q3 Q4 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:54635&r=ure |