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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Verdugo, Gregory (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how a reform allowing immigrants with children in France access to public housing during the 1970s influenced their initial location choices across local labour markets. We find that cities with higher public housing supplies have a large 'magnetic effect' on the location choice. The estimated effect is substantial and quantitatively similar to the effect of the size of the ethnic group in the urban area. In cities with higher public housing supply, these immigrants tend to benefit from better housing conditions, but non-European immigrants are also more likely to be unemployed. |
| Keywords: | public housing, social housing, immigration, location choice |
| JEL: | J15 R50 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8629&r=ure |
| By: | Walker Hanlon; Antonio Miscio |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the sources of agglomeration economies in cities. We begin by introducing a simple dynamic spatial equilibrium model that incorporates spillovers within and across industries, as well as city-size effects. The model generates a dynamic panel-data estimation equation. We implement the approach using detailed new data describing the industry composition of 31 English cities from 1851-1911. We find that industries grow faster in cities where they have more local suppliers or other occupationally-similar industries. Industries do not grow more rapidly in locations in which they are already large, though there can be exceptions. Thus, dynamic agglomeration appears to be driven by cross-industry effects. Once we control for these cross-industry agglomeration effects, we find a strong negative relationship between city size and city-industry growth. This allows us to construct the first estimate of the aggregate strength of the cross-industry agglomeration forces. Our results suggest a lower bound estimate of the overall strength of agglomeration forces equivalent to a city-size divergence rate of 2.1-3.3 % per decade. |
| JEL: | N9 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20728&r=ure |
| By: | Duranton, Gilles; Puga, Diego |
| Abstract: | We provide an integrated treatment of the theoretical literature on urban land use inspired by the monocentric model, including extensions that deal with multiple endogenous business centres, various dimensions of heterogeneity, and durable housing. After presenting the theory and distilling its key empirical implications, we critically review the empirical literature on differences in prices and development across urban locations, patterns of location choices of heterogeneous households in cities, sprawl and residential decentralization, and employment decentralization. |
| Keywords: | land use; urban structure |
| JEL: | R14 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10282&r=ure |
| By: | Xavier Fageda (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Marta Gonzalez-Aregall (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the direct and indirect impacts of transport infrastructure on industrial employment. We estimate regressions with spatial econometric methods using data from the Spanish regions for the period 1995-2008. We find that the density of motorways and the amount of port traffic (particularly general non-containerized and container traffic) are significant determinants of industrial employment in the region, while the effects of railway density and the amount of airport traffic are unclear. Our empirical analysis shows the existence of significant negative spatial spillovers for the density of motorways and levels of container port traffic while the impact of general non-containerized port traffic seems to be mainly local. |
| Keywords: | transportation, industrial employment, spatial econometrics, motorways, ports, railways, airports. JEL classification: L92, O18, R4 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201429&r=ure |
| By: | Christian A. L. Hilber; Charles Palmer |
| Abstract: | We exploit a unique panel of 75 metro areas ('cities') across the globe and employ a city-fixed effects model to identify the determinants of within-city changes in air pollution concentration between 2005 and 2011. Increasing car and population densities significantly reduce air pollution concentration in city centers where air pollution induced health risks are greatest. These effects are largely confined to cities in non-OECD countries. Two possible mechanisms for the negative effect of car density are explored: (i) increasing car density permits a decentralization of residential and economic activity; and (ii) car usage substitutes for motorbike usage. We find limited evidence in favour of (i) and no evidence in favour of (ii). We also observe a complex relationship between income and pollution concentration as well as a general downward-trend in pollution concentration over time. Overall, our findings are indicative that densely populated polycentric cities may be 'greener' and 'healthier' than comparable monocentric ones. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, urban form, decentralization, air pollution, transport, built environment |
| JEL: | Q01 Q53 R11 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0169&r=ure |
| By: | Laamanen, Jani-Petri |
| Abstract: | Perhaps the most common finding relating housing to the labour market is that high home-ownership rates are associated with higher unemployment. In contrast, recent micro-evidence suggests that homeowners have relatively favourable labour market outcomes. We explore the effect of home-ownership on unemployment exploiting a rental housing market deregulation reform which created exogenous variation in home-ownership across regions, allowing us to avoid the endogeneity problem in earlier studies. While home-owners are less likely to experience unemployment, an increase in the home-ownership rate causes unemployment to rise. Externalities arising from consumption reductions and increased job competition may explain the conflicting evidence. |
| Keywords: | Home-ownership Unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 R31 |
| Date: | 2013–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55256&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Sheppard (Williams College) |
| Abstract: | Many cities contain local agglomerations of cultural organizations. The “Museum Mile†portion of 5th Avenue in New York, the Museumplein in Amsterdam, Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London are famous examples, and there are hundreds of others large and small. These clusters may arise for some of the same reasons that other agglomerations occur, although the cultural organizations that comprise them have more complex objective functions than the proï¬t-maximizing ï¬rms whose agglomeration is more frequently studied. In this paper we assemble micro-geographic data on cultural non-proï¬ts in US urban areas from 1989 through 2009. We calculate several indices of concentration and dispersion, and assemble a panel data set to explore the impact of these concentrations on local economic well-being. We also present evidence consistent with a hypothesis that there are real agglomeration economies at work, lowering production costs and permitting a larger number of cultural organizations per capita in urban areas where the organizations are more clustered. |
| JEL: | R30 L30 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2014-04&r=ure |
| By: | Redding, Stephen J.; Turner, Matthew A |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between the spatial distribution of economic activity and transportation costs. We develop a multi-region model of economic geography that we use to understand the general equilibrium implications of transportation infrastructure improvements within and between locations for wages, population, trade and industry composition. Guided by the predictions of this model, we review the empirical literature on the effects of transportation infrastructure improvements on economic development, paying particular attention to the use of exogenous sources of variation in the construction of transportation infrastructure. We examine evidence from different spatial scales, between and within cities. We outline a variety of areas for further research, including distinguishing reallocation from growth and dynamics. |
| Keywords: | highways; market access; railroads; transportation |
| JEL: | F15 R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10038&r=ure |
| By: | Levon Barseghyan; Damon Clark; Stephen Coate |
| Abstract: | Public school choice programs give households a free choice of public school and provide schools incentives to compete for students. Proponents of these programs argue that by the usual market logic, choice and competition will improve the quality of the education that schools provide. Critics counter that the usual market logic does not translate easily to schools, since households’ perceptions of school quality depend not only on the efforts of school personnel but also on the composition of the student body (i.e., households have peer preferences). This paper advances this debate by developing and analyzing an economic model of public school choice. To capture the pro-choice argument, the model assumes that a neighborhood enrollment policy that provides schools with no incentives to exert effort is replaced by a prototypical public school choice policy in which households have a free choice of school and schools have incentives to compete for students. To capture the anti-choice argument the model assumes that households have peer preferences. The analysis of the equilibrium of this model generates three findings that highlight potential limitations of choice programs. |
| JEL: | D02 H4 I2 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20701&r=ure |
| By: | Picard, Pierre M; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We develop a model where workers both choose their residential location (geographical space) and social interactions (social space). In equilibrium, we show under which condition the majority group resides close to the job center while the minority group lives far away from it. Even though the two populations are ex ante totally identical, we find that the majority group experiences a lower unemployment rate than the minority group and tends to socially interact more with other workers of its own group. Within each group, we demonstrate that workers residing farther away from the job center tend to search less for a job and are less likely to be employed. This model is thus able to explain why ethnic minorities are segregated in the urban and social space and why this leads to adverse labor-market outcomes in the absence of any discrimination against the minority group. |
| Keywords: | labor market; segregation; Social interactions; spatial mismatch |
| JEL: | A14 J15 R14 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10030&r=ure |
| By: | Wilko Bolt; Maria Demertzis; Cees Diks; Cars Hommes; Marco van der Leij |
| Abstract: | We introduce heterogeneous expectations in a standard housing market model linking housing rental levels to fundamental buying prices. Using quarterly data we estimate the model parameters for eight different countries, US, UK, NL, JP, CH, ES, SE and BE. We find that the data support heterogeneity in expectations, with temporary endogenous switching between fundamental mean-reverting and trend-following chartists beliefs based on their relative performance. For all countries we identify temporary house price bubbles, amplified by trend extrapolation, and crashes reinforced by fundamentalists. The qualitative predictions of such non-linear models are very different from standard linear benchmarks, with important policy implications. The fundamental price becomes unstable, e.g. when the interest rate is set too low or mortgage tax deductions too high, giving rise to multiple non-fundamental equilibria and/or global instability. |
| Keywords: | housing prices; heterogenous agents model; bounded rationality; bubbles |
| JEL: | C53 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:450&r=ure |
| By: | Clark, Damon (University of California, Irvine); Del Bono, Emilia (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of elite school attendance on long-run outcomes including completed education, income and fertility. Our data consists of individuals born in the 1950s and educated in a UK district that assigned students to either elite or non-elite secondary schools. Using instrumental variables methods that exploit the school assignment formula, we find that elite school attendance had large impacts on completed education. For women, we find that elite school attendance generated positive effects on labor market outcomes and significant decreases in fertility; for men, we find no elite school impacts on any of these later-life outcomes. |
| Keywords: | education, school quality, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I2 J24 C31 C36 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8617&r=ure |
| By: | Nicoletti, Cheti (University of York); Rabe, Birgitta (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | We provide the first empirical evidence on direct sibling spillover effects in school achievement using English administrative data. Our identification strategy exploits the variation in school test scores across three subjects observed at age 11 and 16 and the variation in the composition of school mates between siblings. These two sources of variation have been separately used to identify school peer effects, but never in combination. By combining them we are able to identify a sibling spillover effect that is net of unobserved child, family and school characteristics shared by siblings. We find a modest spillover effect from the older sibling to the younger but not vice versa. This effect is considerably higher for siblings from deprived backgrounds, where sibling sharing of school knowledge might compensate for the lack of parental information. |
| Keywords: | family effects, peer effects, social interaction, education |
| JEL: | I22 I24 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8615&r=ure |
| By: | Li, Wenli (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Tewari, Ishani (Yale School of Management); White, Michelle J. (University of California at San Diego, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and National Bureau of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We assess the credit market impact of mortgage “strip-down” — reducing the principal of underwater residential mortgages to the current market value of the property for homeowners in Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Strip-down of mortgages in bankruptcy was proposed as a means of reducing foreclosures during the recent mortgage crisis but was blocked by lenders. Our goal is to determine whether allowing bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages would have a large adverse impact on new mortgage applicants. Our identification is provided by a series of U.S. Court of Appeals decisions during the late 1980s and early 1990s that introduced mortgage strip-down under both bankruptcy chapters in parts of the U.S., followed by two Supreme Court rulings that abolished it throughout the U.S. We find that the Supreme Court decision to abolish mortgage strip-down under Chapter 13 led to a reduction of 3% in mortgage interest rates and an increase of 1% in mortgage approval rates, while the Supreme Court decision to abolish strip-down under Chapter 7 led to a reduction of 2% in approval rates and no change in interest rates. We also find that markets react less to circuit court decisions than to Supreme Court decisions. Overall, our results suggest that lenders respond to forced renegotiation of contracts in bankruptcy, but their responses are small and not always in the predicted direction. The lack of systematic patterns evident in our results suggests that introducing mortgage strip-down under either bankruptcy chapter would not have strong adverse effects on mortgage loan terms and could be a useful new policy tool to reduce foreclosures when future housing bubbles burst. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage credit; Strip-down; Creditor protection; Bankruptcy |
| JEL: | G14 G18 K10 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:14-35&r=ure |
| By: | Agrawal, Ajay; Galasso, Alberto; Oettl, Alexander |
| Abstract: | We study the interplay between transportation infrastructure, knowledge flows, and innovation. Exploiting historical data on planned portions of the interstate highway system, railroads, and exploration routes as sources of exogenous variation, we estimate the effect of U.S. interstate highways on regional innovation. We find that a 10% increase in a region's stock of highways causes a 1.7% increase in regional patenting over a five-year period. We show that roads facilitate the flow of local knowledge and allow innovators to access more distant knowledge inputs. This finding suggests that transportation infrastructure may spur regional growth above and beyond the more commonly discussed agglomeration economies that are predicated on an inflow of new workers. |
| Keywords: | highways; innovation; regional growth; transportation |
| JEL: | L91 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10113&r=ure |
| By: | Vasilios Plakandaras (Department of Economics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, Pretoria University, South Africa); Periklis Gogas (Department of Economics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy); Theophilos Papadimitriou (Department of Economics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece) |
| Abstract: | The 2006 sudden and immense downturn in U.S. House Prices sparked the 2007 global financial crisis and revived the interest about forecasting such imminent threats for economic stability. In this paper we propose a novel hybrid forecasting methodology that combines the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) from the field of signal processing with the Support Vector Regression (SVR) methodology that originates from machine learning. We test the forecasting ability of the proposed model against a Random Walk (RW) model, a Bayesian Autoregressive and a Bayesian Vector Autoregressive model. The proposed methodology outperforms all the competing models with half the error of the RW model with and without drift in out-of-sample forecasting. Finally, we argue that this new methodology can be used as an early warning system for forecasting sudden house prices drops with direct policy implications. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:30_14&r=ure |
| By: | Ana I. Balsa; Alejandro Cid |
| Abstract: | We study the three-year impact of a private tuition-free middle school on the academic outcomes of poor students. Several features of the treatment school fit with innovative paradigms that have delivered successful outcomes in poor urban areas. Our research design exploits the excess of applicants over the school capacity and the fact that participants were selected randomly. Specifically, we follow a cohort of students that entered middle school in 2010 and that were randomly assigned to attend the treatment school or public school as usual. We find that the treatment school impacted favorably on students’ academic advancement and math competencies. Also, the treatment school had a positive–and quite robust over timeimpact on students’ and their parents’ academic expectations. This culture of high expectations has been previously identified in the literature as a key input for school success. |
| Keywords: | Randomized design; Private school; Low-income population; High Expectations |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:1402&r=ure |
| By: | Jahn, Malte |
| Abstract: | Climate change may affect subnational regions in very different ways. In this paper, a spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) model is constructed and a theoretical framework is developed to study impacts of climate change induced extreme weather events and of corresponding adaptation policies on a regional economy, focusing on water-related extreme events. The model makes use of regionalized input-output tables to represent the regional economy and takes into account different zones inside the region which have different socio-economic structures and also different levels of exposure to extreme weather. The model is used to estimate possible spatial effects and regional economic losses of climate change induced ood events in the city of Hamburg, Germany and to evaluate flood adaptation measures. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:154&r=ure |
| By: | Di Caro, Paolo |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys recent developments related to regional recessions and recoveries. Building on the idea of regional resilience, selected theoretical and empirical contributions are discussed in order to provide an overview of this area of research that looks at both equilibrium- and out-of-equilibrium approaches. On theoretical grounds, aggregate and disaggregate shocks are identified and separated, and hysteretic behaviours are examined. From an empirical perspective, linear and nonlinear econometric models are described and compared, with a particular focus on their spatial econometrics’ extensions. Possible avenues of both theoretical and empirical future research are explicitly explored. |
| Keywords: | regional evolution, hysteresis, aggregate shocks, disaggregate effects, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | C3 E3 R1 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60300&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew J. Hill |
| Abstract: | The U.S. experienced an unprecedented increase in fertility during the baby boom. After falling for a century and a half, fertility rates jumped by 45 percent from 1945 to 1955, before resuming their decline in 1965. The elevated birth rates from 1946 to 1964 were driven in part by a shift toward more universal marriage; marriage rates increased by 25 percent from 1930 to 1950 and the average age of marriage fell by two years. This paper argues that growth in the supply of housing after World War II contributed to the expansion of marriage during this period. Specifically, the paper estimates the effect of additional building permits (a proxy for housing supply) at the city level on individual marriage outcomes. An instrumental variable approach is used to address endogenous permit location. I construct an annual level instrument using the national permit series in conjunction with a city’s geographical constraints, region and average temperature. I find a standard deviation increase in permits to a city increased the probability of marriage in that city by 13 to 16 percent over a two-year period. The estimates suggest that the growth in housing supply in the late 1940s can explain about 33 percent of the difference in marriage rates between 1930 and 1950. Overall, the increase in housing supply can account for nearly ten percent of the baby boom. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1452&r=ure |
| By: | Liang Jiang (Singapore Management University); Peter C.B. Phillips (Yale University, University of Auckland, University of Southampton,Singapore Management University); Jun Yu (Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new hedonic method for constructing a real estate price index that utilizes all transaction price information that encompasses both single-sale and repeat-sale properties. The new method is less prone to specification errors than standard hedonic methods and uses all available data. Like the Case-Shiller repeat-sales method, the new method has the advantage of being computationally efficient. In an empirical analysis of the methodology, we fit the model to all transaction prices for private residential property holdings in Singapore between Q1 1995 and Q2 2014, covering several periods of major price fluctuation and changes in government macroprudential policy. Two new indices are created, one from all transaction prices and one from single-sales prices. The indices are compared with the S&P/Case-Shiller index. The result shows that the new indices slightly outperform the S&P/Case-Shiller index in predicting the price of single-sales homes out-of-sample. However, they underperform the S&P/Case-Shiller index in predicting the price of repeat-sales homes out-of-sample. The empirical findings indicate that specification bias can be more substantial than the sample selection bias when constructing a real estate price index. In a further empirical application, the recursive method of Phillips, Shi and Yu (2014) is used to detect explosive periods in real estate prices of Singapore. The results confirm the existence of an explosive period from Q4 2006 to Q1 2008. No explosive period is found after 2009, suggesting that the ten successive rounds of cooling measures implemented by Singapore government have been effective in changing price dynamics and preventing a subsequent outbreak of explosive behavior in Singapore real estate market. |
| Keywords: | Repeat sales, Hedonic models, Prediction, Index, Explosive, Cooling measures |
| JEL: | C58 R31 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:19-2014&r=ure |
| By: | Facchini, Giovanni; Patacchini, Eleonora; Steinhardt, Max |
| Abstract: | In this paper we contribute to the analysis of the assimilation process of migrants by analyzing the extent to which friendship with natives can be seen as a measure of cultural assimilation and investigating the formation of social ties in the host country. Using novel information from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find that migrants with a German friend are more similar to natives than those without a local companion along several important dimensions, including concerns about the economy, interest in politics and broad policy issues like the environment, crime, and xenophobia. When looking at the determinants of friendship acquisition, we find that becoming employed is a significant driver of social network variation. Other factors affecting ties with the native population include the number of years the migrant has spent in the country, the birth of a child, residential mobility and additional education in the host country. |
| Keywords: | Culture; Ethnic minorities; Friendship Formation; Migration |
| JEL: | A14 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10032&r=ure |
| By: | Massimiliano Ferraresi (University of Ferrara, Italy); Umberto Galmarini (University of Insubria, Italy); Leonzio Rizzo (University of Ferrara, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We setup a model in which the residents of two neighboring municipalities can use the services provided by public infrastructures located in both jurisdictions. If services are either complements or substitutes in use, the municipalities strategically interact when investing in infrastructures; moreover, when they differ in population size, the small municipality reacts more to the expenditure of its neighbor than the big one. The theoretical predictions are then tested by estimating the determinants of the stock of public infrastructures of the municipalities belonging to the Autonomous Province of Trento, in Italy. |
| Keywords: | local public goods spillovers, spatial interactions, size of local jurisdictions |
| JEL: | D72 H61 H77 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:14&r=ure |
| By: | Tanika Chakraborty; Olga Nottmeyer; Simone Schüller; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | Estimating the effect of ‘ethnic capital’ on human capital investment decisions is complicated by the endogeneity of location choice of immigrants and the reflection problem. We exploit a rare immigrant settlement policy in Germany to identify the causal impact of parental peer-heterogeneity on the educational outcomes of their children. To identify the direction of peer effect we restrict to no-child-adult-peers who completed their education much before the children in our sample of interest. We find that children of low-educated parents benefit significantly from the presence of high-educated neighbors, with more pronounced effects in more polarized neighborhoods and significant gender heterogeneity. In contrast, we do not find any negative influence coming from the low-educated neighbors. Our estimates are robust to a range of flexible peer definitions. Overall, the findings suggest an increase in parental aspirations as the possible mechanism rather than a direct child-to-child peer effect. |
| Keywords: | Education, Ethnic Capital, Germany, Immigrant, Peer Effects, Policy Experiment |
| JEL: | R23 J15 I21 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2014-10&r=ure |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn; Robert Jensen |
| Abstract: | When effort is observable to peers, students may act to avoid social penalties by conforming to prevailing norms. To test for such behavior, we conducted an experiment in which 11th grade students were offered complimentary access to an online SAT preparatory course. Signup sheets differed randomly across students (within classrooms) only in the extent to which they emphasized that the decision to enroll would be kept private from classmates. In non-honors classes, the signup rate was 11 percentage points lower when decisions to enroll were public rather than private. Sign up in honors classes was unaffected. To further isolate the role of peer pressure we examine students taking the same number of honors classes. The timing of our visits to each school will find some of these students in one of their honors classes and others in one of their non-honors classes; which they happen to be sitting in when we arrive to conduct our experiment should be (and, empirically, is) uncorrelated with student characteristics. When offered the course in a non-honors class, these students were 25 percentage points less likely to sign up if the decision was public rather than private. But if they were offered the course in one of their honors classes, they were 25 percentage points more likely to sign up when the decision was public. Thus, students are highly responsive to who their peers are and what the prevailing norm is when they make decisions. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20714&r=ure |
| By: | Gregory Bauer |
| Abstract: | Using a panel logit framework, the paper provides an estimate of the likelihood of a house price correction in 18 OECD countries. The analysis shows that a simple measure of the degree of house price overvaluation contains a lot of information about subsequent price reversals. Corrections are typically triggered by a sharp tightening in the monetary policy interest rate relative to a baseline level in each country. Two different assessments of the current and future baseline estimates of monetary policy interest rates are provided: a simple Taylor rule and one extracted from a term structure model. A case study based on the Canadian housing market is presented. |
| Keywords: | Econometric and statistical methods, Housing |
| JEL: | C2 E43 R21 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:14-54&r=ure |
| By: | Said Dahdah; Dipan Bose |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy and Planning Road Safety Transport - Airports and Air Services Roads and Highways Conflict and Development - Post Conflict Reconstruction |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:20558&r=ure |
| By: | Nunziata, Luca (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the increase in immigration flows into western European countries that took place in the 2000s to assess whether immigration affects crime victimization and the perception of criminality among European natives. Using data from the European Social Survey, the Labour Force Survey and other sources, we provide a set of fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations that deal with the endogenous sorting of immigration by region and with the sampling error in survey based measures of regional immigration shares, whose implications in terms of attenuation bias are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Our empirical findings show that an increase in immigration does not affect crime victimization, but it is associated with an increase in the fear of crime, the latter being consistently and positively correlated with the natives' unfavourable attitude toward immigrants. Our results reveal a misconception of the link between immigration and crime among European natives. |
| Keywords: | crime, migration, victimization, perception, fear |
| JEL: | J15 J61 K42 F22 R23 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8632&r=ure |
| By: | Erlend Berg; Maitreesh Ghatak; R Manjula; D Rajasekhar; Sanchari Roy |
| 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 undertaken across 151 villages in South India, local agents were hired to spread information about a public health insurance programme. Relative to at 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 |
| JEL: | C93 D83 I38 M52 O15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:stieop:042&r=ure |
| By: | Bruno Bises (Università Roma Tre); Antonio Scialà (Università Roma Tre) |
| Abstract: | The taxation of the owner-occupied house – the “principal dwelling‖ was a recurrent central issue in the political and economic debate in Italy especially in the last 15 years. It may be useful, therefore, to address this issue, by both examining the theoretical aspects and reviewing the Italian legislation since the general tax reform of the seventies – whose starting point for direct taxation was the year 1974 – with respect to the two tax bases that can be used in the taxation of owner-occupied dwellings, namely the imputed income and the asset value. This paper first analyzes the tax treatment of principal dwellings in Italy on both equity and efficiency grounds over the past forty years and compares it with the solutions adopted in other countries; second an empirical assessment of the evolution of the total tax burden on owner-occupied houses in Italy is proposed. |
| Keywords: | Housing taxation, Imputed rent, Irpef, Ici, Imu |
| JEL: | H21 H24 H71 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:0007&r=ure |
| By: | Hervas-Oliver,Jose-Luis; Sempere-Ripoll,Francisca |
| Abstract: | Agglomeration can generate gains. If it does, how does it work and how are those gains distributed across agglomerated firms? Despite the existence of an important body of research on this topic, the evidence is inconclusive. We examine the effect of localization externalities on a firm’s innovativeness. By analyzing a large dataset of 6,697 firms integrated with another regional agglomeration-related dataset, we obtain results which show that (i) location in an agglomeration has a positive influence on a firm’s absorptive capacity and innovativeness, and, (ii) firms benefit heterogeneously from being located in agglomerations, with benefits being distributed asymmetrically. Agglomeration gains exist but not all firms benefit equally: the least innovative firms gain the most. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, localization externalities, innovation, performance |
| JEL: | M1 |
| Date: | 2014–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201411&r=ure |
| By: | Saygin, Perihan; Weber, Andrea; Weynandt, Michèle A. |
| Abstract: | Social networks are an important channel of information transmission in the labor market. This paper studies the mechanisms by which social networks have an impact on labor market outcomes of displaced workers. We base our analysis on administrative records for the universe of private sector employment in Austria where we define work-related networks formed by past coworkers. To distinguish between mechanisms of information transmission, we adopt two different network perspectives. From the job-seeker's perspective we analyze how network characteristics affect job finding rates and wages in the new jobs. Then we switch to the perspective of the hiring firm and analyze which types of displaced workers get hired by firms that are connected to a closing firm via past coworker links. Our results indicate that employment status and the firm types of former coworkers are crucial for the job finding success of their displaced contacts. Moreover, 21% of displaced workers find a new job in a firm that is connected to their former workplace. Among all workers that were displaced from the same closing firm those with a direct link to a former coworker are twice as likely to be hired by the connected firm than workers without a link. These results highlight the role of work related networks in the transmission of job information and strongly suggest that job referrals are an important mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Job Displacement; Plant Closure; Referral Hiring; Social Networks |
| JEL: | J63 J64 M51 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10003&r=ure |
| By: | Mario J. Crucini; Mototsugu Shintani; Takayuki Tsuruga |
| Abstract: | Using US micro price data at the city level, we provide evidence that both the volatility and the persistence of deviations from the law of one price (LOP) are rising in the distance between US cities. A standard, two-city, stochastic equilibrium model with trade costs can predict the relationship between volatility and distance but not between persistence and distance. To account for the latter fact, we augment the standard model with noisy signals about the state of nominal aggregate demand that are asymmetric across cities. We further show that the main predictions of the model continue to hold even if we allow for the interaction of imperfect information, sticky prices, and multiple cities. |
| Keywords: | Real exchange rates, Law of one price, Relative prices, Trade cost |
| JEL: | E31 F31 D40 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2014-77&r=ure |
| By: | Yukiko Saito (RIEITI); Makoto Nirei (Hitotsubashi University); Vasco Carvalho (University of Cambridge and CREi) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the spillover effect of local exogenous shocks, such as earthquakes, to other firms through supply chain networks. Combining micro data on a large-scale inter-firm transaction network and geographic information on firm location, we examine the firm level impact of supply chain disruptions occurring in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. When we focus on exiting firms in affected areas as the originating firms of spillovers, we find that sales growth of linked firms outside the area exhibits negative and significant effects for both upstream and downstream firms. Furthermore, the significantly negative effects on downstream firms are shown not only for directly linked firms but also indirectly connected firms with degrees of separation 2, 3, 4, and 5. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:595&r=ure |
| By: | Lars Boerner; Battista Severgnini |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the spread of disease as a proxy to measure economic interactions. Based on a case study of the Black Death (1346-51) in the Mediterranean region and Europe, we find geographic, institutional, and cultural determinants of trade. To achieve this we create and empirically test a trade model between cities. Our findings allow us to create a new methodology to measure economic interaction and shed light on open questions in economics, especially pertaining to trade, economic history, and growth |
| Keywords: | trade; Black Death; gravity model; Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood; spatial regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:60382&r=ure |
| By: | Joachim Möller (IAB, IZA, University of Regensburg); Marcus Zierer (University of Regensburg) |
| JEL: | L91 N73 N74 R11 R40 R49 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:329&r=ure |
| By: | Roy Cerqueti; Marcel Ausloos |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the size distribution, - in economic terms - of the Italian municipalities over the period 2007-2011. Yearly data are rather well fitted by a modified Lavalette law, while Zipf-Mandelbrot-Pareto law seems to fail in this doing. The analysis is performed either at a national as well as at a local (regional and provincial) level. Deviations are discussed as originating in so called king and vice-roy effects. Results confirm that Italy is shared among very different regional realities. The case of Lazio is puzzling. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1411.7880&r=ure |
| By: | Guffarth, Daniel; Barber, Michael J. |
| Abstract: | The success breeds success hypothesis has been mainly applied to theoretical network approaches. We investigate the European aerospace industry using data on the European Framework Programmes and on Airbus suppliers, focusing on the success breeds success hypothesis at four levels of analysis: the spatial structure of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, its topological architecture, the individual actors that make up the network, and through a comparison of the Airbus invention and production networks. On the spatial level, SBS is favored: successful regions maintain their position and grow on a large scale, especially so for regions that have strongly participated from the very beginning. The regional hub structure is mirrored in the architecture of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, where well-connected hub organizations play a key role in shaping the structure of the network through their many collaborative partnerships and do so in a way that strategically positions themselves with greater ability to access and regulate knowledge flows, as assessed by several centrality measures. Only successful organizations have the ability to form so many ties, with success thus breeding success in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network. The importance of the core organizations made clear through the centrality analysis is further supported by the analysis of weak ties, where we observe that the core organizations are connected to the rest of the network with many weak ties, thereby confirming their outstanding positions in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network as being able to access knowledge or other resources. With the combination of the R&D collaboration network and the Airbus production network on a spatial level, we see additional support for SBS, as those regions whose actors are frequent participants in both networks show the greatest share of successful actors. The European aerospace industry shows an ambidextrous character as a whole, which is nonetheless insufficient to avoid recent and future challenges demanding a strong emphasis on production skills. |
| Keywords: | R&D collaboration network,success breeds success,aerospace industry,European Framework Programmes |
| JEL: | D85 L14 L93 O38 R11 R12 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:962014&r=ure |
| By: | Salm, M. (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Vollaard, B.A. (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence that perceptions of crime risk are severely biased for many years after a move to a new neighborhood. Based on four successive waves of a large crime survey, matched with administrative records on household relocations, we find that the longer an individual lives in a neighborhood, the higher their perception of the crime rate in the neighborhood. This finding holds irrespective of whether the move is from a relatively low-crime to a relatively high-crime area or vice versa. We find that avoidance behavior adjusts in line with the observed changes in beliefs. |
| Keywords: | heuristic; Victimization; crime |
| JEL: | D81 K42 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:2d48eb1b-5ec6-497f-9da0-b12e1c2c0bf6&r=ure |
| By: | Clancy, Daragh (European Stability Mechanism); Merola, Rossana (International Labour Office) |
| Abstract: | The financial sector played a key role in triggering the recent crisis. Negative feedback loops between the financial sector and the real economy have further increased the persistence and amplitude of the downturn. We examine such macrofinancial linkages through the lens of the housing market. We develop a model capable of replicating some key stylised facts from the bursting of the Irish property bubble. We show that expectations of future favourable events may accelerate credit growth and potentially result in a more vulnerable economy susceptible to downward revisions to the original expectations. We find that macro-prudential policy, in particular counter-cyclical capital requirements and larger capital buffers, can play a role in insulating the economy from these risks. |
| Keywords: | DSGE, macro-prudential policy, macro-financial linkages, capital requirements, Ireland. |
| JEL: | E44 E51 G10 G28 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:15/rt/14&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Arbia; Marco Bee; Giuseppe Espa; Flavio Santi |
| Abstract: | Maximum likelihood estimation of spatial models based on weight matrices typically requires a sizeable computational capacity, even in rel- atively small samples. The unilateral approximation approach to spatial models estimation has been suggested in Besag (1974) as a viable alternat- ive to MLE for conditionally specified processes. In this paper we revisit the method, extend it to simultaneous spatial processes and study the finite-sample properties of the resulting estimators by means of Monte Carlo simulations, using several Conditional Autoregressive Models. Ac- cording to the results, the performance of the unilateral estimators is very good, both in terms of statistical properties (accuracy and precision) and in terms of computing time. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpem:2014/08&r=ure |
| By: | Vitor Miguel Ribeiro (Vitor Miguel Ribeiro - FEP - Vitor Miguel de Sousa Ribeiro) |
| Abstract: | We consider a duopoly with horizontally differentiated firms, where firms decide the long-term plans (locations) in addition to short-term issues (prices). As in Bárcena-Ruiz and Casado-Izaga (2014), we introduce a third entity in the city by considering the presence of a policymaker that targets the long-run ideology (location) to the regulated sector. While in Bárcena-Ruiz and Casado-Izaga (2014), the sequential long-run decision between firms occurs after the definition of a long-run orientation by the policymaker, here we consider that one of the firms anticipates the long-term guidance of the policymaker. We find that an anticipatory movement conducted by a firm relatively to the long-run guidance of the policymaker gives to the anticipatory firm control of the majority of the market and the long-term plan of the policymaker is biased to the right of the city center. This result sharp contrasts with Bárcena-Ruiz and Casado-Izaga (2014) where, introducing a sequential move on the long-run decision of firms, the long-term plan of the policymaker is undeviating. Interestingly, we find that the anticipatory movement has null impacts the over equilibrium profits. Finally, the equilibrium social welfare is harmed due to a reduction in the equilibrium consumer surplus. |
| Keywords: | Spatial competition, Long-run decision, Policymaking decision, Price competition. |
| JEL: | D43 L11 L13 L40 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:553&r=ure |
| By: | Thomas J. Miceli (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the economic implications of the definition of public use advanced by the Supreme Court in the case of Kelo v. New London. In its ruling, the Court asserted that the Fifth Amendment public use requirement is satisfied if the taking in question, even if for private ends, promises enhanced jobs and tax revenues for the community. The paper first reviews the law and economics of public use, and then argues that the Court’s justification creates the potential for an alliance between local governments and developers that will increase the risk of overuse of eminent domain. Underlying this risk is the unobservability of landowners’ subjective values, which requires local governments to rely on market value as the basis for property taxation. |
| Keywords: | Eminent domain, public use, just compensation, property taxes, subjective value |
| JEL: | K11 H41 H71 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2014-35&r=ure |
| By: | Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines immigrant wage growth taking into account selective out-migration using administrative data from the Netherlands. We also take into account the potential endogeneity of the immigrants' labor supply and their out-migration decisions on their earning profiles using a correlated competing risk model, but we also use standard estimations as done in previous literature. We distinguish between two types of migrants: labor and family migrants given their different labor market and out-migration behavior. We find that simple models lead to biased estimates of the wage growth of immigrants. Controlling for the selective out-migration and endogeneity of labor supply, we find that labor out-migrants are positively selected but family out-migrants are negatively selected. Furthermore, the findings underscore the importance of taking into account the endogeneity of labor supply and out-migration when estimating immigrants' wage growth. |
| Keywords: | migration dynamics, labor market transitions, competing risks, immigrant assimilation, income growth |
| JEL: | F22 J61 C41 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8627&r=ure |
| By: | Marcel Fafchamps; Ana Vaz; Pedro C. Vicente |
| Abstract: | Voter education campaigns often aim to increase voter particpation and political accountability. We follow randomized interventions implemented nationwide during the 2009 Mozambican elections using a free newspaper, leaflets, and text messaging. We investigate whether treatment effects were transmitted through social networks (kinship and chatting) and geographical proximity. For individuals personally targeted by the campaign, we estimate the reinforcement effect of proximity to other targeted individuals. For untargeted individuals, we estimate the diffusion of the campaign depending on a proximity to targeted individuals. We find evidence for both effects, similar across the different treatments and across the different connectedness measures. We observe that the treatments worked through the networks by raising the levels of information and interest about the election, in line with the average treatment effects of voter education on voter participation. We interpret this result as a free riding effect, likely to occur for costly actions. JEL codes: |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:novafrica:wp1303&r=ure |
| By: | Giglio, Stefano W; Maggiori, Matteo; Ströbel, Johannes |
| Abstract: | We provide direct estimates of how agents trade off immediate costs and uncertain future benefits that occur in the very long run, 100 or more years away. We exploit a unique feature of housing markets in the U.K. and Singapore, where residential property ownership takes the form of either leaseholds or freeholds. Leaseholds are temporary, pre-paid, and tradable ownership contracts with maturities between 99 and 999 years, while freeholds are perpetual ownership contracts. The difference between leasehold and freehold prices reflects the present value of perpetual rental income starting at leasehold expiry, and is thus informative about very long-run discount rates. We estimate the price discounts for varying leasehold maturities compared to freeholds and extremely long-run leaseholds via hedonic regressions using proprietary datasets of the universe of transactions in each country. Agents discount very long-run cash flows at low rates, assigning high present values to cash flows hundreds of years in the future. For example, 100-year leaseholds are valued at more than 10% less than otherwise identical freeholds, implying discount rates below 2.6% for 100-year claims. Given the riskiness of rents, this suggests that both long-run risk-free discount rates and long-run risk premia are low. We show how the estimated very long-run discount rates are informative for climate change policy. |
| Keywords: | Asset Pricing; Climate Change; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Environmental Economics; Housing Risk and Return.; Real Estate |
| JEL: | G11 G12 R30 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9978&r=ure |
| By: | W. Erwin Diewert (University of British Columbia and School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales); Kevin J. Fox (School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales); Chihiro Shimizu (Reitaku University and University of British Columbia) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the problems associated with the construction of price indexes for commercial properties that could be used in the System of National Accounts. Property price indexes are required for the stocks of commercial properties in the Balance Sheets of the country. Related service price indexes for the land and structure input components of a commercial property are required in the Production Accounts of the country if the Multifactor Productivity of the Commercial Property Industry is calculated as part of the System of National accounts. The paper reviews existing methods for constructing an overall Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) and concludes that most methods are biased (due to their neglect of depreciation) and more importantly, not able to provide separate land and structure subindexes. A class of hedonic regression models that is not subject to these problems is discussed. |
| Keywords: | Commercial property price indexes, Net Operating Income, discounted cash flow, System of National Accounts, Balance Sheets, methods of depreciation, land and structure prices, hedonic regressions, repeat sales method |
| JEL: | C2 C23 C43 D12 E31 R21 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2014-38&r=ure |
| By: | Claire Nauwelaers (Independent Policy Analyst); Alexander Kleibrink (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Katerina Stancova (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | Science and technology parks (STPs) are very common instruments used by regional and national authorities for regional development. Their main objective is to foster science-based growth poles to stimulate economic diversification away from declining industries. Today, STPs are present in many European regions. They concentrate a wide range of innovative companies and research organisations, and as a consequence the overall knowledge intensity of these places is very high. STPs are thus likely to include seeds for the domains of knowledge-intensive specialisation, on which regions can rely to increase their competitiveness. This is why STPs seem well placed to play a key role in innovation strategies for smart specialisation (S3). We argue that the diversity of STP models by definition means that their contribution to smart specialisation is very likely to depend on the specific context. Three key roles for STPs in the design and implementation of smart specialisation strategies are proposed: (1) STPs may provide an adequate innovation ecosystem for the development of pilot innovation initiatives, well in line with the entrepreneurial discovery process that should drive the regional economies towards new, distinctive and competitive areas of activities. (2) STPs can play an important role as one of the relevant stakeholders forming the quadruple helix of innovation actors shaping smart specialisation strategies. (3) STPs can add the needed external and outward-looking dimension to smart specialisation strategies, a dimension that is today still very much under-developed. Yet, these contributions from STPs cannot be taken for granted. We identify limitations and success conditions for each of the three roles. Illustrative examples of STPs in Finland, England and the Netherlands show how STPs can actively and creatively contribute to the design of innovation strategies and to the external connectivity of their home regions. |
| Keywords: | European cohesion policy, Structural Funds, smart specialisation, Innovation Union, science and technology parks, innovation ecosystem, regional development |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc90719&r=ure |
| By: | Kibrom A. Abay (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen); Goytom Abraha Kahsay (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Guush Berhane (Development Strategies and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | In the absence of well-established factor markets, the role of indigenous institutions and social networks can be substantial for mobilizing factors for agricultural production. We investigate the role of an indigenous social network in Ethiopia, the iddir, in facilitating factor market transactions among smallholder farmers. Using detailed longitudinal household survey data and employing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that iddir membership improves households’ access to factor markets. Specifically, we find that joining an iddir network improves households’ access to land, labor and credit transactions between 7 and 11 percentage points. Furthermore, our findings also indicate that iddir networks crowd-out borrowing from local moneylenders (locally referred as Arata Abedari), a relatively expensive credit source, virtually without affecting borrowing from formal credit sources. These results point out the roles non-market arrangements, such as social networks, can play in mitigating market inefficiencies in poor rural markets. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, iddir networks, factor market imperfections, factor market transactions, crowding-out |
| JEL: | D02 D13 D71 D83 D85 O17 Q12 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2014_12&r=ure |
| By: | Booth, Alison L; Cardona Sosa, Lina; Nolen, Patrick |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of single-sex classes on the pass rates, grades, and continued enrollment of students in a coeducational university. We randomly assign students to all-female, all-male, and coed classes and, therefore, get around the selection issues present in studies on single-sex education done on students in primary and secondary school. We find that one hour a week of single-sex education benefits females: females are 7.5% more likely to pass their first year courses and score 8% higher overall. Furthermore, females in all-females classes are roughly 9% more likely to continue studying economics and business at university than females who studied in coed classes. There is evidence that single-sex education causes women to adopt behaviors associated with better academic outcomes: such as attending more classes and doing optional assignments. However, these behavioral changes can explain, at most 40% of the all-female effect, suggesting that there is a large direct effect of single-sex education on outcomes. |
| Keywords: | single-sex; education; experiment; gender |
| JEL: | C91 C92 J16 J33 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10221&r=ure |
| By: | Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we provide an overview on the literature on key players in networks. We first introduce the theoretical concept of the key player, which is the agent that should be targeted by the planner so that, once removed, she will generate the highest level of reduction in total activity. We also consider another notion of key player where the planner is targeting a set of network nodes that are optimally positioned to quickly diffuse information, attitudes, behaviors or goods. We then examine the empirical tests of the key-player policies for criminal networks, education, R&D networks, financial networks and diffusion of microfinance. We show that implementing such a policy outperforms other standard policies such as targeting the most active agents in a network. |
| Keywords: | crime policies; diffusion; Katz-Bonacich centrality; Key players |
| JEL: | A14 D85 K42 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10277&r=ure |