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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Elena Koncheva (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Nikolay Zalesskiy (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Pavel Zuzin (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Liberalization of regional public transport market in Russia has led to continuing decline of service quality. One of the main results of the liberalization is the emergence of inefficient spatial structures of regional public transport systems in Russian regions. While the problem of optimization of urban public transport system has been extensively studied, the structure of regional public transport system has been referred less often. The question is whether the problems of spatial structure are common for regional and public transportation systems, and if this is the case, whether the techniques developed for urban public transport planning and management are applicable to regional networks. The analysis of the regional public transport system in Perm Krai has shown that the problems of cities and regions are very similar. On this evidence the proposals were made in order to employ urban practice for the optimization of regional public transport system. The detailed program was developed for Perm Krai which can be later on adapted for other regions. |
| Keywords: | regional public transport system, trunk and feeder public transport system |
| JEL: | R42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:01/urb/2015&r=ure |
| By: | Thomas Kemeny; Abigail Cooke |
| Abstract: | Using comprehensive longitudinal matched employer-employee data for the U.S., this paper provides new evidence on the relationship between productivity and immigration spawned urban diversity. Existing empirical work has uncovered a robust positive correlation between productivity and immigrant diversity, supporting theory suggesting that diversity acts as a local public good that makes workers more productive by enlarging the pool of knowledge available to them, as well as by fostering opportunities for them to recombine ideas to generate novelty. This paper makes several empirical and conceptual contributions. First, it improves on existing empirical work by addressing various sources of potential bias, especially from unobserved heterogeneity among individuals, work establishments, and cities. Second, it augments identification by using longitudinal data that permits examination of how diversity and productivity co-move. Third, the paper seeks to reveal whether diversity acts upon productivity chiefly at the scale of the city or the workplace. Findings confirm that urban immigrant diversity produces positive and nontrivial spillovers for U.S. workers. This social return represents a distinct channel through which immigration generates broad-based economic benefits. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, diversity, productivity, spillovers, cities |
| JEL: | O4 R0 O18 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:15-37&r=ure |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert |
| Abstract: | Boys are doing worse in school than are girls, which has been dubbed "the Boy Crisis." An analysis of the latest data on educational outcomes among boys and girls reveals extensive disparities in grades, reading and writing test scores, and other measurable educational outcomes, and these disparities exist across family resources and race. Focusing on disadvantaged schoolchildren, I then examine whether time investments made by boys and girls related to computer use contribute to the gender gap in academic achievement. Data from several sources indicate that boys are less likely to use computers for schoolwork and are more likely to use computers for playing games, but are less likely to use computers for social networking and email than are girls. Using data from a large field experiment randomly providing free personal computers to schoolchildren for home use, I also test whether these differential patterns of computer use displace homework time and ultimately translate into worse educational outcomes among boys. No evidence is found indicating that personal computers crowd out homework time and effort for disadvantaged boys relative to girls. Home computers also do not have negative effects on educational outcomes such as grades, test scores, courses completed, and tardies for disadvantaged boys relative to girls. |
| Keywords: | Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, technology, computers, ICT, education, gender, field experiment |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt4n54q8xh&r=ure |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Loan guarantees made in the Federal Housing Administration's single-family mortgage program between 1992 and 2013 are now projected to generate small costs over their lifetimes rather than the significant savings that were recorded in the federal budget at the time the guarantees were made. That deterioration stems largely from the sharp downturn in the housing market in the late 2000s. |
| JEL: | G17 H20 H61 |
| Date: | 2014–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:457400&r=ure |
| By: | Kalfa, Eleni (University of Kent); Piracha, Matloob (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the extent to which social contacts and ethnic concentration affect the education-occupation mismatch of natives and immigrants. Using Australian panel data and employing a dynamic random effects probit model, we show that social capital exacerbates the incidence of over-education, particularly for females. Furthermore, for the foreign-born, ethnic concentration significantly increases the incidence of over-education. Using an alternative index, we also show that social participation, friends and support and ethnic concentration are the main contributors in generating a mismatch, while reciprocity and trust does not seem to have any effect on over-education for both, immigrants and natives. Finally, we show that social networks are more beneficial for the relatively better educated. |
| Keywords: | social capital, ethnic concentration, over-education |
| JEL: | F22 J61 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9493&r=ure |
| By: | Oleg V. Poldin (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Tania P. Simoes (University of Campinas (Unicamp).); Marcelo Knobel (University of Campinas (Unicamp).); Maria M. Yudkevich (National Research University Higher School of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | Social interactions with peers during learning have a significant impact on university students’ academic achievement. As social ties are voluntary, an empirical estimation of peer effects is exposed to a potential endogeneity problem. To overcome this issue, we propose to define the peer group of an individual as their predicted friends. The specific features of the learning environment in higher education institutions may affect dimensions along which friendship ties form. To test the presence of peer effects in different educational and cultural contexts, we use data on students studying in two universities located in two different countries, Brazil and Russia. We assume that friendship is affected by homophily in student attributes, such as having the same region of origin, the same gender, and sharing the same study group. In both institutions, we find positive externalities from having high-ability peers. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, academic achievement, social networks |
| JEL: | I21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:30edu2015&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriel Ehrlich; Jeffrey Perry |
| Abstract: | In 2012, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reduced fees to refinance FHA-insured mortgages obtained before---but not after---a retroactive deadline. We use a natural experiment to study how reduced mortgage payments affect default rates. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that reducing payment size by 1 percent lowers conditional default rates by 2.75 percent. Evidence suggests that those effects are larger for borrowers with negative equity and lower credit scores. We estimate that the policy will prevent more than 35,000 defaults of FHA-insured mortgages, saving FHA |
| JEL: | G18 G21 E65 H50 |
| Date: | 2015–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:wpaper:50871&r=ure |
| By: | André De Palma (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - Polytechnique - X - CNRS, ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan); Robin Lindsey (Sauder - Sauder School of Business [British Columbia] - University of British Columbia); Guillaume Monchambert (ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan) |
| Abstract: | There is a large operations research literature on public transit system design. An extensive economic literature has also developed on public transit capacity investments, service frequency, and optimal pricing and subsidy policy. These two branches of literature have made significant advances in understanding public transit systems. However, in contrast to the literature on automobile traffic congestion, most of the studies have employed static models that cannot account for travelers' time-of-use decisions and the dynamics of transit congestion and crowding. The time profile of ridership is driven by the trade-off that users face between traveling at peak times and suffering crowding, and avoiding the peak by traveling earlier or later than they would like. A few studies have explored this trade-off using simple microeconomic models that combine trip-scheduling preferences as introduced by Vickrey (1969) with a crowding cost function that describes how utility from travel decreases with passenger loads. In this paper we use this modeling framework to analyze usage of a rail transit line, and assess the potential benefits from internalizing crowding externalities by setting differential train fares. We also present results on optimal train capacity and the number of trains put into service. |
| Keywords: | public transport, crowding, pricing, optimal capacity |
| Date: | 2015–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01223169&r=ure |
| By: | Mathieu Bunel; Elisabeth Tovar |
| Abstract: | Using the unanticipated creation of a new agency in the French region of Lyon as a quasinatural experiment, we question whether distance to local public employment agencies (LPEAs) is a new channel for spatial mismatch. Contrary to past evidence based on aggregated data and consistent with the spatial mismatch literature, we find no evidence of a worker/agency spatial mismatch, which supports a resizing of the French LPEA network. However, echoing the literature on the institutional determinants of the local public employment agencies’ efficiency, we do find detrimental institutional transitory effects. |
| Keywords: | spatial mismatch, unemployment, public employment service, quasi-experiment. |
| JEL: | J58 R53 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2015-32&r=ure |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Tabuchi, Takatoshi |
| Abstract: | We consider the role of a 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; Land rent; Wage gradient |
| JEL: | R13 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67689&r=ure |
| By: | Li,Yue - SARCE; Rama,Martin G. |
| Abstract: | Policy makers in developing countries, including India, are increasingly sensitive to the links between spatial transformation and economic development. However, the empirical knowledge available on those links is most often insufficient to guide policy decisions. There is no shortage of case studies on urban agglomerations of different sorts, or of benchmarking exercises for states and districts, but more systematic evidence is scarce. To help address this gap, this paper combines insights from poverty analysis and urban economics, and develops a methodology to assess spatial performance with a high degree of granularity. This methodology is applied to India, where individual household survey records are mapped to ?places? (both rural and urban) below the district level. The analysis disentangles the contributions household characteristics and locations make to labor earnings, proxied by nominal household expenditure per capita. The paper shows that one-third of the variation in predicted labor earnings is explained by the locations where households reside and by the interaction between these locations and household characteristics such as education. In parallel, this methodology provides a workable metric to describe spatial productivity patterns across India. The paper shows that there is a gradation of spatial performance across places, rather than a clear rural-urban divide. It also finds that distance matters: places with higher productivity are close to each other, but some spread their prosperity over much broader areas than others. Using the spatial distribution of this metric across India, the paper further classifies places at below-district level into four tiers: top locations, their catchment areas, average locations, and bottom locations. The analysis finds that some small cities are among the top locations, while some large cities are not. It also finds that top locations and their catchment areas include many high-performing rural places, and are not necessarily more unequal than average locations. Preliminary analysis reveals that these top locations and their catchment areas display characteristics that are generally believed to drive agglomeration economies and contribute to faster productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Housing&Human Habitats,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies,Population Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction,Urban Housing and Land Settlements |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7473&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt; Nicolai Wendland |
| Abstract: | We show that an employment potential capitalisation model, which establishes a spatial relationship between the price of land and the spatial distribution of employment through a transport matrix, produces estimates of the spatial decay in bilateral commuting probabilities that are very close to the decay observed in commuting data. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility, commuting, employment, gravity, land price, potential |
| JEL: | R12 R23 R33 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0188&r=ure |
| By: | Hazama, Makoto; Uesugi, Iichiro |
| Abstract: | We study, focusing on real estate and other fixed tangible assets, how the heterogeneous effects of real estate prices influence real estate investment behavior. Theoretically, expectations of declining real estate prices not only reduce overall fixed tangible investment through a collateral channel but also reduce real estate investment through intertemporal substitution of demand. By employing a unique dataset on firms’ land transactions and overall investment in Japan during the period 1997 through 2006, we examine these predictions to find the following. First, the entire fixed tangible asset investment is positively associated with the growth rate of land prices, which evidences the collateral channel. In contrast, land investment has no statistically significant relationships with land price growth. Second, a decomposition of land investment into land purchases and sales shows that land sales actually decrease when the growth rate of prices falls. Third, large firms and firms that acquired land during and shortly after the bubble period tend to reduce land sales. This is consistent with Geltner’s (2014) argument that potential sellers of land set their reservation prices at their purchase prices and are reluctant to sell land in the face of a persistent drop in its price. |
| Keywords: | Real estate, Land, Fixed tangible investment, Collateral channel |
| JEL: | G21 G32 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:remfce:30&r=ure |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | CBO analyzed possible transitions to four alternative market structures that involve choices about whether and how the government would continue to guarantee payment on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. This report examines various mechanisms that policymakers could use to attract more private capital to the secondary mortgage market and addresses how those mechanisms could be combined in different ways to help the market transition to a new structure during the coming decade. |
| JEL: | G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2014–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:497650&r=ure |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert |
| Abstract: | A substantial amount of money is spent on technology by schools, families and policymakers with the hope of improving educational outcomes. This chapter explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational purposes: i) classroom use in schools, and ii) home use by students. Theoretically, ICT investment and CAI use by schools and the use of computers at home have ambiguous implications for educational achievement: expenditures devoted to technology necessarily offset inputs that may be more or less efficient, and time allocated to using technology may displace traditional classroom instruction and educational activities at home. However, much of the evidence in the schooling literature is based on interventions that provide supplemental funding for technology or additional class time, and thus favor finding positive effects. Nonetheless, studies of ICT and CAI in schools produce mixed evidence with a pattern of null results. Notable exceptions to this pattern occur in studies of developing countries and CAI interventions that target math rather than language. In the context of home use, early studies based on multivariate and instrumental variables approaches tend to find large positive (and in a few cases negative) effects while recent studies based on randomized control experiments tend to find small or null effects. Early research focused on developed countries while more recently several experiments have been conducted in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, technology, education, computers, Internet, software, random experiment, field experiment |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt28k4f4v1&r=ure |
| By: | Elsner, Benjamin (IZA); Isphording, Ingo E. (IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we show that a student's ordinal rank in a high school cohort is an important determinant of engaging in risky behaviors. Using longitudinal data from representative US high schools, and exploiting idiosyncratic variation in the cohort composition within a school, we find a strong negative effect of a student's rank on the likelihood of smoking, drinking, having unprotected sex, and engaging in physical fights. We further provide suggestive evidence that these results are driven by status concerns and differences in career expectations. |
| Keywords: | risky behavior, ability rank, peer effects, beliefs, expectations |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9478&r=ure |
| By: | M. Rouhani, Omid |
| Abstract: | The major risk associated with the provision of toll facilities results from uncertain future demand/revenue generated from the facilities. In this paper, I examine various options for mitigating toll revenue risk and provide a set of recommendations as to how revenue risk mitigation should be pursued. In addition to conducting more careful traffic revenue studies and risk analyses, policy makers can provide more flexible tolling schedules, adopt advanced toll collection technology, and limit the non-compete clause included in many toll road deals with private operators. |
| Keywords: | Risk mitigation; revenue risk; pricing method; toll collection technology; non-compete clause. |
| JEL: | D61 R42 |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67662&r=ure |
| By: | Leticia Arroyo Abad (Middlebury College); Blanca S‡nschez-Alonso (Universidad CEU-San Pablo) |
| Abstract: | The city of Buenos Aires is an extreme case in immigration history since the native workers were less than one third of the labour force. This paper is the first attempt to present empirical evidence on occupations and wages for Buenos Aires ca. 1890s. Using a large dataset, we look at the performance of Argentineans vis-ˆ-vis the largest two immigrant groups, the Italians and the Spaniards. We find that, on average, Argentineans enjoyed a higher wages; however, this group did not dominate all skill levels. We find skill specialisation by nationality. Despite higher literacy levels and the language advantage, Spaniards did not outperform Italians when looking at earnings and access to homeownership. With deeper and older ties to the community, Italians formed richer networks that helped their fellow countrymen in the host labour market. |
| Keywords: | migration, wages, labour force, Buenos Aires |
| JEL: | N36 F22 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0088&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Galbiati (Département d'économie); Aurélie Ouss; Arnaud Philippe |
| Abstract: | While theoretically important, the relationship between crime and employment is difficult to measure empirically. This paper addresses major identification challenges by exploiting high frequency data of daily online postings on job openings and closings at the county level, merged with individual-level administrative data about all inmates released from French prisons. We find that people who are released when jobs are being created are less likely to recidivate; conversely, people who are released when jobs are being cut are more likely to recidivate. We further show that news on job creation matters, over and beyond actual employment opportunities, suggesting implications for crime-control policies. From a methodological standpoint, this paper demonstrates how using media and online information on jobs can generate higher-frequency variation than administrative employment data, and help to overcome identification challenges to capture effects of variations in job market opportunities, especially when combined with other administrative sources. |
| Keywords: | Labor market conditions; Opportunity; Crime; Recidivism |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6lb0bbni2p86t8ib82gjce1ok1&r=ure |
| By: | James J. Feigenbaum; Lee, James; Filippo Mezzanotti |
| Abstract: | What was the economic impact of General William Sherman?s 1864-65 military march through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina? How does local economic activity respond in both the short- and long-run to capital and infrastructure destruction? We match an 1865 US War Department map of Sherman?s march to detailed county level demographic, agricultural, and manufacturing data from US Censuses, 1850-1930. We show that both agricultural and manufacturing output fell relatively more from 1860 to 1870 and 1880 in Sherman counties compared to non-Sherman counties in the same state. These relative declines do not appear to be driven by differential out-migration, demographic patterns, or long-lasting infrastructure destruction. Instead, by collecting new historical data on local banks, we show that damage to credit markets was more severe in march counties and that these financial disruptions can help explain the larger declines in economic output. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:256106&r=ure |
| By: | Slotwinski, Michaela (University of Basel); Stutzer, Alois (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the vote on the Swiss minaret initiative as a natural experiment to identify the causal effect of negative attitudes towards immigrants on foreigners' location choices and thus indirectly on their utility. Based on a regression discontinuity design with unknown discontinuity points and administrative data on the population of foreigners, we find that the probability of their moving to a municipality that unexpectedly expressed strong reservations decreases initially by about 60 percent. The effect levels off over a period of about 5 months. Consistent with a reduction in the identity utility for immigrants in general, the reaction is not confined to Muslims, whereby high-skilled foreigners seem to be most sensitive to the newly revealed reservations. |
| Keywords: | attitudes, foreigners, identity utility, location choice, RDD |
| JEL: | D83 J61 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9497&r=ure |
| By: | Bjerke, Lina (Jönköping International Business School); Mellander, Charlotta (Jönköping International Business School & Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS)) |
| Abstract: | Two major challenges in Europe’s rural areas are an ageing population and the diminishing share of human capital. While this pattern is not new, the effects are becoming increasingly visible and acute. The long-term loss of younger individuals has in many ways “drained” the labor market and the economic market power of rural areas. This is the focus of our research. Using micro data covering the entire Swedish population, we identify all university graduates from the year 2001. We analyze them with respect to whether they live in a rural or urban region before starting university and where they live at two points in time after graduation. We use a series of multinomial logit regressions to determine what factors affect their short-term and long-term choices of location. We find only minor differences on between these two time-perspectives with a few important exceptions related to civil status and background. |
| Keywords: | urban-rural youth migration; highly educated |
| JEL: | I25 R00 |
| Date: | 2015–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0424&r=ure |
| By: | Andrew Eyles; Stephen Machin |
| Abstract: | Nearly two thirds of secondary schools in England now have academy status. Andrew Eyles and Stephen Machin are tracking the impact of this unprecedented educational reform on pupil outcomes - in both the first wave of 'sponsored' academies introduced by Labour and the coalition's wider programme of 'converter' schools. |
| Keywords: | academies, pupil intake, pupil performance |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:452&r=ure |
| By: | Kreickemeier, Udo; Wrona, Jens |
| Abstract: | We develop a model to explain two-way migration of high-skilled individuals between countries that are similar in their economic characteristics. High-skilled migration results from the combination of workers whose abilities are private knowledge, and a production technology that gives incentives to firms for hiring workers of similar ability. In the presence of migration cost, high-skilled workers self-select into the group of migrants. The laissez-faire equilibrium features too much migration, explained by a negative migration externality. We also show that for sufficiently low levels of migration cost the optimal level of migration, while smaller than in the laissez-faire equilibrium, is strictly positive. Finally, we extend our model into different directions to capture stylized facts in the data and show that our baseline results also hold in these more complex modelling environments. |
| Keywords: | International Migration,Skilled Workers,Positive Assortative Matching |
| JEL: | D82 F22 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:200&r=ure |
| By: | Feigelfeld, Heidrun; Huber, Florian; Wieser, Robert |
| Abstract: | It is a challenge for researchers - and for local policy-makers - to find a structured approach to identifying the effects of long-term processes of urban regeneration. Behind it is also the interest in identifying the various “drivers” of effects according to their fields and levels of action. Their interaction sets the framework for the consequences whether they be a “lack of upgrading or even downgrading” or “upgrading with or without displacement effects” (keyword “gentrification”). In a current project commissioned by the Municipality of Vienna - a promoter of the principle of “Soft Urban Regeneration” for forty years - the multidisciplinary team is examining these questions using various investigative strands (social and structural changes and the property market) to compare three inner-city areas over 25 years. The paper discusses experiences with methods in a first phase, whether initial conclusions can be drawn and the concept for a phase 2 of the research project. |
| Keywords: | Urban regeneration, Upgrading effects, Gentrification, Property market development, Types of social space. |
| JEL: | H23 R38 R51 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67629&r=ure |
| By: | Nancy Murray |
| Abstract: | Mathematica designed, implemented, and rigorously evaluated evidence-based school dropout prevention pilot interventions in four Asian countries—India, Tajikistan, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. |
| Keywords: | Education, international, USAID, reading, CIPRE, School Dropout Prevention |
| JEL: | F Z |
| Date: | 2015–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:6c67c89686ba46369481c67683627928&r=ure |
| By: | Alper Duman (Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics); Idil Göksel (Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the network effect on the probability of finding employment. This paper uses a specific data set from the Izmir region, prepared by the Turkish Statistical Institute for a specific project carried out by Izmir University of Economics in cooperation with the Izmir Chamber of Commerce, the Izmir branch of theTurkish Statistical Institute and the Turkish Labour Institute. Izmir, the third biggest city in Turkey, attracts both skilled and unskilled migrants, and has become one of the preferred destinations for migrants. The relative success of migrants in employment relates to their use of job search channels. We differentiate job search channels into formal/individual, and network forms. The latter refers to the job referral or job information diffusion through relatives and acquaintances. We find that migrants benefit from a comparative advantage in the usage of the network channel. Moreover, this network advantage is more robust for less educated workers. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, migrants, Izmir |
| JEL: | J15 J61 D83 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:izm:wpaper:1502&r=ure |
| By: | Saruta Benjanuvatra; Peter Burridge |
| Abstract: | We investigate QML estimation of a parametric form for the spatial weight matrix, W, appearing in the mixed regressive, spatial autoregressive (MR-SAR) model and extend the identifiability, consistency, and asymptotic Normality results given by Lee (2004, 2007) to the case when W depends on an unknown parameter, y, that is to be estimated from a single cross-section. Numerical experiments illustrate that the QML estimator works quite well inmoderate sized samples, yielding well-behaved parameter estimates and t-statistics with approximately correct size in most cases. These findings should open the door to a much more flexible approach to the construction of spatial regression models. Finally, the QML estimator using two types of sub-models for the spatial weights is applied to the cross-sectional dataset used in Ertur and Koch (2007), to illustrate the utility of the approach. |
| Keywords: | Spatial autoregressive model, estimated spatial weight matrix, quasi-maximum likelihood estimator, growth spillovers. |
| JEL: | C13 C15 C21 R15 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:15/24&r=ure |
| By: | Elango, Sneha (University of Chicago); García, Jorge Luis (University of Chicago); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Hojman, Andrés (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper organizes and synthesizes the literature on early childhood education and childcare. In it, we go beyond meta-analysis and reanalyze primary data sources in a common framework. We consider the evidence from means-tested demonstration programs, large-scale means-tested programs and universal programs without means testing. We discuss which programs are effective and whether, and for which populations, these programs should be subsidized by governments. The evidence from high-quality demonstration programs targeted toward disadvantaged children shows beneficial effects. Returns exceed costs, even accounting for the deadweight loss of collecting taxes. When proper policy counterfactuals are constructed, Head Start has beneficial effects on disadvantaged children compared to home alternatives. Universal programs benefit disadvantaged children. |
| Keywords: | early childhood education, childcare, evaluation of social programs |
| JEL: | J13 I28 C93 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9476&r=ure |
| By: | Edward Lorenz (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG-CNRS); Jana Schmutzler (Universidad de Norte, Colombia; Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany) |
| Keywords: | human capital, tolerance, innovation, regional development, Latin America |
| JEL: | O30 R10 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-43&r=ure |
| By: | Rokicki, S.; Adamkiewicz, A.; Fang, S.C.; Rigotti, N.A.; Winickoff, J.P.; Levy, D.E. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:347666&r=ure |
| By: | Hakan Yilmazkuday (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of state-level personal tax rates on state tax revenue and individual welfare. The policy analysis based on a general equilibrium model suggests that tax revenues would benefit from higher wage-income, sales or property taxes, while any increase in dividend-income tax would result in a reduction of revenues. It is also shown that individuals would suffer from an increase in state-level wage-income tax, dividend-tax or sales tax, while they would benefit from an increase in property taxes. The heterogeneity across states is determined by a TaxIndex, a weighted average of initial taxes at the state level. |
| Keywords: | Regional Taxes, State Tax Revenue, Individual Welfare |
| JEL: | H24 H71 R13 R51 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:1507&r=ure |
| By: | Sorokina, Alla (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | This article provides a brief description of basic methods of coordination of industrial and spatial development in foreign countries. The analysis of economic development strategies shows that cluster approach helps countries to solve a very broad variety of economic problems – starting from innovation development and ending up investment attraction. So cluster initiatives seem as most promising way of simultaneous solving tasks of industrial and spatial development. |
| Keywords: | Territorial development, the cluster approach, objectives, industry, strategic planning |
| JEL: | C38 |
| Date: | 2013–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:dok5&r=ure |
| By: | Shaun Larcom; Ferdinand Rauch; Tim Willems |
| Abstract: | In February 2014, strikes by staff on London's underground network enabled a sizeable fraction of commuters to find better routes, according to research by Shaun Larcom, Ferdinand Rauch and Tim Willems. Many commuters were forced to experiment and around one in 20 stuck with their new routes after the strike was over. |
| Keywords: | experimentation, learning, optimization, rationality, search |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:455&r=ure |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | CBO describes federal housing assistance to low-income households and how it has changed since 2000, provides information about the households that receive assistance, and assesses options for altering that assistance. |
| JEL: | H53 I30 I38 |
| Date: | 2015–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:507820&r=ure |
| By: | Brown, J. David (U.S. Census Bureau); Earle, John S. (George Mason University); Morgulis, Yana (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | Analyzing a list of all Small Business Administration (SBA) loans in 1991 to 2009 linked with annual information on all U.S. employers from 1976 to 2012, we apply detailed matching and regression methods to estimate the variation in SBA loan effects on job creation and firm survival across firm age and size groups. The number of jobs created per million dollars of loans generally increases with size and decreases in age. The results imply that fast-growing firms ("gazelles") experience the greatest financial constraints to growth, while the growth of small, mature firms is least financially constrained. The estimated association between survival and loan amount is larger for younger and smaller firms facing the "valley of death". |
| Keywords: | job creation, firm survival, credit constraints, small businesses, government loan guarantees |
| JEL: | H81 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9489&r=ure |
| By: | Salustri, Andrea; Mosca, Michele; Viganò, Federica |
| Abstract: | The paper introduces a theoretical model to show how in a spatial framework characterized by urban-rural imbalances, the production of goods and services decreases moving from urban to rural areas. Specifically in rural and peripheral areas, the market and the public sector might supply an insufficient level of goods and services due to higher distance costs and lack of financial resources. Cooperatives and nonprofit organizations, i.e. social enterprises, are able to overcome distance costs and therefore spatial inequalities, by developing a productive and distributive function in marginalized areas, ensuring a fair and equal treatment among residents. Moreover, cooperatives and nonprofit organizations endorse the inclusiveness of the labor market, and raise peoples’ intrinsic motivation. |
| Keywords: | cooperative economics; nonprofit institutions and social enterprises; urban-rural development; size and spatial distributions of regional economic activity |
| JEL: | J54 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67685&r=ure |
| By: | Wolfgang Nagl; Robert Lehmann |
| Keywords: | Migration costs; Distance; Foreign Employment |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p366&r=ure |
| By: | Levente Timar (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Arthur Grimes (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Richard Fabling (Independent Researcher) |
| Abstract: | We test whether a major earthquake in one city (Christchurch, New Zealand) affects the prices of earthquake-prone commercial buildings in a city (Wellington) that was unaffected by the disaster. In particular, we test whether the official public declaration of a building as being earthquake-prone (with a corresponding requirement to remediate the building to minimum earthquake code requirements) has an effect on price over and above that experienced by similarly earthquake-prone (but not yet declared) buildings. We distinguish the latter by isolating sales of those buildings that are subsequently declared to be earthquake-prone. We find that in the CBD, the price discount that accompanies an official earthquake-prone declaration averages 45% whereas there is no observable discount on buildings that are subsequently declared earthquake-prone. Consistent with our theoretical model that anticipates forced sale of some officially declared earthquake-prone buildings, the probability of sale of officially declared earthquake-prone buildings rose markedly after the Christchurch earthquakes. Our results therefore show that officially declared earthquake-prone status has a considerable impact on the commercial property market that is separate from the effects of being earthquake-prone but where the building has not (yet) officially received that status. |
| Keywords: | Earthquake-prone buildings, commercial property prices, forced property sale |
| JEL: | Q54 R33 R38 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:15_19&r=ure |