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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | de Silva, Ashton J; Boymal, Jonathan; Potts, Jason; Thomas, Stuart |
| Abstract: | Like many consumer products, household mortgages have experienced significant innovation in recent decades, with mortgages becoming cheaper, more accessible, and with more features. Many observers have expected that this would increase demand for houses, contributing to a rise in house prices. We investigate this relation, both in terms the extent and timing of innovation in residential mortgage products, and then we critically assess whether there is a link with Melbourne Metropolitan house prices (post 1980). Our conclusion is surprising: we find no apparent evidence of a relationship between residential mortgage innovation and house prices. |
| Keywords: | Home Mortgage, Financial Innovation, House Prices, |
| JEL: | E69 G18 R31 |
| Date: | 2015–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62548&r=ure |
| By: | Gershenson, Seth (American University); Tekin, Erdal (American University) |
| Abstract: | Community traumatic events such as mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural or man-made disasters have the potential to disrupt student learning in numerous ways. For example, these events can reduce instructional time by causing teacher and student absences, school closures, and disturbances to usual classroom routines. Similarly, they might also disrupt home environments. This paper uses a quasi-experimental research design to identify the effects of the 2002 "Beltway Sniper" attacks on student achievement in Virginia's public schools. In order to identify the causal impact of these events, the empirical analysis uses a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits geographic variation in schools' proximity to the attacks. The main results indicate that the attacks significantly reduced school-level proficiency rates in schools within five miles of an attack. Evidence of a causal effect is most robust for third grade reading and third and fifth grade math proficiency, suggesting that the shootings caused a decline in school proficiency rates of about five to nine percentage points. Particularly concerning from an equity standpoint, these effects appear to be entirely driven by achievement declines in schools that serve higher proportions of racial minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Finally, results from supplementary analyses suggest that these deleterious effects faded out in subsequent years. |
| Keywords: | crime, student, school, sniper, trauma, terrorism, achievement, shooting, guns, homicides |
| JEL: | I12 I21 K42 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8958&r=ure |
| By: | Del Bello, Carlo L. (Paris School of Economics); Patacchini, Eleonora (Cornell University); Zenou, Yves (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Using unique geo-coded information on the residential address of a representative sample of American adolescents and their friends, we revisit the importance of geographical proximity in shaping education outcomes. Our findings reveal no evidence of residential neighborhood effects. Social proximity, as measured by similarity in religion, race and family income as well as in unobserved characteristics, appears to play a major role in facilitating peer influence. Our empirical strategy is able to control for the endogeneity of both social network and location choices. |
| Keywords: | neighborhood effects, social networks, link formation, education |
| JEL: | C21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8956&r=ure |
| By: | Gianni Guastella (DISCE, Università Cattolica); Stefano Pareglio (Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica "Niccolò Tartaglia") |
| Abstract: | Sustainability of agriculture is challenged by increasing sprawl in urban agglomerations. Under increasing agglomeration economies in large and even medium sized cities, more and more soil is being subtracted to agriculture, depriving agricultural activities of its main production factor. The extent to which the expanding urbanization threatens agricultural development depends on the urban spatial structure, however. In this work it is empirically investigated how the relationship between soil use and soil consumption is shaped by the compactness of a city. For the population of LAU1 main cities in an Italian region (Lombardy), compactness is measured as the density gradient and estimated using Central Business District models. It is found that more compact cities exhibit relatively lower-than-expected soil consumption in the period 1999-2007. Results suggest that agglomeration economies are not enemies of agricultural activities per se. Nonetheless, urbanization needs to be accompanied by urban fringe containment. |
| Keywords: | Land Use; Land Take, Central Business District, Spatial Size of Cities, Spatial Econometrics |
| JEL: | Q15 R14 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1400&r=ure |
| By: | Zhengbin Dong; Wenjie Wu |
| Abstract: | Air networks are normal examples of transportation systems among ubiquitous big data networks in dynamic nature. This is particularly the case in developing countries with rapid airport network expansions. This paper explores the structure and evolution of the trunk airport network of China (ANC) in major years during 1980s-2000s. We generalise the complex network approach developed in existing studies and further test for statistical properties of weighted network characteristics by using pair-wise traffic flows. We find that ANC is a small-world network in which (i) the number of airflight connections and (ii) the number of shortest paths going through a given airport city meet the densification law, however, its degree distribution does not follow power-law statistics like other countries' airport networks. The spatiotemporal decomposition of network metric plots and the visualization maps leads to a rich harvest of stylized ANC structures: (i) national hub-and-spoke patterns surrounding mega-cities; (ii) regional broker patterns surrounding Kunming and Urumqi, and (iii) local heterogeneous disparity patterns in isolated geographical cities, such as Lhasa, Lijiang, Huangshan, etc. These findings have important implications towards understanding the geo-political and economic forces at stake in shaping China's urban systems. |
| Keywords: | Airport system, complex network, regional development, China |
| JEL: | O18 R12 P25 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0173&r=ure |
| By: | Henry Overman |
| Abstract: | There are large variations in economic performance across UK cities and on some measures, they have widened since the global financial crisis. All main parties promise action to reduce them, but there is little difference between them in terms of the policies that they would pursue to meet this objective. Unfortunately, the traditional policy mix is largely ineffective. There is a growing recognition that greater local control is needed to improve policy effectiveness, although there is disagreement about the form this devolution should take. London's strong economic performance plays a large part in explaining widening disparities. Providing an effective counter-balance to London may require policy aimed at 'rebalancing' to be more spatially focused - for example on Manchester. Concentrating resources in this way is controversial and difficult for constituency-based politicians (in both central and local government). It is helpful to remember that we ultimately care about the effect of policies on people more than on places. Efforts to rebalance the economy should be judged on the extent to which they improve opportunities for all, rather than whether they narrow the gap between particular places. |
| Keywords: | UK cities, urban economies, recession, #ElectionEconomics, spatial equilibrium, labour, housing market, wages, regional disparities |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepeap:025&r=ure |
| By: | Angrist, Joshua (MIT); Battistin, Erich (Queen Mary, University of London); Vuri, Daniela (University of Rome Tor Vergata) |
| Abstract: | An instrumental variables (IV) identification strategy that exploits statutory class size caps shows significant achievement gains in smaller classes in Italian primary schools. Gains from small classes are driven mainly by schools in Southern Italy, suggesting a substantial return to class size reductions for residents of the Mezzogiorno. In addition to high unemployment and other social problems, however, the Mezzogiorno is distinguished by pervasive manipulation of standardized test scores, a finding revealed in a natural experiment that randomly assigns school monitors. IV estimates also show that small classes increase score manipulation. Dishonest scoring appears to be a consequence of teacher shirking in grade transcription, rather than cheating by either students or teachers. Estimates of a causal model for achievement with two endogenous variables, class size and score manipulation, suggest that the effects of class size on measured achievement are driven entirely by the relationship between class size and manipulation. These findings show how consequential score manipulation can arise even in assessment systems with few NCLB-style accountability concerns. |
| Keywords: | test scores, education production, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | C26 C31 I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8959&r=ure |
| By: | Piopiunik, Marc (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Ruhose, Jens (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | After the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 3 million people with German ancestors immigrated to Germany under a special law granting immediate citizenship. Exploiting the exogenous allocation of ethnic German immigrants by German authorities across regions upon arrival, we find that immigration significantly increases crime. The crime impact of immigration depends strongly on local labor market conditions, with strong impacts in regions with high unemployment. Similarly, we find substantially stronger effects in regions with high preexisting crime levels or large shares of foreigners. |
| Keywords: | immigration, crime, allocation policy |
| JEL: | F22 J15 K42 R10 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8962&r=ure |
| By: | Francisco Cabrera-Hernandez (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, UK) |
| Abstract: | Mexican educational authorities face a significant and challenging problem of low achievement in standardized tests applied to pupils in primary schools. This research looks at a Full-Time Primary Schools Program implemented in 2007, to work out if changing the time pupils spend at school and a modification in the structure of teaching can enhance skills in language and mathematics. The results of Differences in Differences (DiD) and Propensity Score Match plus DiD, point to a significant impact of the program with an improvement of 0.11 SD on mathematics and Spanish test scores after four years of treatment. More importantly, these improvements are significantly higher in schools located in deprived areas, ranging from 0.12 SD to 0.29 SD on both subjects after two and four years of treatment, respectively. The impacts also show a significant average decrease in the proportion of students graded as ‘insufficient’, combined with an increase of those graded as ‘excellent’. Further analysis on causal channels shows that policy effects do not come from changes in the composition of pupils in treated schools. These findings are of strong significance when laced into the wider education debate about what works best in schools for improving pupil performance. |
| Keywords: | full-time schools, test scores, school reform, time of instruction, school’s inputs |
| JEL: | I2 I21 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:7415&r=ure |
| By: | Florian Ploeckl (School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | Information exchange is a necessary prerequisite for economic exchange over space. This relationship implies that information exchange data corresponds to the location of economic activity and therefore also of population. Building on this relationship we use postal data to analyse the spatial structure of the population distribution in the German Empire of 1871. In particular we utilize local volume data of a number of postal information transmission services and a New Economic Geography model to create two index measures, Information Intensity and Amenity. These variables respectively influence the two mechanisms behind the urban population distribution, namely agglomeration forces and location endowments. By testing the influence of actual location characteristics on these indices we identify which location factors mattered for the population distribution and show that a number of characteristics worked through both mechanisms. The model is then used to determine counterfactual population distributions, which demonstrate the relative importance of particular factors, most notably the railroad whose removal shows a 34% lower urban population. A data set of large locations for the years 1877 to 1895 shows that market access increases drove the magnitude of the increase in urban population, while endowment changes shaped their relative pattern. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2015-12&r=ure |
| By: | KONDO Keisuke |
| Abstract: | Using Japanese municipal dataset between 1980 and 2010, this paper empirically analyzes the underlying mechanism of interregional labor migration. Since the existing literature shows that regional disparities in unemployment rates have decreased gradually, our main concern is to uncover how the labor migration contributes to reducing the unemployment disparities. A novel approach to the migration analysis is to incorporate interregional dependency in migration decisions by using spatial econometric models. Our estimation results show that high unemployment rates play a role as a push factor for migration, and that there is a statistically significant and positive spatial dependence in interregional migration. Furthermore, we find a negative relationship between percentage changes in relative unemployment rates and out-migration rates. Therefore, our results suggest that high unemployment rates have forced workers away from the regions in a wide sphere, which has contributed to reducing regional disparities in unemployment rates. |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:15011&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt; Arne Feddersen |
| Abstract: | We analyze the economic impact of the German high-speed rail (HSR) connecting Cologne and Frankfurt, which provides plausibly exogenous variation in access to surrounding economic mass. We find a causal effect of about 8.5% on average of the HSR on the GDP of three counties with intermediate stops. We make further use of the variation in bilateral transport costs between all counties in our study area induced by the HSR to identify the strength and spatial scope of agglomeration forces. Our most careful estimate points to an elasticity of output with respect to market potential of 12.5%. The strength of the spillover declines by 50% ever 30 minutes of travel time, diminishing to 1% after about 200 minutes. Our results further imply an elasticity of per-worker output with respect to economic density of 3.8%, although the effects seem driven by worker and firm selection. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility, agglomeration, high-speed rail, market potential, transport policy |
| JEL: | R12 R28 R38 R48 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0172&r=ure |
| By: | Tammaru, Tiit (University of Tartu); Strömgren, Magnus (Umeå University); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Danzer, Alexander M. (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | Contemporary cities are becoming more and more diverse in population as a result of immigration. Research also shows that within cities residential neighborhoods are becoming ethnically more diverse, but that residential segregation has remained persistently high. High levels of segregation are often seen as negative, preventing integration of immigrants in their host society and having a negative impact on people's lives. Segregation research often focuses on residential neighborhoods, but ignores the fact that a lot of interaction also takes place in other spheres of life, such as the workplace. This paper examines the role of residential segregation in workplace segregation among recently arrived immigrants. By using unique longitudinal register data from Sweden, we show that the role of residential segregation in workplace segregation differs in an important way for immigrant men and immigrant women. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, residential segregation, workplace segregation, longitudinal analysis, Sweden |
| JEL: | J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8932&r=ure |
| By: | Andrabi,Tahir; Das,Jishnu; Khwaja,Asim Ijaz |
| Abstract: | This paper studies study the impact of providing school and child test scores on subsequent test scores, prices, and enrollment in markets with multiple public and private providers. A randomly selected half of the sample villages (markets) received report cards. This increased test scores by 0.11 standard deviations, decreased private school fees by 17 percent, and increased primary enrollment by 4.5 percent. Heterogeneity in the treatment impact by initial school quality is consistent with canonical models of asymmetric information. Information provision facilitates better comparisons across providers, improves market efficiency and raises child welfare through higher test scores, higher enrollment, and lower fees. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Secondary Education,Tertiary Education,Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2015–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7226&r=ure |
| By: | Johannes G. Hoogeveen (World Bank); Mariacristina Rossi (University of Torino, CeRP-CCA and Netspar); Dario Sansone (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses new data available from a school census in Togo to analyze differences in primary school performances across regions. Our results, obtained from a stochastic frontier analysis, suggest that differences in efficiency explain only part of the observed variation, while resource availability is the most important driver of performance differences. In addition to this, the paper notes that resources are distributed quite unevenly among regions and schools. By improving access to inputs, particularly in the underserved schools, performance can be expected to go up considerably. |
| Keywords: | efficiency, education, Togo, stochastic frontier, performances |
| JEL: | C21 I21 I25 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crp:wpaper:145&r=ure |
| By: | Tibor Zavadil (National Bank of Slovakia, Research Department); Teresa Messner (Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography, Leibniz Universität, Hannover) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of household indebtedness on household net wealth, using Slovak data from the first wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey. We find two different effects of household indebtedness on wealth – a highly negative impact of non-mortgage debt and a neutral effect of mortgage debt. Furthermore, we find that households living in bigger municipalities and more developed regions are both wealthier and more indebted. Finally, we ascertain that household wealth is mainly determined by income, home ownership, inheritance, household composition, the characteristics of household head, and regional demographic and economic conditions. |
| Keywords: | household net wealth, mortgage and non-mortgage debt, regional analysis |
| JEL: | D14 G21 R20 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:svk:wpaper:1032&r=ure |
| By: | Maria Helena Guimaraes; Luis Catela Nunes; Ana Paula Barreira; Thomas Panagopoulos |
| Abstract: | The relative attractiveness of cities as places to live determines population movements in or out of them. Understanding the appealing features of a city is fundamental to local governments, particularly for cities facing population decline. Pull and push attributes of cities can include economic aspects, the availability of amenities and psychological constructs, initiating a discussion around which factors are more relevant in explaining migration. However, a pull–push approach has been underexplored in studies of shrinking cities. In the present study, we contribute to the discussion by identifying pull and push factors in Portuguese shrinking cities. Data were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire survey of 701 residents in four shrinking cities: Oporto, Barreiro, Peso da Régua and Moura. Factor analysis and automatic linear modelling were used to analyse the data. Our results support previous findings that the economic activity of a city is the most relevant feature for retaining residents. However, other characteristics specific to each city, especially those related to heritage and natural beauty, are also shown to influence a city’s attractiveness as a place to live. The cause of population shrinkage is also found to influence residents’ assessments of the pull and push attributes of each city. Furthermore, the results show the relevance of social ties and of place attachment to inhabitants’ intention to continue living in their city of residence. JEL codes: |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp592&r=ure |
| By: | Ron Boschma; Víctor Martín; Asier Minondo |
| Abstract: | The development of new industries demands access to local capabilities. Little attention has yet been paid to the role of spillovers from neighbor regions for industrial diversification, nor has the role of network linkages between neighbor regions been investigated. As the spread of capabilities has a strong geographical bias, we expect regions to develop new industries in which their neighbor regions are specialized. To test this hypothesis, we analyze the development of new industries in US states during the period 2000-2012. We show that an US state has a higher probability of developing a comparative advantage in a new industry if a neighbor state is specialized in that industry. We also show that neighbor US states have more similar export structures. This export similarity seems to be explained by higher social connectivity between neighbor states, as embodied in their bilateral migration patterns. |
| Keywords: | new industries, regional branching, diversification, knowledge spillovers, US, regions, exports |
| JEL: | R11 N94 O14 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1508&r=ure |
| By: | Sandra McNally |
| Abstract: | England's performance in international tests of student achievement continues to be disappointing. Further improvement is essential not only for students' themselves but also for economic growth. This briefing considers the impact of Academies, school spending and teacher quality. Research evidence suggests that it is right to protect school budgets but too early to judge the Coalition's Academies policy. Although there was a large improvement in the first 200 schools (about 4 years after conversion), those schools were disadvantaged and underperforming (unlike the more recent academies) and the current programme is much larger scale. There is broad agreement that high quality teaching matters hugely for student achievement, but there is no magic national formula to bring this about. |
| Keywords: | UK, education, government policy, academies, teaching, educational resources, #ElectionEconomics |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepeap:023&r=ure |
| By: | Robert Collinson; Ingrid Gould Ellen; Jens Ludwig |
| Abstract: | The United States government devotes about $40 billion each year to means-tested housing programs, plus another $6 billion or so in tax expenditures on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). What exactly do we spend this money on, why, and what does it accomplish? We focus on these questions. We begin by reviewing the history of low-income housing programs in the U.S., and then summarize the characteristics of participants in means-tested housing programs and how programs have changed over time. We consider important conceptual issues surrounding the design of and rationale for means-tested housing programs in the U.S. and review existing empirical evidence, which is limited in important ways. Finally, we conclude with thoughts about the most pressing questions that might be addressed in future research in this area. |
| JEL: | H53 I3 I38 R28 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21071&r=ure |
| By: | TABUCHI, Takatoshi (University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics and Research Institute of Economics, Trade & Industry); THISSE, Jacques-François (Université catholique de Louvain, CORE, Belgium; NRU-Higher School of Economics, Russia; CEPR); ZHU, Xiwei (Center for Research of Private Economy and School of Economics, Zhejiang University) |
| Abstract: | We show that how technological innovations and migration costs interact to shape the space-economy. Regardless of the level of transport costs, rising labor productivity fosters the agglomeration of activities, whereas falling transport costs do not affect the location of activities. When labor is heterogeneous, the number of workers residing in the more productive region increases by decreasing order of productive efficiency when labor productivity rises. This process affects in opposite directions the welfare of those who have a lower productivity. |
| Keywords: | new economic geography, technological progress, labor productivity, migration costs, labor heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2014047&r=ure |
| By: | de Silva, Ashton J; Boymal, Jonthan; Potts, Jason; Thomas, Stuart |
| Abstract: | The stance of Australia’s central authorities with respect to residential mortgage innovation appears different from many of our international counterparts. In this article we provide an interpretation of this policy stance, concluding that signals are arguably a more prominent feature of Australia’s policy environment than many of our overseas counterparts. In addition we also observe that whilst there is a strong link between innovation and (de)regulation, a healthy degree of competition appears to be necessary if a wider-set of consumers are to have access to these innovations. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage innovation, macro prudential regulation, policy, house prices |
| JEL: | E65 G18 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2015–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62549&r=ure |
| By: | Peter Robinson; Francesca Rossi |
| Abstract: | In a panel data model with fixed effects, possible cross-sectional dependence is investigated in a spatial autoregressive setting. An Edgeworth expansion is developed for the maximum likelihood estimate of the spatial correlation coefficient. The expansion is used to develop more accurate interval estimates for the coefficient, and tests for cross-sectional independence that have better size properties, than corresponding rules of statistical inference based on first order asymptotic theory. Comparisons of finite sample performance are carried out using Monte Carlo simulations. |
| Keywords: | Panel data; Fixed effects; Spatial autoregression; Edgeworth expansion; Interval estimates; Tests for cross-sectional independence |
| JEL: | C12 C21 C31 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:61432&r=ure |
| By: | Aldieri, Luigi; Aprile, Maria Carmela; Vinci, Concetto Paolo |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to existing literature on firms’ innovative activity examining the relationship between the R&D rivalry and spillovers at the firm level. In particular, we present an empirical analysis in United States, Japan and Europe based upon a new dataset composed of 879 worldwide R&D-intensive firms. In order to identify the technological proximity, we use the Jaffe industry weight matrix, based on the construction of technological vectors for each firm, where its patents are distributed across technology classes, in such a way that we compute knowledge spillovers. Opportune econometric techniques, which deal with both firm’s unobserved heterogeneity and weak exogeneity of the explanatory variables, are implemented. In order to test the robustness of our results, we introduce also the combined spatial-autoregressive model with autoregressive disturbances and additional endogenous variables. The empirical results are differentiated across countries, and suggest that the spatial effects are statistically significant |
| Keywords: | Spatial models; Innovation; R&D spillovers |
| JEL: | C31 C33 O31 R15 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:63402&r=ure |
| By: | Aliprantis, Dionissi (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment randomly assigned housing vouchers that could be used in low-poverty neighborhoods. Consistent with the literature, I find that receiving an MTO voucher had no effect on outcomes like earnings, employment, and test scores. However, after studying the assumptions identifying neighborhood effects with MTO data, this paper reaches a very different interpretation of these results than found in the literature. I first specify a model in which the absence of effects from the MTO program implies an absence of neighborhood effects. I present theory and evidence against two key assumptions of this model: That poverty is the only determinant of neighborhood quality, and that outcomes only change across one threshold of neighborhood quality. I then show that in a more realistic model of neighborhood effects that relaxes these assumptions, the absence of effects from the MTO program is perfectly compatible with the presence of neighborhood effects. This analysis illustrates why the implicit identification strategies used in the literature on MTO can be misleading. This paper is a revision of a working paper previously published as 11-22, 11-22R, 12-33, and 12-33R. WP 15-05 |
| Keywords: | Moving to Opportunity; Neighborhood Effect; Program Effect |
| JEL: | C30 H50 I38 J10 R00 |
| Date: | 2015–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1506&r=ure |
| By: | Elul, Ronel (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | We find that private-securitized loans perform worse than observably similar, nonsecuritized loans, which provides evidence for adverse selection. The effect of securitization is strongest for prime mortgages, which have not been studied widely in the previous literature and particular prime adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs): These become delinquent at a 30 percent higher rate when privately securitized. By contrast, our baseline estimates for subprime mortgages show that private-securitized loans default at lower rates. We show, however, that “early defaulting loans” account for this: those that were so risky that they defaulted before they could be securitized. This version supersedes WP 09-21. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage default; securitization; adverse selection |
| JEL: | D82 G21 |
| Date: | 2015–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:15-15&r=ure |
| By: | Andersson , Tommy (Department of Economics, Lund University); Svensson, Lars-Gunnar (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers a general house allocation problem with price restrictions and provides an extension of the main group non-manipulability result in Andersson and Svensson (2014, Econometrica). |
| Keywords: | house allocation; matching; non-manipulability; preference domains |
| JEL: | C78 D71 |
| Date: | 2015–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2015_009&r=ure |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Tabuchi, Takatoshi |
| Abstract: | We consider the role of the nonlinear commuting cost function in determination of the equilibrium commuting pattern where all agents are mobile. Previous literature has considered only linear commuting cost, where in equilibrium, all workers are indifferent about their workplace location. We show that this no longer holds for nonlinear commuting cost. The equilibrium commuting pattern is completely determined by the concavity or convexity of commuting cost as a function of distance. We show that a monocentric equilibrium exists when the ratio of the firm agglomeration externality to commuting cost is sufficiently high. Finally, we find empirical evidence of both long and short commutes in equilibrium, implying that the commuting cost function is likely concave. |
| Keywords: | Commuting |
| JEL: | R13 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:63504&r=ure |
| By: | Schanne, Norbert (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "It is broadly accepted that two aspects regarding the modeling strategy are essential for the accuracy of forecast: a parsimonious model focusing on the important structures, and the quality of prospective information. Here, we establish a Global VAR framework, a technique that considers a variety of spatio-temporal dynamics in a multivariate setting, that allows for spatially heterogeneous slope coefficients, and that is nevertheless feasible for data without extremely long time dimension. Second, we use this framework to analyse the prospective information regarding the economy due to spatial co-development of regional labour markets in Germany. The predictive content of the spatially interdependent variables is compared with the information content of various leading indicators which describe the general economic situation, the tightness of labour markets and environmental impacts like weather. The forecasting accuracy of these indicators is investigated for German regional labour-market data in simulated forecasts at different horizons and for several periods. Germany turns out to have no economically dominant region (which reflects the polycentric structure of the country). The regions do not follow a joint stable long run trend which could be used to implement cointegration. Accounting for spatial dependence improves the forecast accuracy compared to a model without spatial linkages while using the same leading indicator. Amongst the tested leading indicators, only few produce more accurate forecasts when included in a GVAR model, than the GVAR without indicator. IAB-" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Prognosegenauigkeit, Prognosemodell, regionale Faktoren, Indikatorenbildung |
| JEL: | C23 E24 E27 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201513&r=ure |
| By: | Pedro Carneiro; Oswald Koussihouèdé; Nathalie Lahire; Costas Meghir; Corina Mommaerts |
| Abstract: | The impact of school resources on the quality of education in developing countries may depend crucially on whether resources are targeted efficiently. In this paper we use a randomized experiment to analyze the impact of a school grants program in Senegal, which decentralized a portion of the country’s education budget. We find large positive effects on test scores at younger grades that persist at least two years. We show that these effects are concentrated among schools that focused funds on human resources improvements rather than school materials, suggesting that teachers and principals may be a central determinant of school quality. |
| JEL: | H52 I22 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21063&r=ure |
| By: | Agustín Molina-Parra; Diego Martínez-López |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the vertical and horizontal interactions existing between federal and state governments in terms of public deficits. We estimate a fiscal reaction function for the Spanish regions over the period 1995-2010 paying special attention to the impact of federal fiscal stance on the state fiscal imbalances. Our results indicate that higher public deficits of the central government encourage bigger fiscal imbalances at state level. This vertical interaction is interpreted in the context of yardstick competition models. We also find a significant impact of fiscal decisions taken by governments at the same tier of decision on a specific state. |
| Keywords: | public de?cit, intergovernmental relations, yardstick competition. |
| JEL: | H62 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gov:wpaper:1503&r=ure |
| By: | John M. Clapp (University of Connecticut); Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut); Tingyu Zhou (Concordia University) |
| Abstract: | From the perspective of an existing retailer, the optimal size of a cluster of retail activity represents a trade-off between the marginal increases in consumer attraction from another store against the depletion of the customer base caused by an additional competitor. We estimate opening and closing probabilities of multi-line department stores (“anchors”) as a function of pre-existing anchors by type of anchor store (low-priced, mid-priced or high-priced) using a bias corrected probit model with county and year fixed effects. We find strong negative competitive effects of an additional same type but no effect on openings of anchors of another type. |
| Keywords: | Multi-line Department Stores, Shopping Centers, Openings, Closings, Bias-Corrected Probit |
| JEL: | D43 L1 L21 L81 R1 R3 R12 R33 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2015-04&r=ure |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Koussihouèdé, Oswald (University Gaston Berger); Lahire, Nathalie (World Bank); Meghir, Costas (Yale University); Mommaerts, Corina (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The impact of school resources on the quality of education in developing countries may depend crucially on whether resources are targeted efficiently. In this paper we use a randomized experiment to analyze the impact of a school grants program in Senegal, which decentralized a portion of the country's education budget. We find large positive effects on test scores at younger grades that persist at least two years. We show that these effects are concentrated among schools that focused funds on human resources improvements rather than school materials, suggesting that teachers and principals may be a central determinant of school quality. |
| Keywords: | quality of education, decentralization, school resources, child development, clustered randomized control trials |
| JEL: | H52 I20 I22 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8960&r=ure |
| By: | Rabya Nizam; Abraham Rugo Muriu |
| Keywords: | Governance - Local Government Governance - Parliamentary Government Governance - Politics and Government Governance - Regional Governance Public Sector Development - Decentralization Social Development - Participations and Civic Engagement Social Development - Social Accountability |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21667&r=ure |
| By: | Weinzimmer, David; Sanders, Rebecca L.; Dittrich, Heidi; Cooper, Jill F. |
| Abstract: | This paper elaborates on findings from an evaluation of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Safe Routes to Transit (SR2T) program, which funded enhancements to increase walking and cycling to regional transit stations. To understand how the program influenced travel choices, behavior, and perceptions of safety and local air quality, researchers surveyed transit users and observed driver, pedestrian, and bicyclist behavior in the periods before and after the enhancements were made at multiple transit stations. Data from the treatment and control stations suggest that the streetscape and roadway improvements made through the SR2T program positively influenced the propensity to walk, bicycle, and take the bus to transit stations as reported through surveys. In particular, results show that walking and bicycling increased by 3% among treatment sites compared with control sites. Bicycling also increased at control sites, indicating a general societal shift. Further, driving decreased 2.5% at treatment sites. Perceived air quality, in general, improved in the post-period. When asked about perceived traffic risk, bicyclists more than pedestrians reported feeling safer on the road, with 10% of the bicyclists, on average, feeling safer after the improvements. There were also economic benefits from this project—pedestrians and bicyclists were overrepresented in those who stopped en route to transit for food and drink. The evidence suggests that the SR2T program positively impacted the decision to walk and bicycle to access transit. It is recommended that the program be expanded to additional sites in the future. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Safe Routes to Transit, California |
| Date: | 2014–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt3wv3g18b&r=ure |
| By: | Camille Terrier |
| Abstract: | This paper tests if gender-discrimination in grading affects pupils' achievements and course choices. I use a unique dataset containing grades given by teachers, scores obtained anonymously by pupils at different ages, and their course choice during high school. Based on double-differences, the identification of the gender bias in grades suggests that girls benefit from a substantive positive discrimination in math but not in French. This bias is not explained by girls' better behavior and only marginally by their lower initial achievement. I then use the heterogeneity in teachers' discriminatory behavior to show that classes in which teachers present a high degree of discrimination in favor of girls are also classes in which girls tend to progress significantly more than boys, during the school year but also during the next four years. Teachers' biases also increase the relative probability that girls attend a general high school and chose science courses. |
| Keywords: | Gender, grading, discrimination, progress |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1341&r=ure |
| By: | Jason Barr; Fred Smith; Sayali Kulkarni |
| Abstract: | Using vacant land sales, we construct a land value index for Manhattan from 1950 to 2013. We find three major cycles (1950 to 1977, 1977 to 1993, and 1993 to 2007), with land values reaching their nadir in 1977, two years after the city’s fiscal crises. Overall, we find the average annual real growth rate to be 5.1%. Since 1993, land prices have risen quite dramatically, and much faster than population or employment growth, at an average annual rate of 15.8%, suggesting that barriers to entry in real estate development are causing prices to rise faster than other measures of local well-being. Further, we estimate the entire amount of developable land on Manhattan to be worth approximately $825 billion. This would suggest an average annual return of 6.3% since the island was first inhabited by Dutch settlers in 1626. |
| Keywords: | Land Values, Manhattan, Price Index |
| JEL: | R1 N9 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:run:wpaper:2015-002&r=ure |
| By: | Annette Omolo |
| Keywords: | Public Sector Management and Reform Governance - Local Government Governance - Politics and Government Governance - Regional Governance Public Sector Development - Decentralization Social Development - Participations and Civic Engagement Social Development - Social Accountability |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21669&r=ure |
| By: | Sandro Montresor; Francesco Quatraro (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the analysis of effects of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) on regional Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3). Drawing on the economic geography approach to S3, we formulate some hypotheses about the impact that KETs-related knowledge can have on the construction of new regional technological advantages (RTAs). By crossing regional data on patent applications, in KETs-mapped classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC), with a number of regional economic indicators, we test these hypotheses on a panel of 26 European countries over the period 1980-2010. KETs positively affect the construction of new RTAs, pointing to a new “enabling” role for them. They also mitigate the impact of the density to related pre-existing technologies on the construction of new RTAs, pointing to the KETs capacity of making the latter less binding in pursuing S3. Overall, the net-impact of KETs is positive, pointing to a new case for plugging KETs in the S3 policy tool-box. |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201517&r=ure |
| By: | Xiong, Wen Professor; Zhang, Yuanyuan PhD; Chen, Xiaohong Professor; Jiang, Chao |
| Abstract: | Being a public resource, the roadway space was distributed between different road users based on the Passenger-Car-Unit (PCU) concept. However, this concept tends to under estimate the capacity of public transportation and non-motorized travel. To improve the traditional car-oriented design to become more human-oriented, this study proposed a Passing-passenger-unit (PPU) and the method to observe the PPU in roadway level and area level. The PPU data were collected for urban arterials and residential areas in China to test the method and to compare the right-of-way distribution at different types of locations. Results showed that the PPU revealed the true efficiency of the facility carrying passengers. Using PPU would tell a different story about the facility or system compared to using PCU. Additionally, using PPU to analyze the right-of-way for the roadway or community could offer guidance for improving pedestrian and bicyclist environment. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Passenger-Car-Unit, Passing-Passenger-Unit, Passing-Passenger-Transport, Public Transit, Right-of- way |
| Date: | 2014–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt3s64r0h8&r=ure |
| By: | Huikang Ying |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interactions between urban labour informality and selective migration, and explores the consequences of productivity changes at both sectoral and individual levels. It proposes a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous workers to characterize the sizable agriculture sector and urban informality in developing economies, and discusses implications for wages and inequality. The model links the size of the urban informal sector to the distributions of individual productivity endowments. The finding suggests that improving average individual skills is an efficient way to alleviate urban underemployment. Equilibrium responses also indicate that changes in labour markets have only modest effects on wages and inequality. |
| Keywords: | Rural-urban migration, informal sector, productivity changes, wage inequality |
| JEL: | J24 O15 O17 |
| Date: | 2015–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:15/653&r=ure |
| By: | Adam A. Ambroziak (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were established to attract entrepreneurs to invest in Polish regions in order to increase their social and economic development. One of the most important incentives offered in SEZs is state aid in the form of an income tax exemption. The objective of this paper is to verify if the intensity of regional state aid granted to entrepreneurs in SEZs has had a positive impact on the social and economic development of Polish poviats (a poviat is an administrative district). The public aid was received by beneficiaries when they made some profits and, instead of investing, used a tax allowance to decrease their tax base. However, part of the positive outcome of economic activities envisioned in SEZs should be the development of existing businesses and the emergence of start-ups, as well as the improved attractiveness of the region and the inflow of new investors (which should be manifested by an increase in the gross value of fixed assets per entrepreneur and a decrease in the unemployment rate at poviat level). The conducted research allowed for the conclusion that regional state aid in SEZs in the form of an income tax exemption was of a relative higher importance to the poorest regions (higher share in the amount of regional state aid), while its significance was much lower in better developed areas in Poland (lower share in the amount of regional state aid). The year-to-year study showed no relation between state aid granted in SEZs and an increase in GVFA per company or a decrease in the unemployment rate. However on the basis of analysis of the cumulated value of state aid in SEZs for the whole period from 2005 to 2013, we can say that regional state aid in the form of an income tax exemption in SEZs had a positive influence mainly in poviats located in the poorest voivodeships. |
| Keywords: | regional state aid; special economic zones; regional development; poviats in Poland; public support |
| JEL: | H25 H32 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2015:no38&r=ure |
| By: | Gardner, Andrew M. |
| Abstract: | This short essay, built on a foundation of more than a decade of fieldwork in the hydrocarbon-rich societies of the Arabian peninsula, distills a set of overarching threads woven through much of that time and work. Those threads include a discussion of the social heterogeneity of the Gulf State citizenries, the central role of development and urban development in these emergent economies, the multifaceted impact of migrants and migration upon these host societies, and the role of foreign 'imagineers' in the portrayal of Gulf societies, Gulf values, and Gulf social norms. |
| Keywords: | Gulf Countries, Migrant labor, Migration, Urban development, Anthropolgy, Arabian Gulf States, Demography, Development |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J61 N35 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper513&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew Collin; Justin Sandefur; Andrew Zeitlin |
| Abstract: | When the Tanzanian government formalized over 200,000 informal land claims by granting leasehold titles to residents of unplanned settlements in Dar es Salaam in 2004, a few neighborhoods in the initial plan were excluded due to missing satellite photos. We examine the impact of this low-cost, large-scale titling intervention a decade later in a regression discontinuity design using new survey data collected on either side of the arbitrary boundary created by the missing photos. We find significant, positive effects on housing investment, and indicative but not statistically robust increases in tenure security and reductions in land sales. There is no evidence that titles improved access to credit markets. |
| Keywords: | land titling, formalization, natural experiment, Tanzania |
| JEL: | J16 K11 O12 O18 Q15 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2015-09&r=ure |
| By: | John Kennan |
| Abstract: | In the U.S. there are large differences across States in the extent to which college education is subsidized, and there are also large differences across States in the proportion of college graduates in the labor force. State subsidies are apparently motivated in part by the perceived benefits of having a more educated workforce. The paper extends the migration model of Kennan and Walker (2011) to analyze how geographical variation in college education subsidies affects the migration decisions of college graduates. The model is estimated using NLSY data, and used to quantify the sensitivity of migration and college enrollment decisions to differences in expected net lifetime income, focusing on how cross-State differences in public college financing affect the educational composition of the labor force. The main finding is that these differences have substantial effects on college enrollment, with no evidence that these effects are dissipated through migration |
| JEL: | I22 I23 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21065&r=ure |
| By: | Francisco Martínez; Salomé Martínez; Alejandra Mizala |
| Abstract: | Using a survey-experiment methodology we evaluate whether pre-service elementary school teachers’ expectations about students’ achievement, and beliefs about students’ need for academic support, are influenced by future teachers’ mathematics anxiety level or by gender and socioeconomic status of the student. We found that mathematics anxiety can negatively influence pre-service elementary school teachers’ expectations about students, and that participants assign lower expectations of future mathematics achievement to girls than boys. These two effects, however, appear to be strictly independent as we did not find statistically significant interaction effects between pre-service teacher’s mathematics anxiety and the expectations biases associated with student’s gender. Our results also suggest that mathematics anxiety could affect pre-service teachers’ capacity to develop inclusive learning environments in their classrooms. |
| Keywords: | Pre-service Teachers, Teachers Expectations of Students, Mathematics Anxiety, Gender Bias, Survey-experiment Methodology |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:310&r=ure |
| By: | Simon Thacker; Juan Manuel Moreno |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning Access and Equity in Basic Education Education - Education For All Education - Primary Education Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Regional Economic Development |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21640&r=ure |
| By: | Cerdan-Infantes,Pedro; Filmer,Deon P. |
| Abstract: | Improving education outcomes by disseminating information to parents and thereby encouraging them to become more actively engaged in school oversight is attractive, since it can be done relatively cheaply. This study evaluates the impact of alternative approaches to disseminating information about a school grants program in Indonesia on parents'knowledge about the program in general, knowledge about the implementation of the program in their child's school, and participation in school activities related to the program as well as beyond it. Not all dissemination approaches yielded impacts, and different modes of dissemination conveyed different types of information best, resulting in different impacts on behavior. Specifically, the low-intensity approaches that were tried?sending a letter from the principal home with the child, or sending a colorful pamphlet home with the child?had no impact on knowledge or participation. On the other hand, holding a facilitated meeting with a range of school stakeholders or sending targeted text messages to parents did increase knowledge and participation. Facilitated meetings mostly increased overall knowledge and fostered a feeling of transparency on the part of parents, which resulted in greater participation in formal channels for providing feedback to the school. The text messages increased knowledge about specific aspects of the program, such as the grant amount, and tended to increase participation through informal channels. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems,Tertiary Education,Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2015–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7233&r=ure |
| By: | Luttmer, Erzo G. J. (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) |
| Abstract: | Randomness in individual discovery disperses productivities, whereas learning from others keeps productivities together. Long-run growth and persistent earnings inequality emerge when these two mechanisms for knowledge accumulation are combined. This paper considers an economy in which those with more useful knowledge can teach others, with competitive markets assigning students to teachers. In equilibrium, students with an ability to learn quickly are assigned to teachers with the most productive knowledge. This sorting on ability implies large differences in earnings distributions conditional on ability, as shown using explicit formulas for the tail behavior of these distributions. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge diffusion; Growth; Income inequality |
| JEL: | J20 O10 O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2015–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:509&r=ure |
| By: | James Berry; Dean Karlan; Menno Pradhan |
| Abstract: | We evaluate, using a randomized trial, two school-based financial literacy education programs in government-run primary and junior high schools in Ghana. One program integrated financial and social education, whereas the second program only offered financial education. Both programs included a voluntary after-school savings club that provided students with a locked money box. After nine months, both programs had significant impacts on savings behavior relative to the control group, mostly because children moved savings from home to school. We observed few other impacts. We do find that financial education, when not accompanied by social education, led children to work more compared to the control group, whereas no such effect is found for the integrated curriculum; however, the difference between the two treatment effects on child labor is not statistically significant. |
| JEL: | D14 J22 J24 O12 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21068&r=ure |
| By: | Falck, Oliver (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Mang, Constantin (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Most studies find little to no effect of classroom computers on student achievement. We suggest that this null effect may combine positive effects of computer uses without equivalently effective alternative traditional teaching practices and negative effects of uses that substitute more effective teaching practices. Our correlated random effects models exploit within-student between-subject variation in different computer uses in the international TIMSS test. We find positive effects of using computers to look up information and negative effects of using computers to practice skills, resulting in overall null effects. Effects are larger for high-SES students and mostly confined to developed countries. |
| Keywords: | computers, teaching methods, student achievement, TIMSS |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8939&r=ure |
| By: | Márquez-Padilla,Fernanda; Pérez-Arce,Francisco; Rodriguez Castelan,Carlos |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the sharp increase in violence experienced in Mexico after 2006, known as"The War on Drugs,"and its effects on human capital accumulation. The upsurge in violence is expected to have direct effects on individuals'schooling decisions, but not indirect effects, because there was no severe destruction of infrastructure. The fact that the marked increases in violence were concentrated in some municipalities (and not in others) allows for implementation of a fixed-effects methodology to study the effects of violence on educational outcomes. Different from several recent studies that have found significant negative effects of violence on economic outcomes in Mexico, the paper finds evidence that this is not the case, at least for human capital accumulation. The paper uses several sources of data on homicides and educational outcomes and shows that, at most, there are very small effects on total enrollment. These small effects may be driven by some students being displaced from high-violence municipalities to low-violence municipalities; but the education decisions of individuals do not seem to be highly impacted. The analysis discards the possibility that the effects on enrollment of young adults appear small because of a counteracting effect from ex-workers returning to school. The results stand in contrast with recent evidence of the negative effects of violence on short-term economic growth, since minimal to null effects on human capital accumulation today should have little to no adverse effects on long-term growth outcomes in Mexico. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Crime and Society,Population Policies,Youth and Government,Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2015–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7230&r=ure |
| By: | Yongzheng Liu (School of Finance, China Financial Policy Research Center Renmin University of China); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); Alfred M. Wu (Department of Asian and Policy Studies The Hong Kong Institute of Education) |
| Abstract: | Using a nationwide county-level panel dataset for the years 1995-2009, this paper conducts the rst analysis in the literature to examine the impacts of scal decentralization and scal equalization, both measured at the sub-provincial level, on intra-provincial inequality in China. While scal decentralization oers signicant advantages regarding public expenditure eciency, a potentially large disadvantage is that it may lead to increased regional inequality. In this paper, in line with our theoretical hypotheses, we nd that while scal centralization at the sub-provincial level in China leads to larger intra-provincial inequality, scal equalization eorts performed by provincial governments tend to mitigate the detrimental eect of scal decentralization on intraprovincial inequality. Our results also indicate that the quantitative eects of scal decentralization on regional inequality tend to be larger when they are measured from the expenditure side, which is consistent with the fact that expenditure decentralization is a much more meaningful measure of decentralization in China. Overall, we provide evidence on the potential inequality costs of using scal decentralization as a development strategy. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of implementing a scal equalization program to ensure the overall success of decentralization policy. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal decentralization; equalization, intra-provincial inequality; China |
| Date: | 2014–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1432&r=ure |
| By: | Kerai, Anita; Sharma, Sunil |
| Abstract: | Extant research on influence of ownership structure on innovation suggests a positive relationship between business group affiliation and innovation. While it is true that firms affiliated to business groups seem to benefit from availability of internal capital, determinants that influence the process of innovation have not been examined. This Paper aims to study the influence of network diversity on innovation for firms affiliated to a business group. We draw upon literature on resource based and principal-agency literature to study nature of knowledge exploration and exploitation by business group firms. We argue that network diversity impacts nature of innovation by business group firms. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:13335&r=ure |
| By: | Ghassen El Montasser (Ecole superieure de Commerce de Tunis, Campus Universitaire de la Manouba - 2010 La Manouba, Tunisia); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Charl Jooste (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Stephen M. Miller (Department of Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89154-6005, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interplay of fiscal policy and asset price returns of the United States in a time-varying-parameter vector autoregressive model. Using annual data from 1890 to 2013, we study the effects of dynamic shocks to both fiscal policy and asset returns on asset returns and fiscal policy. Distinguishing between low volatility (bull market) and high volatility (bear market) regimes together with a time-varying-parameter vector autoregressive model enables us to isolate the different size and sign of responses to shocks during different time periods. The results indicate that increases in the primary deficit to GDP ratio decrease house returns over the entire sample and at each impulse horizon. Unlike the house return response, stock returns only decrease in the first year after the fiscal shock, but then increase for the following eight years. Furthermore, the findings show that asset return movements affect fiscal policy, whereby fiscal policy responds more to equity returns than to house returns. The response of fiscal policy to asset returns proves relatively stable and constant over time while controlling for and identifying various asset return regimes. Asset returns respond uniformly to fiscal policy shocks since the 1900's. |
| Keywords: | TVP-VAR, countercyclical fiscal policy, stock prices, house prices |
| JEL: | C11 C15 C32 H30 H61 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201519&r=ure |
| By: | Rajah RASIAH (Development Studies Department, University of Malaya); Rafat Beigpoor SHAHRIVAR (Development Studies Department, University of Malaya); Abdusy Syakur AMIN (Facutlty of Engineering, University of Pasundan) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the influence of host-site institutional support, foreign ownership and regional production linkages on firm-level technological capabilities using data from automotive firms in Indonesia. The results show that host-site institutional support and foreign ownership are positively correlated with technological capabilities. In addition, regional linkages show a significant and positive link on technological capabilities. However, regional linkages and foreign ownership explain more strongly technological capabilities than host-site institutional support in automotive firms in Indonesia. This evidence suggests that the supporting high tech environment require further strengthening to stimulate higher technological capabilities in the automotive industry in Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | automotive firms, institutional support, Indonesia, regional linkages, technological capabilities |
| JEL: | L62 L22 L14 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2015-08&r=ure |