|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | World Bank Group |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy Planning Transport Communities and Human Settlements - Urban Housing and Land Settlements Urban Development - Municipal Financial Management Urban Development - Municipal Housing and Land Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Housing |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:22020&r=ure |
| By: | World Bank Group |
| Keywords: | Public Sector Management and Reform Public Sector Development Governance - National Governance Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - Municipal Financial Management Urban Development - Municipal Housing and Land Urban Development - Transport in Urban Areas Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Transport - Transport Economics Policy & Planning |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:22052&r=ure |
| By: | Rudiger Ahrend; Emily Farchy; Ioannis Kaplanis; Alexander C. Lembcke |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates agglomeration benefits across five OECD countries, and represents the first empirical analysis that combines evidence on agglomeration benefits and the productivity impact of metropolitan governance structures, while taking into account the potential sorting of individuals across cities. The comparability of results in a multi-country setting is supported through the use of a new internationally-harmonised definition of cities based on economic linkages rather than administrative boundaries. In line with the literature, the analysis confirms that city productivity increases with city size but finds that cities with fragmented governance structures tend to have lower levels of productivity. This effect is mitigated by the existence of a metropolitan governance body. |
| Keywords: | Cities, productivity, governance, agglomeration economies |
| JEL: | R12 R23 R50 H73 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0178&r=ure |
| By: | Veronica Guerrieri (University of Chicago); Joseph Vavra (University of Chicago); Guido Lorenzoni (Northwestern University); David Berger (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | We use consumption models to try to rationalize recent empirical evidence on housing wealth effects |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:186&r=ure |
| By: | Paul Cheshire; Christian A. L. Hilber; Hans R. A. Koster |
| Abstract: | Policy makers agree that vacant houses are undesirable. Moreover the existence of empty houses is used as an argument for allocating less land for new construction. So higher vacancy rates tend to trigger tighter restrictions on the supply of land. Such tighter restrictions lead to higher prices and, because of the incentives this creates for occupying housing, to lower housing vacancies ('opportunity cost effect'). There is, however, a second effect ignored by planners: more restrictive planning policies impede the matching process in housing markets so leading to higher vacancies ('mismatch effect'). Which of these two forces dominates is an empirical question. This is our focus here. Addressing potential reverse causation and other endogeneity concerns, we use a unique panel data set on land use regulation for 350 Local Authorities in England from 1981 to 2011. Our results show that tighter local planning constraints increase local housing vacancy rates, suggesting that the mismatch effect dominates. A one standard deviation increase in local regulatory restrictiveness causes the average local vacancy rate to increase by about 0.9 percentage points (23 percent). The results are economically meaningful and show that pointing to the existence of vacant houses as a reason for being more restrictive in allocating land for housing is counterproductive. |
| Keywords: | Residential vacancy rates, housing supply constraints, land use regulation |
| JEL: | R13 R38 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0181&r=ure |
| By: | Rendon, Sílvio (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Quella-Isla, Núria (Barnard College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate to what extent shocks in housing and financial markets account for wage and employment variations in a frictional labor market. To explain these interactions, we use a model of job search with accumulation of wealth as liquid funds and residential real estate, in which house prices are randomly persistent. First, we show that reservation wages and unemployment are increasing in total wealth. And, second, we show that reservation wages and unemployment are also responsive to the composition of wealth. Specifically, when house prices are expected to rise, holding a larger share of wealth as residential real estate tends to increase reservation wages, which deteriorates employment transitions and increases unemployment. We estimate our model structurally using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data from 1978 to 2005, and we find that more relaxed house financing conditions, in particular lower down payment requirements, decrease employment rates by 5 percentage points in the short run and by 2 percentage points in the long run. We also find that worse labor market conditions immediately increase homeownership rates by up to 5 percent points, whereas in the long run homeownership decreases by 8 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | Job search; Housing; Savings; Structural estimation |
| JEL: | E21 E24 J64 R21 |
| Date: | 2015–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:15-27&r=ure |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (Departement d'Economie de Sciences Po); Sylvie Démurger (CNRS); Shi Li |
| Abstract: | We analyse the impact of internal migration in China on natives׳ labour market outcomes. We find evidence of a large positive correlation of the city share of migrants with natives׳ wages. Using different sets of control variables and instruments suggests that the effect is causal. The large total migrant impact (+10% when one moves from the first to the third quartile of the migrant variable distribution) arises from gains due to complementarity with natives in the production function (+6.4%), and from gains due to agglomeration economies (+3.3%). Finally, we find some evidence of a stronger effect for skilled natives than for unskilled, as expected from theory. Overall, our findings support large nominal wage gains that can be expected from further migration and urbanisation in China. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Urban Development; Agglomeration Economies; Wage Disparities; China |
| JEL: | O18 J61 R23 J31 O53 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/l4oaogsnr9rvqfme8pagm9sb6&r=ure |
| By: | World Bank Group |
| Keywords: | Governance - Local Government Health, Nutrition and Population - Population Policies Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - Regional Urban Development Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Water Supply and Sanitation - Sanitation and Sewerage Water Supply and Sanitation - Town Water Supply and Sanitation |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:22057&r=ure |
| By: | Siqi Zheng; Weizeng Sun; Jianfeng Wu; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | Several Chinese cities have invested billions of dollars to construct new industrial parks. These place based investments solve the land assembly problem which allows many productive firms to co-locate close to each other. The resulting local economic growth creates new opportunities for real estate developers and retailers that develop properties and stores close to the new park. The city mayor has the political clout and the personal promotion incentives to anticipate these effects as he chooses whether and where within the city to build the park. Using several geo-coded data sets, we measure the localized spillover effects of the new parks on local incumbent firm productivity, the growth of retail activity close to the park and local real estate pricing and construction. We document the heterogeneous effects of investment in parks. Those parks featuring a higher level of human capital, a greater level of co-agglomeration among firms within the park, and a smaller share of State Owned Enterprises offer greater spillover effects. |
| JEL: | H42 H72 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21378&r=ure |
| By: | Martín González Rozada; Mariano Nardowski; Verónica Gottau; Mauro Moschetti |
| Abstract: | Argentina’s educational system is made out of a State-run and a private sector. Private school choice is subject to household income since all private schools charge fees, which may, however, vary widely. Drawing on household survey data and focusing on the secondary school level in Buenos Aires, we first build a nested logit model and attempt to identify determinants of public-private school choice across the city’s neighborhoods. Second, we analyze socioeconomic segregation across public, private religious and private non-religious schools. Results show that the education of the head of household and income are good predictors in the school choice decision. Still, we note that privatization encompasses very different social strata and thus Buenos Aires is not strictly the case where private schools serve exclusively children from well-off backgrounds. Finally, segregation indices show a quite homogeneous socioeconomic composition within each type of school and three quite different realities among each sector. |
| Keywords: | school choice; segregation; secondary school, privatization; Argentina. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udt:wpecon:2015_05&r=ure |
| By: | Luciano Lavecchia (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This note replicates the analysis of Tabellini (2010) on the relationship between social capital and regional economic growth in Europe, extending that work and the underlying dataset by focusing on the spatial dimension of social capital and introducing a definition of contiguity among European regions. We find a sizable and robust contribution of social capital to regional growth. We also estimate a Spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive disturbances (SARAR) and a Spatial Durbin Error model (SDEM). The results confirm the positive role of social capital, highlighting the importance of spatial spillovers, which warrants further discussion. |
| Keywords: | social capital, space, growth, Europe, sarar, sdem |
| JEL: | A13 O10 N13 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1017_15&r=ure |
| By: | Calem, Paul S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Jagtiani, Julapa (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Lang, William W. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | Supersedes Working Paper 14-8. The deep housing market recession from 2008 through 2010 was characterized by a steep rise in the number of foreclosures and lengthening foreclosure timelines. The average length of time from the onset of delinquency through the end of the foreclosure process also expanded significantly, averaging up to three years in some states. Most individuals undergoing foreclosure were experiencing serious financial stress. However, the extended foreclosure timelines enabled mortgage defaulters to live in their homes without making mortgage payments until the end of the foreclosure process, thus providing temporary income and liquidity benefits from lower housing costs. This paper investigates the impact of extended foreclosure timelines on borrower performance with credit card debt. Our results indicate that a longer period of nonpayment of mortgage expenses results in higher cure rates on delinquent credit cards and reduced credit card balances. Foreclosure process delays may have mitigated the impact of the economic downturn on credit card default. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage default; Foreclosure; Foreclosure delay; Credit card Default |
| JEL: | G02 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2015–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:15-24&r=ure |
| By: | Decreuse, Bruno; Mongrain, Steve; van Ypersele, Tanguy |
| Abstract: | We model the allocation of property crime and private protection within cities. We provide a theory where city-specific criminals choose a neighborhood and whether they pay a search cost to compare potential victims, whereas households invest in self-protection. The model features strategic complementarity between criminals' search efforts and households' protection investments. As criminals' return to search increases with neighborhood wealth, households in rich neighborhoods are more likely to enter a rat race to ever greater protection that drives criminals towards poorer areas. The mechanisms of our model are tested with the Canadian General Social Survey. Household protection increases with household and neighborhood incomes, neighborhood protection, and neighborhood victimization. |
| Keywords: | economics of crime; private protection; search frictions; social multiplier |
| JEL: | K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10707&r=ure |
| By: | Andersen, Steffen; Campbell, John Y.; Meisner-Nielsen, Kasper; Ramadorai, Tarun |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the refinancing behavior of Danish households during a recent period of declining interest rates. Danish data are particularly suitable for this purpose because the Danish mortgage system imposes few barriers to refinancing, and demographic and economic characteristics of mortgage borrowers can be accurately measured. The paper finds that household characteristics affect both inattention (a low responsiveness of mortgage refinancing to financial incentives) and inertia (a low unconditional probability of refinancing). Many characteristics move inattention and inertia in the same direction, implying a high cross-sectional correlation of 0.76 between these two household attributes. Middle-aged and older households show greater inertia and inattention than young households. Education and income reduce both inertia and inattention, but the effect of education is greater among more educated households, while the effect of income is greater among poorer households. Housing and financial wealth have opposite effects on inertia, consistent with the view that households manage their mortgages more actively when housing is relatively more important to them. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrv:faseco:17492179&r=ure |
| By: | Dorel N Manitiu (Alma-Laurea Inter-University consortium; SDIC-School of Development Innovation and Change, Bologna (Italy)); Giulio Pedrini (Alma-Laurea Inter-University consortium; SDIC-School of Development Innovation and Change, Bologna (Italy)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to define a set of smartness and sustainability indicators applicable to European cities and to assess their outcome in an ex-ante perspective with regard to the implementation of Europe 2020 strategy. Following the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact, Response) model we select a bundle of indicators for three relevant sustainability domains (environmental, social, cultural), which are proper of the smart city definition. Then we define groups of homogeneous cities for each domain by using a two-step cluster analysis. Results show the existence of heterogeneous groups of cities that are likely to become smart in the cultural domain, side by side to groups of more developed urban areas that have acquired a substantial advantage in the environmental and social dimensions. |
| Keywords: | smartness, sustainability, urban areas, Europe 2020, DPSIR model |
| JEL: | Q01 R29 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1315&r=ure |
| By: | Diewert, W. Erwin; Imai, Satoshi; Shimizu, Chihiro |
| Abstract: | The paper looks at problems associated with measuring the services of owner-occupied housing (OOH) in the Japanese CPI. The paper shows that alternative approaches to measuring the services of OOH lead to quite different measures of CPI inflation for Japan. The Japanese CPI uses a rental equivalence approach to measuring OOH services and uses an index of all paid rents to price these services. However, Japanese rents are very sticky and under these circumstances, it seems more appropriate to use an index of newly contracted rents to value the opportunity cost of using the services of owned dwelling units. The paper examines this issue. It also looks at the adequacy of the sampling approach used in the Japanese CPI and at the problems surrounding the treatment of depreciation in constructing constant quality indexes for paid rents in the Japanese CPI. Finally, hedonic regressions for the quality adjustment of rents are run on an extensive data set. |
| Keywords: | housing rent; price rigidity; time-dependent model; state-dependent model; adjustment hazard function; user cost of housing; rental equivalence approa |
| JEL: | E30 R20 |
| Date: | 2015–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:bricol:erwin_diewert-2015-14&r=ure |
| By: | Stefano Fenoaltea |
| Abstract: | This paper is the eleventh section of Italian Industrial Production, 1861 1913: A Statistical Reconstruction (in progress). It documents the derivation, from the historical sources, of the time series that track the 1911-price value added of the construction industries. The path of railway and tramway construction is estimated from physical indicators. Construction to extend the (major/minor) railways and (urban/suburban, machine/horse) tramways is estimated from the annual completed mileage of the various networks, and the corresponding maintenance is estimated from track length and use; construction for (railway-net) improvements is indexed by rail consumption in excess of that required for network extensions. The new construction and maintenance of other public works are estimated from the expenditure figures in the national and local budgets, significantly corrected for changes in accounting rules, suitably scaled and deflated. The new construction and maintenance of private social overhead capital are estimated in part as expenditure (calculated for example from the matching public subsidy for land-reclamation projects), suitably deflated, and in part from physical indicators (for example of the additions to the productive capacity and distribution networks of the private utilities). The new construction and maintenance of private residential and commercial buildings are calculated by deflating assessment-based estimates of the gross additions to the stock, and of the stock itself, allowing for the buildings that were statutorily exempt. An index of urban construction is also estimated from the binder-consumption data available for a few dozen cities. |
| Keywords: | method, construction, Italy |
| JEL: | E01 N13 N63 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:422&r=ure |
| By: | Shengjun Zhu; Canfei He; Yi Zhou |
| Abstract: | By using the proximity product index, recent studies have argued that regional diversification emerged as a path-dependent process, as regions often branch into industries that are related to preexisting industrial structure. It is also claimed that developed countries that start from the core, dense areas in the uneven industry space have more opportunities to jump to new related industries and therefore have more opportunities to sustain economic growth than do developing countries that jump from peripheral, deserted areas. In this paper, we differentiate two types of regional diversification—path-dependent and path-breaking—and ask questions from a different angle: can developing countries/regions jump further in the industry space to break path-dependent development trajectories and more importantly to catch up with developed ones? Based on China’s export data, this paper shows that regions can jump further by investing in extra-regional linkages and internal innovation. Not only do these two sets of factors promote regions’ jumping capability, but they also contribute to regions’ capability of maintaining a comparative advantage in technologically distant and less related industries. In addition, different extra-regional linkage and internal innovation factors have affected regional diversification to different extents, and these effects also vary across regions and industries. Empirically, this research seeks to find a more promising future for developing countries/regions. Theoretically, our research testifies some key findings of theoretical works in evolutionary economic geography by using a quantitative framework. In addition, this paper includes some economic and institutional factors that have been left out in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | path-dependent, path-breaking, industrial relatedness, proximity index, transition industries |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1524&r=ure |
| By: | Mehmet Balcilar (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University); Nico Katzke (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we set out to date-stamp periods of US housing price explosivity for the period 1830 – 2013. We make use of several robust techniques that allow us to identify such periods by determining when prices start to exhibit explosivity with respect to its past behaviour and when it recedes to long term stable prices. The first technique used is the Generalized sup ADF (GSADF) test procedure developed by Phillips, Shi, and Yu (2013), which allows the recursive identification of multiple periods of price explosivity. The second approach makes use of Robinson (1994)’s test statistic, comparing the null of a unit root process against the alternative of specified orders of fractional integration. Our analysis date-stamps several periods of US house price explosivity, allowing us to contextualize its historic relevance. |
| Keywords: | GSADF, Bubble, Structural Breaks, Random Walk, Explosivity |
| JEL: | C22 G15 G14 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers240&r=ure |
| By: | William J. Collins; Marianne H. Wanamaker |
| Abstract: | We construct datasets of linked census records to study internal migrants’ selection and destination choices during the first decades of the “Great Migration” (1910-1930). We study both whites and blacks and intra- and inter-regional migration. While there is some evidence of positive selection, the degree of selection was small and participation in migration was widespread. Differences in background, including initial location, cannot account for racial differences in destination choices. Blacks and whites were similarly responsive to pre-existing migrant stocks from their home state, but black men were more deterred by distance, attracted to manufacturing, and responsive to labor demand. |
| JEL: | J10 J61 N32 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21384&r=ure |
| By: | Jordi Jofri-Monseny; Maria Sánchez-Vidal; Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of large manufacturing plant closures on local employment. Specifically, we estimate the net employment effects of the closure of 45 large manufacturing plants in Spain, which relocated abroad between 2001 and 2006. We run differences-in-differences specifications in which locations that experience a closure are matched to locations with similar pre-treatment employment levels and trends. The results show that when a plant closes, for each job directly lost in the plant closure, between 0.3 and 0.6 jobs are actually lost in the local economy. The adjustment is concentrated in incumbent firms in the industry that suffered the closure, providing indirect evidence of labor market pooling effects. We find no employment effects in the rest of manufacturing industries or in the services sectors. These findings suggest that traditional input-output analyses tend to overstate the net employment losses of large plant closures. |
| Keywords: | Local employment, plant closures, input-output, agglomeration economies |
| JEL: | R12 R23 R58 J23 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0179&r=ure |
| By: | Kazenin, Konstantin (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Lobodanova, D. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Starikov, I. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Chepurnaya, A. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | Urban environment creates communications that can either serve as a "melting pot" and to work for the maintenance of social distance in a limited physical space. This work is devoted to theoretical and empirical understanding of trends in recent years. The theoretical part summarizes the main approaches to the role of communication in shaping the urban environment through the prism of urban communities, as well as various types of urban spaces that can become as a source of overcoming alterity and manner of establishing social boundaries. The empirical part is based on an analysis of current trends and communication formats in Yaroslav, a city known for innovative projects in this area. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the existing sites in the city, generating communication of citizens, their typology shows, identified and described the best practices, as well as the constraints of such projects. |
| Keywords: | urban environment, communication platforms |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:mn57&r=ure |
| By: | Puzanova, K. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the present work is to develop and implement approaches for assessing the quality of urban development and challenges of the modern metropolis. For this emphasis on the study of the current level of development of the cultural environment of modern urban Russian cities on an example of Moscow. Among the methods used: a quantitative analysis of the database, focus groups with students, processing and analysis of Big Data, obtained by downloading data from sites and Facebook TimePad. As a result of the distinctive characteristics of the subsystems identified urban infrastructure (social, consumer, leisure, transport, cultural), made comparisons among the administrative districts of Moscow. We describe the distribution and the relationship of different types of activity of Muscovites on weekdays and weekends, marked infrastructural opportunities and barriers to their implementation at the district and city level. Given the characteristics of the empirical content of the concept "favorite place", formed and systematized connotative number associated with facts, emotions and memories of the city. For example, favorite places described distribution of semantic load of urban space in Moscow. Revealed the relationship between the district and a favorite residence, place of employment activity. We describe the daily, weekly and annual cycles of organizing and conducting cultural events in Moscow. Shows the spatial distribution of events depending on the cycle time. A comparison of different information media (Facebook and TimePad) for the content and temporal specificity of the organization of cultural events. It describes the impact of the specificity of the information environment in the course of the weekly cycle of events. |
| Keywords: | urban development, megapolis, favorite places |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:mn58&r=ure |
| By: | Cinzia Di Novi (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari, Italy); Massimiliano Piacenza (University of Torino, Department of Economics, Social Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (ESOMAS), Italy; Italian National Research Council, Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth (CNR-IRCrES), Moncalieri (TO), Italy.); Silvana Robone (University of Insubria, Department of Economics, Italy;); Gilberto Turati (University of Torino, Department of Economics, Social Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (ESOMAS), Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at investigating empirically the impact of fiscal decentralization reforms on inequality in well-being. In particular, we look at the effects on health inequalities following the assignment of larger tax power to the Italian Regions for financing their health expenditure, starting from the end of the Nineties. Exploiting large differences in the size of the tax base across Regions, we find that fiscal decentralization processes that attribute a greater tax power to lower government tiers, besides reducing inefficiencies of healthcare policies, seem to be effective in reducing also within-regional disparities in health outcomes. However, the degree of economic development – on which depends the actual fiscal autonomy from Central government – significantly affects the effectiveness of these reforms and highlights the importance to take properly into account the specific features of the context where the decentralization of power is implemented. |
| Keywords: | fiscal decentralization, regional governments, healthcare policy, health inequalities. |
| JEL: | H75 I14 I18 R50 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2015:21&r=ure |
| By: | Chakarin Bejrananda (College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado-Denver); Yuk Lee (College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado-Denver); Thanchanok Khamkaew (Faculty of Economics, Maejo University) |
| Abstract: | With the rise of the importance of air transportation in the 21st century, the role of economics in airport planning and decision-making has become more important to the urban structure and land value around it. Therefore, this research aims to examine the relationship between an airport and its impacts on the distribution of urban land uses and land values by applying the Alonso’s bid rent model. The New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi International Airport) was taken as a case study. The analysis was made over three different time periods of airport development (after the airport site was proposed, during airport construction, and after the opening of the airport). The statistical results confirm that Alonso’s model can be used to explain the impacts of the new airport only for the northeast quadrant of the airport, while proximity to the airport showed the inverse relationship with the land value of all six types of land use activities through three periods of time. It indicates that the land value for commercial land use is the most sensitive to the location of the airport or has the strongest requirement for accessibility to the airport compared to the residential and manufacturing land use. Also, the bid-rent gradients of the six types of land use activities have declined dramatically through the three time periods because of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Therefore, the lesson learned from this research concerns about the reliability of the data used. The major concern involves the use of different areal units for assessing land value for different time periods between zone block (1995) and grid block (2002, 2009). As a result, this affect the investigation of the overall trends of land value assessment, which are not readily apparent. In addition, the next concern is the availability of the historical data. With the lack of collecting historical data for land value assessment by the government, some of data of land values and aerial photos are not available to cover the entire study area. Finally, the different formats of using aerial photos between hard-copy (1995) and digital photo (2002, 2009) made difficult for measuring distances. Therefore, these problems also affect the accuracy of the results of the statistical analyses. |
| Keywords: | Economic rents, Airport development area, Spatial pattern, Thailand |
| JEL: | O18 R58 R28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2604285&r=ure |
| By: | Randall Jackson (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | In this address, I review industry clustering and diversification strategies to compare and contrast their underlying foundations. The lack of consensus choice of one or the other for regional economic development strategies along with the recognition that in the dynamic process of development these two processes are related leads me to conclude that clusters and diversity need not be such strange bedfellows after all, and that a rational approach to economic development can leverage the strengths of each and offset weaknesses. I follow this discussion by introducing a cluster assessment diversification strategy (CADS) apparatus that can be used to measure existing cluster strength, to identify industrial strengths and deficit bottlenecks, and to explore the regional consequences of potential cluster diversification strategies. |
| Keywords: | Industry Clusters, Regional Industrial diversification, Input-output, Industry structure |
| JEL: | R30 C67 L16 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:2015wp04&r=ure |
| By: | Qi Guo; Canfei He |
| Abstract: | A growing literature on evolutionary economic geography concludes that regional industrial evolution is path-dependent and is determined by the pre-existing industries. This study applies the co-occurrence approach to calculate the production relatedness and portrays the production space and then examines the impact of production relatedness on regional industrial evolution. The findings report that production relatedness does underscore the regional structure change in China but shows significant regional differences in the evolution path. The coastal region has strong tendency of path dependence in its industrial evolution, while North West and South West break the path-dependent trajectory and transition into high productive sectors distant from their own production network. The results suggest that national policies can play its crucial role in creating new paths in China's regional development. Institutions matter to allow the significant role of industry relatedness in driving regional industrial evolution. |
| Keywords: | Production space, Industry relatedness, Regional Industrial Evolution, China |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1521&r=ure |
| By: | Martin, Roman (CIRCLE, Lund University); Trippl, Michaela (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends research on long-term cluster evolution with a context sensitive conceptual framework that highlights how configurations of regional innovation systems (RIS), their knowledge base specificities and policy actions can shape cluster development and transformation. By doing so, we redress the neglect of regional context specific factors by current accounts of cluster life cycle models. The empirical part of the paper deals with the evolution of the ICT cluster in Scania, southern Sweden. The emergence of the cluster in the early 1980s was enabled by a strong analytical and synthetic knowledge base in the region, and the subsequent growth was driven by intense collaboration between industry and academia. The changing geography of the ICT industry in the past decade brought along new challenges for the existing companies and led to a transformation of the cluster towards a new growth trajectory. Cluster transformation was facilitated by policy actions that promoted symbolic knowledge activities in the region. The strategy was to combine existing competences in mobile communication with new competences in media and design, and to develop new industrial activities around the theme of New Media, which integrates analytical, synthetic and symbolic knowledge. In the case of Scania, the endowment of the RIS of a variety of knowledge bases and their combination has led to successful cluster development in spite of challenges resulting from changing socio-economic conditions. |
| Keywords: | Cluster evolution; knowledge bases; regional innovation systems; innovation policy; ICT; New Media; Sweden |
| JEL: | B52 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_024&r=ure |
| By: | Maiti, Abhradeep; Indra, Debarshi |
| Abstract: | We use a large panel dataset covering the years 1988 to 2010 to estimate county specific total wage elasticities of labor demand for four highly aggregated industries in the United States. Our industries are construction, finance/real estate/service, manufacturing, and retail trade, which together employ on average over eighty percent of the U.S. national labor force per year. We use both the conventional constant coefficient panel data model and a random coefficients panel data model to estimate labor demand elasticities in various industries. We find the labor demand curves in all the industries studied to be downward sloping. We also find significant evidence that the total wage elasticity of labor demand exhibits regional variation. The labor demand estimates obtained in this study are useful to investigate the differential impact of various shocks and policy changes on the labor market. As an example, we use the estimated county specific labor demand elasticities to identify the impact of union membership and right to work laws on labor demand. We show that labor demand tends to become less elastic with higher union membership rates. We also find that labor demand becomes more elastic if a right to work law is in place. |
| Keywords: | Labor Demand Elasticity, Random Parameter Model, Union Membership, Right to Work Law |
| JEL: | C35 J20 J23 J50 R14 R15 R21 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65725&r=ure |
| By: | Jesus Crespo Cuaresma (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Philipp Piribauer (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the performance of Bayesian variable selection approaches for spatial autoregressive models. We present two alternative approaches which can be implemented using Gibbs sampling methods in a straightforward way and allow us to deal with the problem of model uncertainty in spatial autoregressive models in a flexible and computationally efficient way. In a simulation study we show that the variable selection approaches tend to outperform existing Bayesian model averaging techniques both in terms of in-sample predictive performance and computational efficiency. |
| Keywords: | spatial autoregressive model, variable selection, model uncertainty, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods |
| JEL: | C18 C21 C52 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp199&r=ure |
| By: | Charles Rahal |
| Abstract: | In this paper we take a computational approach to forecasting a macroeconometric model of housing markets across six original data sets with large cross-sectional dimensions. We compare a large number of models which vary by the choice of factors, 'observable endogenous variables' and the number of lags in addition to classical and modern (factor based) specifications. We utilize various optimal model selection and model averaging techniques, comparing them against classical benchmarks. Within a 'pseudo real-time' out of sample forecasting context, results show that the approximate BMA method is the best weighting and selection technique, generating forecasts able to outperform the automated univariate benchmark of Dyndman and Khandakar (2008) upwards of 58% of the time. However, the average forecast error is lower in magnitude over all recursions and countries for the benchmark compared with all models for all variables. We also provide results on the biased nature of this class of models in general, in addition to the forecast error increasing as a function of the underlying variance of the series being forecast. |
| Keywords: | Housing Markets, Forecasting, Factor Error Correction Models, FAVARs |
| JEL: | C53 R30 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bir:birmec:15-05r&r=ure |
| By: | Elisa Van Waeyenberge (Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a critical assessment of the Bankís housing policies, against the backdrop of far-reaching transformations of the financial sector across the world and a persistently dire shelter situation in developing countries. It situates the Bankís housing stance historically since its initial involvement in the sector in the early 1970s. This allows to shed light on systemic and analytical tendencies bearing on Bank housing policy with significant implications for the Bankís current policy stance, including its response (or lack thereof) to the dramatic experience with housing finance laid bare through the global financial and economic crisis. |
| Keywords: | finance, financialisation, housing, shelter, post-Washington Consensus World Bank |
| JEL: | R31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:191&r=ure |
| By: | Edbert Gani (University of Indonesia); Praticko Genio (University of Indonesia); Arief Nugraha (University of Indonesia) |
| Abstract: | Indonesia is a country that puts the elections as fundamental to reflect the country's democracy. This is shown by the regulation of elections in the state constitution (UUD 1945) which is the basic law of the state. In Suharto's authoritarian regime (called New Order), Indonesia also held regular elections. The existence of regular elections is used as a tool in countries such as Indonesia to show the world that the democratic system has existed in this country. Procedurally democratic elections marked by still survive up until the time of the current reform. But if we want to see democracy substantially, then there needs to be more in-depth research about itIn 2004, Indonesia recorded an achievement in terms of democratization. In that time, Indonesia for the first time can select the president and vice president directly. This achievement was followed by doing direct local elections. Quite revolutionary change occurs only six years since the reform carried out Suharto's authoritarian regime.At the end of 2014 there were intense debates in Indonesia about local elections. Indonesia is a country that is very much holding elections because people have to choose from the level of the central government, provincial, city and county up. During this time to select the area of the district and provincial level conducted through direct elections. This began in 2004 with the issuance of Law (UU) No. 32 of 2004 which regulates the election of Regional Head directly. In 2014, the problem arises because the House intends to revise that law. This is done by issuing a bill on local elections that convert directly to indirectly elections again. Local elections at the provincial level are returned to the mechanism covered by parliament while the district level fixed by direct electionOutside of the debate about the interests of the relevant political actors with the election system, there are other important things that need to be answered in this problem. When we look to other democratic countries in the world, actually local elections do not have to be directly. The United States is an example where the local elections conducted indirectly. The main question of our paper is how importance a direct local elections with the quality of democracy in a country such as Indonesia. Whether significant or does not. |
| Keywords: | Local elections, democracy, Indonesia |
| JEL: | D72 N95 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2603768&r=ure |
| By: | Bing Li (The University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | Teacher identity resides in the heart of teaching and particularly matters for early career resilience. However, little is known about teacher identity held by beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools. Less is even known regarding the leverage of contextual factors on teacher identity. Against this backdrop, the present research employed a simple prospective panel design, primarily seeking answers to: 1) whether teacher identity is malleable; and 2) what roles learning environments and work environments play in teacher identity and, if any, its change. A series of three studies were conducted spanning 1 year. Study I involved 1,062 year-4 prospective teachers, 464 out of which partook in Study II at the end of the first teaching year. In Study III, 21 teachers were interviewed given their significant changes in teacher identity. Measures included the Teacher Identity Inventory (TII), the Inventory for Students’ Perceived Learning Environment (ISPLE), and the Job Demands-Resources Inventory (JD-RI).Results found that 1) teacher identity declined appreciably in all aspects over one year; 2) peer and facilities related constructs in both learning and work environments contributed to the majority of teacher identity; 3) work environments played a significant role in predicting teacher identity change, where peer and facilities related constructs again were the strongest contributors. Findings suggest that educators and school administrators be more mindful of early career teachers’ identity crises. Implications are discussed concerning pre and in-service training programs. |
| Keywords: | teacher identity; learning/work environments; malleability |
| JEL: | I20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2603753&r=ure |
| By: | Sara Zamir (Achva Academic College and Ben Gurion Universityat Eilat) |
| Abstract: | The process of training to become a teacher involves learning the cultural codes which give meaning to daily life at school. Teachers are a social creation molded by the expectations and actions of the "culture carriers" in the school: principals, other teachers and students. It is in relation to these "culture carriers" that trainee teachers develop their professional persona.A school's culture consists of rules that define what is normal, acceptable and legitimate. Such codes differentiate between matters of greater and lesser importance and identify the sources of power in the school, as well as the significant ways of taking the necessary power to guarantee one's status in the school.The aim of this research was to investigate the contribution of a school's organizational culture, as perceived by trainee teachers, to their future commitment to the education system. To this end I applied a qualitative methodology based on responses to open-ended questions. The study's main findings indicate a complementary relationship between organizational culture and commitment to teaching. A trainee teacher who sees most of the components of the organizational culture – principals, students, colleagues – as sympathetic, attentive and supportive, and in particular, who understands the norms and behaviors within the hidden layers of the organizational culture, will tend to develop a greater commitment to teaching. |
| Keywords: | School organizational culture, trainee teacher, commitment to teaching, teaching career. |
| JEL: | A00 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2603221&r=ure |
| By: | World Bank; UNHCR |
| Keywords: | Communities and Human Settlements - Housing & Human Habitats Health, Nutrition and Population - Population Policies Poverty Reduction - Rural Poverty Reduction Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Poverty |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:21961&r=ure |
| By: | Canfei He; Yan Yan; David Rigby |
| Abstract: | The evolutionary economic geography indicates that regional industrial development is path dependent. The path dependence approach however ignores the external factors, which may create new paths of regional development. Moreover, it does not pay much attention to the role of institutions. Both external factors and institutions are crucial to understand the regional industrial evolution in China. Based on firm level data of Chinese manufacturing industries during 1998-2008, this study examined the industrial evolution through the lens of entry and exit of four digit industries at the Chinese prefectures. Using a measure of co-occurrence based technological relatedness, we apply a logit model to link industry entry and exit to technological relatedness. We find significant evidence that regions branch into new industries which are technologically related to the existing industries and related industries are less likely to exit. Related globalization also encourages the entry of new related industries and discourages the exit of related industries. Further analysis reveals that economic transition has created favorable conditions to allow a larger role of technological relatedness. New industries are more likely to enter regions which are globalized, liberalized and fiscally independent, indicating that economic transition has also generated opportunities for Chinese regions to create new paths of industrial development. |
| Keywords: | Technological Relatedness, Economic Transition, Industrial Evolution, Path Dependence, Path Creation |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1520&r=ure |
| By: | Sandra E. Black; Kalena E. Cortes; Jane Arnold Lincove |
| Abstract: | Access to higher education begins with a student’s decision whether and where to apply to college. This paper examines racial and ethnic differences in college application behavior of high school graduates, using two recent graduation cohorts from Texas. We estimate racial and ethnic differences in the probability of applying to college, controlling for a student’s college readiness, high school quality, certainty of college admissions, and high school fixed effects. We then investigate racial and ethnic differences in the choice of where to apply. We enhance the typical model of college matching by considering the social setting and high school feeder patterns of state universities. We find that racial and ethnic gaps in application rates, particularly for Hispanic students, are not explained by differential levels of college readiness, high school quality, or information regarding college admission processes. When applying to college, minorities are influenced by more than just matching their academic ability to the institution, and prefer institutions with a large proportion of same race students and campuses where same race students from their high school have been successful in the past. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 J15 J18 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21368&r=ure |
| By: | Jesus Crespo Cuaresma (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Gernot Doppelhofer (Norwegian School of Economics); Florian Huber (Oesterreichische Nationalbank); Philipp Piribauer (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present an econometric framework aimed at obtaining projections of income growth in Europe at the regional level. We account for model uncertainty in terms of the choice of explanatory variables, as well as the nature of the spatial spillovers of output growth and human capital investment. Building on recent advances in Bayesian model averaging, we construct projected trajectories of income and human capital simultaneously, while integrating out the effects of other covariates. This approach allows us to assess the potential contribution of future educational attainment to economic growth and income convergence among European regions over the next decades. Our findings suggest that income convergence dynamics and human capital act as important drivers of income growth for the decades to come. In addition we find that the relative return of improving educational attainment levels in terms of economic growth appears to be higher in peripheral European regions. |
| Keywords: | Income projections, model uncertainty, spatial filtering, European regions |
| JEL: | C11 C15 C21 O52 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp198&r=ure |
| By: | Chen, Ying-Ju; Zenou, Yves; Zhou, Junjie |
| Abstract: | We consider a network model where individuals exert efforts in two types of activities that are interdependent. These activities can be either substitutes or complements. We focus on criminals that either exert efforts in crime and education (substitutable activities) or crime and drug consumption (complementary activities). We provide a full characterization of the Nash equilibrium of this game for any network structure and show under which condition it exists and is unique. We then derive some comparative statics results that offer strong empirical predictions on the effect of own productivity on both efforts and how network density affects equilibrium outcomes. Finally, we re-examine the key-player policy that consists in determining the criminal who, once removed, reduces total crime the most. We show that, if the planner ignores the fact that criminals have multiple activities, then she can wrongly determine who the key player is. |
| Keywords: | criminal networks; key player; multiple activities |
| JEL: | A14 D85 K42 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10709&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew Elliott (Caltech); Arun Chandrasekhar (Stanford); Attila Ambrus (Duke University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies costly network formation in the context of risk sharing. Neighboring agents negotiate agreements as in Stole and Zwiebel (1996), which results in the social surplus being allocated according to the Myerson value. We uncover two types of inefficiency: overinvestment in social relationships within group (e.g., caste, ethnicity), but underinvestment across group. We find a novel tradeoff between efficiency and equality. Both within and across groups, inefficiencies are minimized by increasing social inequality, which results in financial inequality and increasing the centrality of the most central agents. Evidence from 75 Indian village networks is congruent with our model. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:189&r=ure |
| By: | Yi Zhou; Canfei He; Shengjun Zhu |
| Abstract: | Creative destruction is a key driving force behind industrial development. The continuing process of creative destruction provides an impetus to regional industrial renewal. Our analytical framework that emphasizes the ways in which firm exit creates a stimulus for firm entry, resulting in incremental innovation and productivity increase is complementary to the process of technological change and industrial renewal articulated by Schumpeter who pays attention to how new entrants bring in radical innovation and new products, making incumbents’ products and technologies obsolete and force them to exit or catch up. Using firm-level data of China’s industries during 1998-2008, this paper seeks to argue that the articulation between firm exit and entry has been constantly shaped by an assemblage of various factors, including firm characteristics, industrial linkages, regional institutions and geographical proximity. |
| Keywords: | Creative destruction, Firm Exit, Firm Entry, Industrial Dynamics, China |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1522&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriele Foà (Yale University); Leonardo Gambacorta (Bank for International Settlements); Luigi Guiso (EIEF); Paolo Emilio Mistrulli (Banca d'Italia) |
| Abstract: | We propose a new, data-based test for the presence of biased financial advice when households choose between fixed and adjustable rate mortgages. If households are wary, the relative cost of the two types should be a sufficient statistic for a household contract choice: the attributes of the bank that makes the loan should play no role. If households rely on banks'advice to guide their choice, banks may be tempted to bias their counsel to their own advantage. In this case bank-specific supply characteristics will play a role in the household's choice above any role they play through relative prices. Testing this hypothesis on a sample of 1.6 million mortgages originated in Italy between 2004 and 2010, we find that the choice between adjustable and fixed rates is signicantly affected by change in banks' supply factors, especially in periods during which banks do not change the relative price of the two mortgage types. This supports the view that banks are able to affect customers'mortgage choices not only by pricing but also through an advice channel. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eie:wpaper:1507&r=ure |