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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Kobayashi, Masahiro (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Housing policies in Japan after World War II were focused on the quantitative supply of houses with a wide range of targeted groups and public rental houses. The Japan Housing Corporation (now the Urban Renaissance Agency) and the Government Housing Loan Corporation (now the Japan Housing Finance Agency) have served to address these policy targets accordingly. The restoration of housing stock was successful, but the collapse of the property bubble in the early 1990s caused negative impact on the real economy and created persistent loss of confidence among the Japanese people, which is exacerbated by deflation and negative demographic factors (decrease of the population and aging of society). Enhancement of the quality of houses is an important part of the housing policy in Japan, but, at the same time, there needs to be a balance between new construction and the activation of existing housing stocks. Given the social experiments currently underway, there is need to closely monitor the changes of market trends. |
| Keywords: | Japan housing policy; housing stock; property bubble; Japan Housing Finance Agency |
| JEL: | R14 R21 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2016–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0558&r=ure |
| By: | Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy (University of Auckland); Arthur Grimes (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Mark Holmes (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | We test whether a single housing market exists across sixteen cities covering two countries, Australia and New Zealand. Distances between these cities are vastly greater than commuting distances. We define a single housing market as one in which a single stochastic trend describes the long run path of real house prices in all cities. A strong form single housing market occurs when an innovation to the stochastic trend affects house prices across all cities multiplicatively to an equal degree. A weak form occurs when an innovation to the stochastic trend affects house prices in all cities, but not to an equal degree. We find that the sixteen housing markets are characterised by a weak form single housing market. The dynamic structure of adjustment reveals three groups of cities. House price shocks are first reflected in the price dynamics of a leading group of Australian cities (including Melbourne and Sydney), then flow to a group of follower cities comprising peripheral Australian and major New Zealand cities, and then to a group of laggard cities within New Zealand. Our theoretical model demonstrates how a weak form single housing market may arise due to differences between cities in house price responses to land prices, migration responses to house prices and/or land price responses to migration flows. |
| Keywords: | House prices; convergence; single housing market; Australia; New Zealand |
| JEL: | R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:16_04&r=ure |
| By: | Yana Kucheva; Richard Sander |
| Abstract: | In this project, we examine the mobility choices of black households between 1960 and 2000. We use household-level Decennial Census data geocoded down to the census tract level. Our results indicate that, for black households, one’s status as an intermetropolitan migrant – especially from an urban area outside the South – is a powerful predictor of pioneering into a white neighborhood. Moreover, and perhaps even more importantly, the ratio of these intermetropolitan black arrivals to the incumbent metropolitan black population is a powerful predictor of whether a metropolitan area experiences substantial declines in housing segregation. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-23&r=ure |
| By: | Micheli, Martin |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of public debt on real estate prices and rental prices. We identify shocks to investment credits of self-governed cities in Germany and control for potential benefits such as an increased supply of public goods, which might come in hand with increased indebtedness. Using spatial variation across self-governed cities allows us to estimate this effect. We find that shocks to public debt have a significant negative effect on apartment prices. Rental prices, on the other hand, do not seem to be affected by public debt. Tenants care more about the current and less about the future tax burden. |
| Abstract: | In diesem Papier untersuchen wir den kausalen Effekt öffentlicher Verschuldung auf Immobilienpreise. Hierfür identifizieren wir zuerst Schocks der Investitionskreditposition kreisfreier Städte. Um für potenziell positive Effekte, welche mit einem Anstieg der öffentlichen Verschuldung einhergehen können, zu kontrollieren, nutzen wir den Standort der beobachteten Immobilien. Wir finden einen signifikant negativen Effekt öffentlicher Verschuldung auf Wohnungspreise. Für Wohnungsmieten finden wir keinen signifikanten Einfluss der Verschuldung. Mieten scheinen mehr von der aktuellen als von der zukünftigen Steuerbelastung abzuhängen. |
| Keywords: | real estate prices,local government debt |
| JEL: | R30 R51 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:605&r=ure |
| By: | West , Jens (KTH/Sweco); Börjesson , Maria (KTH); Engelson , Leonid (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper performs an ex-post evaluation of the transport model forecast of the effects of the Gothenburg congestion charges, implemented in 2013. We find that the predicted traffic reductions across the cordon and travel time gains were close to those observed in the peak. However, the reduction in traffic across the cordon was under-predicted in off-peak. The design of the charging system implies that the path disutility cannot be computed as a sum of link attributes. The route choice model is therefore implemented as a hierarchical algorithm, including a continuous value of travel time (VTT) distribution. The VTT distribution was estimated from stated choice (SC) data, but had to be adjusted to be consistent with observed outcome. One reason for the discrepancy may be that VTT inferred from SC data does not reveal travellers’ long-term preferences. Another reason may be that apart from distance, travel time and charge there are other factors that determine drivers’ route choice. |
| Keywords: | Congestion charges; Transport model; Validation; Value of time; Volume delay function; Decision support |
| JEL: | R41 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2016–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2016_009&r=ure |
| By: | Christoph Basten; Catherine Koch |
| Abstract: | We identify the causal effect of house prices on mortgage demand and supply in Switzerland by exploiting exogenous shocks to immigration and thereby to house prices. Detailed micro data on individual requests and offers allow to close down possible other channels. We find that within the same interest rate environment 1% higher house prices imply 0.52% higher mortgage amounts. The full partial correlation of 0.78% suggests also positive feedback from mortgage volumes to house prices. While we find higher house prices to increase mortgage demand, banks respond if anything with fewer offers and higher rates, especially later in the boom and for highly leveraged households. |
| Keywords: | House prices, mortgage demand, mortgage supply, IV |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:555&r=ure |
| By: | Juan Tomas Sayago-Gomez (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University); Adam Nowak (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of the concentration of crime on housing prices using nonparametric methods. Specifically, we use a modified local K-function in order to measure crime concentration. This technique provides us with a crime measure that is not dependent on pre-defined boundaries. Results from this analysis suggest a decrease in housing prices of two percent to seven percent for crimes in the past six months that occur within a quarter of a mile of the house. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Housing Prices, K-functions |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:2016wp01&r=ure |
| By: | Fredrik Andersson; John C. Haltiwanger; Mark J. Kutzbach; Giordano Palloni; Henry O. Pollakowski; Daniel H. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | To date, research on the long-term effects of childhood participation in voucher-assisted and public housing has been limited by the lack of appropriate data and suitable identification strategies. We create a new, national-level longitudinal data set on housing assistance and labor market earnings to explore how children’s housing affects their later earnings. While naïve estimates suggest there are substantial negative long-term consequences to childhood participation in voucher-assisted and public housing, these relationships appear to be driven largely by negative selection into housing assistance programs. To mitigate this source of bias, we employ household fixed-effects specifications that use only within-household (across-sibling) variation for identification. Compared to naïve specifications, household fixed-effects estimates are more positive for all demographic groups and, for some groups, positive and statistically significant. Black non-Hispanic females, in particular, benefit from time spent in both voucher-assisted and public housing. Exploiting the between sibling variation accounts for unobserved time-invariant family attributes that may influence outcomes but does not address time varying within household factors that may be at work. We use a number of strategies to address these issues and find our results are results are largely robust to these concerns. |
| JEL: | H43 I31 I38 J38 J62 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-48r&r=ure |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (CIRCLE, Lund University); Bengtsson, Lars (Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Management and Logistics, Lund University); Karlsson, Charlie (Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), KTH, Stockholm; Jönköping International Business School & Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | The literature in the Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE) is increasingly embracing the concept and implication of knowledge spillovers. In this paper, we add to the theoretical literature on SE and knowledge spillovers by investigating the types of knowledge spillovers and what they imply for various dimensions of SE. On the one hand, we distinguish between spatial and aspatial knowledge spillovers. On the other hand, we distinguish between various dimensions of SE, i.e. inputs, resource orchestration, and output. Finally, we conceptually link the various types of knowledge spillovers and dimensions of SE and discuss the implications. Doing so, we argue that spatial knowledge spillovers (inter-firm) play the major role in increasing the amount of ‘inputs’ dimension of SE, while the aspatial knowledge (either inter-regional or intra-firm) play the major role not only for ‘inputs’, but also for ‘rresource orchestration’ dimension. At the end, the paper provides suggestions for future research and managerial implications. |
| Keywords: | Strategic entrepreneurship; knowledge spillovers; spatial; aspatial |
| JEL: | L26 O31 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2016_008&r=ure |
| By: | Rebecca Williams (Reserve Bank of New Zealand); Les Oxley (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | At the turn of the twentieth century, New Zealand was one of the wealthiest nations in the world on a per capita basis. We examine the role of innovation in explaining New Zealand’s economic performance. Using a new dataset on patent applications for the period 1880-1895, we consider whether the geographical concentration of innovative activity influenced economic activity. We find relationships between agricultural and pastoral output indices and inventiveness and between different regions and related industries. The results, however, are relatively weak. We conclude that tests of agglomeration effects in New Zealand during this period deserve further attention. |
| Keywords: | inventiveness; agglomeration; patents; knowledge spill-overs; New Zealand |
| JEL: | O3 N7 N1 |
| Date: | 2016–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:16/03&r=ure |
| By: | Emre Akgunduz; Suzanne Heijnen |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effectiveness of the early childhood programme (ECP) in the Netherlands. The programme is designed for 2.5 to 4 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds. 37 municipalities received an additional subsidy to expand ECP programmes, which allows us to analyze the effects of the programme within a difference-in-difference-in-differences framework. Most children first enroll in primary schools at age 4 in the Netherlands, but pupils begin to learn reading and mathematics in grade 3 at age 6. We use grade repetition constructed from school registry data from 2008 to 2015 in the first two grades as an indicator of school readiness. Our results show significantly lower grade repetition rates for targeted boys who are in regions that receive the subsidy. Grade repetition drops by 1 to 3 percentage points from a mean of 10.5 percent for the disadvantaged group targeted by the programme. |
| JEL: | C21 I28 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:328&r=ure |
| By: | Steven D. Levitt; John A. List; Sally Sadoff |
| Abstract: | We test the effect of performance-based incentives on educational achievement in a low-performing school district using a randomized field experiment. High school freshmen were provided monthly financial incentives for meeting an achievement standard based on multiple measures of performance including attendance, behavior, grades and standardized test scores. Within the design, we compare the effectiveness of varying the recipient of the reward (students or parents) and the incentive structure (fixed rate or lottery). While the overall effects of the incentives are modest, the program has a large and significant impact among students on the threshold of meeting the achievement standard. These students continue to outperform their control group peers a year after the financial incentives end. However, the program effects fade in longer term follow up, highlighting the importance of longer term tracking of incentive programs. |
| JEL: | C93 I24 I25 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22107&r=ure |
| By: | Giorgio Prodi (Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara, Italy.); Federico Frattini (Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara, Italy.); Francesco Nicolli (IRCrES-CNR, Milano, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the connections between long-term development and Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) in China. It aims to investigate how the evolution of RIS fits with China’s overall process of economic upgrading. The analysis relies on Chinese patent applications filed to the EPO during the period 1981 to 2009, which authors have regionalised at a prefectural level. Conceptu-ally, the investigation concerns the relative prevalence of indexes derived from inventors’ and ap-plicants’ localisation to describe local innovation activities in terms of emergence, development and reinforcement. The hypothesis ranks higher those prefectures where indigenous applicants prevail, that is, the initiative, organisation and exploitation of innovation activities are foremost local (or endogenous). Results return the possibility of grouping Chinese prefectures into six clusters. On this basis, RIS features appear to diffuse, even while regional concentration of innovation activities is still increasing. This pattern is deemed to fit the process of industrial development in China very well. As it was in the past, RIS benefit from the opportunities that a long-term development strategy provides, but face its limits as well. |
| Keywords: | China; development; endogeneity; patent; reform; Regional Innovation System |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0316&r=ure |
| By: | Ofer Malamud; Cristian Pop-Eleches; Miguel Urquiola |
| Abstract: | This paper explores whether conditions during early childhood affect the productivity of later human capital investments. We use Romanian administrative data to ask if the benefit of access to better schools is larger for children who experienced better family environments because their parents had access to abortion. We combine regression discontinuity and differences-in-differences designs to estimate impacts on a high-stakes school-leaving exam. Although we find that access to abortion and access to better schools each have positive impacts, we do not find evidence of significant interactions between these shocks. While these results suggest the absence of dynamic complementarities in human capital formation, survey data suggest that they may also reflect behavioral responses by students and parents. |
| JEL: | I00 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22112&r=ure |
| By: | Sophie Dantan (Université Paris Saclay, ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan); Nathalie Picard (Université de Cergy Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of residential segregation in Paris region by disentangling households' preferences for local amenities, for dwelling type and for homeownership, in a nested logit model. This model is extended to account for unobservable borrowing constraints which might prevent some households from purchasing a dwelling. A counterfactual distribution of socio-demographic characteristics across the Paris region is then built by relaxing those constraints. The comparison of the actual and counterfactual distributions suggests that if their credit constraints were alleviated, households would tend to locate further from Paris. In particular if constraints were relaxed only on the poorest households, they would not be likely to mix with the richest households. |
| Keywords: | ,Homeownership,Tenure choice,Borrowing constraints,Residential segregation,Suburbanization,Urban sprawl,Location choice model,Endogenous choice sets |
| Date: | 2016–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01294215&r=ure |
| By: | Mikel Casares (Departamento de Economía-UPNA); Hashmat Khan (Carleton University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | We document empirical evidence on the determinants of U.S. regional growth over the last 25 years, with a special attention to the role of entrepreneurial activity or `business dynamism'. The main data source is the Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The key findings are: i) business entry and exit rates are similarly distributed across states, ii) neither entry nor exit rates have had a significant impact on regional growth, iii) higher business density results in faster regional growth, iv) entry rates have fallen over time and the states with greater business detrending have had weaker economic growth, v) states where entry and exit show substantial comovement (business churning) tend to grow faster, especially after 2007, vi) state-level population growth has no substantial e ffect on regional growth, and vii) the convergence hypothesis holds across the states of the U.S. |
| Keywords: | Business dynamism, Entry-exit rates, Economic growth |
| JEL: | O30 O40 O51 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nav:ecupna:1601&r=ure |
| By: | Kristoffersson, Ida (KTH); Engelson, Leonid (KTH) |
| Abstract: | Efficiency of congestion charging schemes has been extensively studied in road pricing literature. However, few studies analyze both efficiency and equity of congestion charging schemes. This paper shows the importance of conducting an equity analysis as a complement to an efficiency analysis. Comparing different charging scenarios for Stockholm, the paper shows that changing the location of the charging stations may alter the system from progressive to regressive. In the paper, the most efficient scenario is the least equitable. Indeed, the results of this paper show that moving towards a more efficient scheme design, where amounts are more closely related to congestion level, the charging system turns from progressive to regressive. The reason is the uneven distribution of workplaces and residential areas in Stockholm. Combined with richer socio-economic groups to a larger extent living in the part of Stockholm with more workplaces, this leads to a trade-off between charging for congestion and designing an equitable system. The paper concludes that congestion charging cannot be said to be progressive or regressive per se, rather it varies between cities and even between different scheme designs for the same city. Furthermore, results of the mesoscopic simulations performed in the paper demonstrate that travelers as a whole may benefit from congestion charging even before the use of revenues to compensate the users. |
| Keywords: | Congestion charging; Efficiency; Equity; Welfare effects; Regressive; Progressive; Mesoscopic simulation |
| JEL: | R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2016–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2016_007&r=ure |
| By: | William Gbohoui (Sans nom); François Vaillancourt |
| Abstract: | To understand the role of subnational tax policies in explaining regional growth, we present stylized facts on U.S. state income and state-level tax policies. We use real Gross State Products (GSP) as the indicator of economic performance in contrast to the existing literature, which relies on Personal Income. The results reveal an increase in per capita income disparities, and time - persistent differences in human capital and physical capital between U.S. states. In addition, we find that subnational tax policies vary widely between states. Using augmented Barro regressions, we show that educational attainment, and state-level tax policies are the key determinants in explaining the differences between state-level economic growth. More precisely, higher corporate income or general sales taxes significantly retard economic growth, while human capital positively impacts state-level growth. |
| Keywords: | Regional growth, state and local taxation, |
| JEL: | H71 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2016s-13&r=ure |
| By: | Cattaneo, Maria Alejandra (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education); Oggenfuss, Chantal (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | Although instruction time is an important and costly resource in education production, there is a remarkable scarcity of research examining the effectiveness of its use. We build on the work of Lavy (2015) using the variance of subject-specific instruction time within Switzerland to determine the causal impact of instruction time on student test scores, as measured by the international PISA test (2009). We extend the analyses in two ways and find that students must differ considerably in the time needed to learn. This difference is supported by our findings that the effectiveness of instructional time varies substantially between different school (ability) tracks and that additional instruction time significantly increases the within-school variance of subject-specific test scores. |
| Keywords: | instruction time, PISA, fixed-effect models, tracking |
| JEL: | C21 I21 I25 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9797&r=ure |
| By: | Darmody, Merike; Smyth, Emer |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of background and school factors on second-level students’ attitudes toward Irish as a school subject drawing on the Growing Up in Ireland study. The study focuses on the perceptions of the core subjects, English, Mathematics and Irish, and presents a profile of students who find the Irish language interesting or difficult. The study enables us to investigate the attitudes of teenagers towards the language in a systematic way, including personal, school and other characteristics that may have an impact on attitudes towards the Irish language. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp525&r=ure |
| By: | Kaivan Munshi; Mark Rosenzweig; ; |
| Abstract: | We provide an explanation for the large spatial wage disparities and low male migration in India based on the trade-off between consumption-smoothing, provided bycaste-based rural insurance networks, and the income-gains from migration. Our theory generates two key empirically-verified predictions: (i) males in relatively wealthy households within a caste who benefit less from the redistributive (surplus-maximizing)network will be more likely to migrate, and (ii) males in households facing greater rural income-risk (who benefit more from the insurance network) migrate less. Structural estimates show that small improvements in formal insurance decrease the spatial misallocation of labor by substantially increasing migration. |
| Date: | 2015–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1562&r=ure |
| By: | Umut Dur; Parag A. Pathak; Tayfun Sönmez |
| Abstract: | Affirmative action schemes must confront the tension between admitting the highest scoring applicants and ensuring diversity. In Chicago's affirmative action system for exam schools, applicants are divided into one of four socioeconomic tiers based on the characteristics of their neighborhood. Applicants can be admitted to a school either through a slot reserved for their tier or through a merit slot. Equity considerations motivate equal percentage reserves for each tier, but there is a large debate on the total size of these reserve slots relative to merit slots. An issue that has received much less attention is the order in which slots are processed. Since the competition for merit slots is influenced directly by the allocation to tier slots, equal size reserves are not sufficient to eliminate explicit preferential treatment. We characterize processing rules that are tier-blind. While explicit preferential treatment is ruled out under tier-blind rules, it is still possible to favor certain tiers, by exploiting the distribution of scores across tiers, a phenomenon we call statistical preferential treatment. We characterize the processing order that is optimal for the most disadvantaged tier assuming that these applicants systematically have lower scores. This policy processes merit slots prior to any slots reserved for tiers. Our main result implies that Chicago has been providing an additional boost to the disadvantaged tier beyond their reserved slots. Using data from Chicago, we show that the bias due to processing order for the disadvantaged tier is comparable to that from the 2012 decrease in the size of the merit reserve. |
| JEL: | C78 I21 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22109&r=ure |
| By: | Fleitas, Sebastian (University of Arizona); Fishback, Price (University of Arizona); Snowden, Kenneth (University of North Carolina Greensboro) |
| Abstract: | During the housing crisis of the 1930s long delays in the resolution of severely distressed Building and Loan associations led to the rapid diminution of these previously successful and important home mortgage lenders. These delays were caused by a unique contractual structure that created incentives for borrowing members to prolong dissolution and granted them control, along with non-borrowers, over the timing of liquidation. Using a new dataset of New Jersey B&Ls we estimate a voting model of dissolution and find that the probability of B&L liquidation rose 37 percent when the share of non-borrowing members rose above the two-thirds threshold. An average one-year delay in liquidation resulted that imposed costs on non-borrowing members roughly three times the gains borrowing members realized by delaying dissolution. These delays and costs contributed to the quick demise of the B&L and the rapid ascendancy of the modern Savings & Loan industry. |
| Keywords: | JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:275&r=ure |
| By: | Yuri Danilov (Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | The article discusses the main elements of the "new" economic geography, adequately describes the current patterns of spatial development. In the context of reducing the share of transportation costs in the total cost of production is enhanced agglomeration effect, resulting in a further concentration of production and population. The article presents the basic tools and measures used by the "new" economic geography. The article formulates proposals for the application of developments and achievements of the "new" economic geography in the strategic planning of spatial development of the Russian Federation. Forecasting and strategic planning indicators are proposed, which most adequately reflect the processes of spatial development taking place in the modern economy |
| Keywords: | spatial development, indicators of spatial development, new economic geography, distances interpretation, agglomeration effect, strategic planning |
| JEL: | R58 N90 B20 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upa:wpaper:0028&r=ure |
| By: | Holmlund, Helena (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Equality of opportunity has been one of the central ideas governing education policy in the Nordic welfare state. This paper takes its starting point in the shared history of educational reform in the Nordic countries, and presents evidence that the comprehensive school reforms that implied a shift from selective two-tier schooling systems to unified compulsory schools were beneficial for equality of opportunity. This evidence is compared to a choice and voucher reform that in the 1990's introduced pedagogical as well as organizational variety in the education system in Sweden. The Swedish choice reform is unique in an international perspective, and has reshaped the education sector dramatically as a growing number of pupils attend non-public independent schools. The current education debate shows a widespread concern that the introduction of choice has led to a backlash for equality of opportunity. Parental background remains a strong determinant of pupil performance. However, recent research finds no indication that family background has become more important over time in explaining pupil outcomes. The Swedish education system nevertheless faces a number of challenges if it is to level the playing field and create equal opportunities for all pupils: schools are becoming increasingly more segregated, much as a consequence of immigration, and disadvantaged pupils are less likely to exercise school choice compared to their more advantaged peers. |
| Keywords: | educational reform; equality of opportunity |
| JEL: | I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2016–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_005&r=ure |
| By: | Wade Jacobsen Jacobsen (Pennsylvania State University); Garrett Pace (Princeton University); Nayan Ramirez (Pennsylvania State University) |
| Abstract: | Exclusionary school discipline has become an increasingly common experience among US children, with rates of suspension and expulsion highest among boys, minorities, and the poor. Although well documented among middle and high school students, less is known about the prevalence or consequences among younger children. We examine rates of school discipline across gender, race, and class for urban-born children by about age nine. We then estimate the effect of school discipline on physically aggressive behavior. Results reveal severe disparities, especially among poor children where 1 in 2 black boys and more than 1 in 3 black girls have been suspended or expelled, compared to fewer than 1 in 30 non-black non-Hispanic boys or girls. We find no evidence that school discipline reduces children’s physically aggressive behaviors. Indeed, it appears to be associated with increases in such behavior, with similar effects across gender, race, and class. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:16-04-ff&r=ure |
| By: | Wang, Kurt (San Diego State University); Sabia, Joseph J. (San Diego State University); Cesur, Resul (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Policymakers advocating for later school starting times argue that increased sleep duration may generate important schooling benefits. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the relationship between sleep duration and academic performance, while carefully controlling for difficult-to-measure characteristics at the family- and individual-levels. We find that increased sleep time is associated with improvements in classroom concentration as well as increased educational attainment. However, we also find evidence of diminishing returns to increased sleep. We estimate an "academic optimum" number of sleep hours of, on average, 8.5 hours per night. Turning to sleep quality, we find that the onset of insomnia-like symptoms is associated with diminished contemporaneous academic concentration, but little change in longer-run educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | human capital, schooling, insomnia, sleep |
| JEL: | I12 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9829&r=ure |
| By: | Daniel H. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Recent work has suggested that higher income inequality may be a desirable attribute of a neighborhood in that it represents diversity, even though high (and rising) inequality appears to be detrimental to the nation as a whole. The research reported here has determined the key characteristics of a census tract that are associated with the level of inequality in 2000 or 2010, and those associated with changes in income inequality between 2000 and 2010. For the change, the strongest influence is a negative effect for the level of income inequality in 2000; that is, higher income inequality in 2000 leads to a decline over the decade, ceteris paribus. Neighborhoods with higher proportions or levels of the following population and housing characteristics tend to have both higher income inequality and a larger increase in income inequality between 2000 and 2010: individuals in poverty, those with a bachelor's degree, older individuals, householders living alone, and median rent, and lower median housing value and household income. Among these, perhaps the most important determinant is the percent in poverty in 2000. Furthermore, as the baseline level of demographic and economic diversity increases, the better the baseline and change characteristics explain the change in the Gini index from 2000 to 2010. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood, neighborhood succession, neighborhood dynamics, income inequality, Gini index |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-18&r=ure |
| By: | Dalvai, Wilfried |
| Abstract: | Worldwide trade flows are dominated by high-productivity firms, that have a large range of products. Since the product range of firms reflects partly trade flows, it is a source of economic differences in space. In this paper, I analyze the effects of the product mix of firms on agglomeration. I build a theoretical model of multiproduct firms à la Mayer, Melitz, and Ottaviano (2014, AER), expand it with skilled, mobile workers and a spatial equilibrium. I show that a larger product mix of firms in a region favours dispersion. The product mix influences the indirect utility through two channels, the wage and consumer surplus. A larger product mix decreases the wage differential between the two regions through a more competitive environment and thus strengthening the dispersion force. More competition means less profits and therefore a lower wage for skilled workers. On the other hand a more competitive environment means a higher consumer surplus which diminishes agglomeration forces. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration,Heterogenous Firms,Product Mix,Migration |
| JEL: | L11 F12 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:roswps:145&r=ure |
| By: | Cardoso-Vargas, Carlos-Enrique |
| Abstract: | This document examines whether the agglomeration of foreign processing firms (PCS) assembling imported inputs to make export products favors the incorporation to the export activity or market expansion of domestic companies. Similarly this situation is evaluated by considering ordinary foreign firms (ORD) or not manufactured processed products and non-local hybrid companies (HBR) that act in both regimes of commerce. The theoretical framework guiding the empirical evaluation is based on a simple model inspired by Melitz (2003), which is evaluated by means of a conditional logit model with panel data. The findings show evidence that the concentration of these types of foreign companies increases the probability that domestic companies show a presence in certain markets. Notwithstanding, these export spillovers widely heterogeneous in virtue of the fact that their existence and sphere of influence are associated with their specificity in terms of country or product, as well as with the regime of commerce and the technological capacity used by domestic companies vis-à-vis neighboring foreign companies. |
| Keywords: | international trade, agglomeration externalities, heterogeneity firms |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F21 |
| Date: | 2016–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70212&r=ure |
| By: | José Manuel Pastor (Ivie, Valencia and Department of Economic Analysis, Universitat de València); José Manuel Pavía (Department of Applied Economics, Universitat de València); Lorenzo Serrano (Ivie, Valencia and Department of Economic Analysis, Universitat de València); Emili Tortosa-Ausina (IVIE, Valencia and Department of Economics, Universidad Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the links between financial deregulation and economic performance in a European context. Specifically, we study the relaxation of bank branching restrictions in Spain, which triggered a remarkable inter-regional expansion of savings banks that coincided with an unprecedented period of sustained economic expansion. Although related questions have been widely investigated for the US, experiences in Europe have received far less research attention. An additional contribution of the paper lies in its use of quantile regression, which allows us to investigate the possibility of economic effects taking into account the degree of regional development and we also explicitly consider the potential endogeneity of some of the regressors. Our results do not support the case for a positive effect of bank branch deregulation in Spain. Out-ofregion entry, in particular, does not seem to have had any specific positive effect on regional development and this result is quite homogeneous across provinces regardless of their relative wealth. |
| Keywords: | bank, branch, development, province, quantile regression |
| JEL: | C21 D40 G21 L11 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2016/02&r=ure |
| By: | Gustafsson, Björn Anders (University of Gothenburg); Katz, Katarina (Karlstad University); Österberg, Torun (University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate to what degree young adults live in neighbourhoods that are similar, in terms of relative average household income, to the neighbourhoods in which they grew up. We use regression analysis on register data for all individuals who were born in 1974 and lived in metropolitan Sweden in both 1990 and 2006. During this period, the distribution of income in Sweden became far more unequal, unemployment rose dramatically, earlier housing policies were dismantled, the share of "visible minorities" increased dramatically and residential segregation increased very considerably. We find a correlation between average neighbourhood incomes at these two points in the sample's life cycle of 0.44, which is more than three times as high as the household income correlation. We find that half of the children of "visible minorities" grew up in the poorer quartile of neighbourhoods, and of these almost two-thirds remained in the poorest quartile of neighbourhoods as adults. Several measures indicate that intergenerational persistency in context is lower in metropolitan Sweden than was found in a similar study in the United States. However, it appears, that if visible minority individuals lived in a neighbourhood in the lowest part of the distribution in Sweden as a child, the probability that they will do so also as adults is as high as the corresponding probability for a African-American person in the US. |
| Keywords: | Sweden, residential segregation, immigrants, intergenerational persistence |
| JEL: | J15 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9837&r=ure |
| By: | Sunil Kumar; Melissa Fernández |
| JEL: | N0 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:65861&r=ure |
| By: | Phiri, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Following the recent financial crisis, spurred by the crash of house prices in the US, there has been a renewed interest by academics in examining the pass-through effects of monetary policy instrument to house price inflation. This study examines the asymmetric pass through effects from monetary policy to house price inflation for the case of South Africa. Our study uses a momentum threshold autoregressive model and a corresponding threshold error correction model (MTAR-TECM). The empirical results reveal a negative and significant pass through from interest rates to house price inflation, even though such pass-through effects are relatively weak. Overall, these findings undermine the ability of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to control real house price inflation. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric cointegration; monetary policy instrument; house price inflation; South Africa. |
| JEL: | C22 C52 E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2016–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70258&r=ure |
| By: | Ohinata, Asako; van Ours, Jan C.; Yao, Yuxin |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the educational consequences of language proficiency by investigating the relationship between dialect-speaking and academic performance of 5-6 year old children in the Netherlands. We find that dialect-speaking has a modestly negative effect on boys' language test scores. In addition, we study whether there are spillover effects of peers' dialect-speaking on test scores. We find no evidence for spillover effect of peers' dialect-speaking. The test scores of neither Dutch-speaking children nor dialect-speaking children are affected by the share of dialect-speaking peers in the classroom. |
| JEL: | I15 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11183&r=ure |
| By: | Eleftheriou, Konstantinos; Polemis, Michael |
| Abstract: | We build an Asymmetric Spatial Error Correction Model (ASpECM) to investigate the role of spatial dependence at the retail gasoline price adjustment mechanism. We find evidence that the symmetric price pattern is fully reversed when we account for spatial spillover effects, indicating that retail prices adjust more rapidly in an upward than a downward direction. This finding raises the possibility that retailers are more likely to engage in anti-competitive practices which may be ignored when the regulators bypass the role of spatial dependence. |
| Keywords: | ASpECM; Spatial dependence; Asymmetric gasoline price adjustment |
| JEL: | C23 L13 |
| Date: | 2016–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70037&r=ure |
| By: | Sanjeev Goyal; Stephanie Rosenkranz; Utz Weitze; Vincent Buskens |
| Abstract: | A central feature of social networks is information sharing. The Internet and related computing technologies define the relative costs of private information acquisition and forming links with others. This paper presents an experiment on the effects of changing costs.We find that a decline in relative costs of linking makes private investments more dispersed and gives rise to denser social networks. Aggregate investment falls, but individuals access to investment remains stable, due to increased networking. The overall effect is a significant increase in individual utility and aggregate welfare. |
| Date: | 2015–12–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1566&r=ure |
| By: | Lozinskaia Agata; Ozhegov Evgeniy |
| Abstract: | This research analyses the process of lending from Russian state-owned mortgage provider. Two-level lending and insurance of mortgage system lead to substantially higher default rates for insured loans. This means that underwriting incentives for regional operators of government mortgage loans perform poorly. We use loan-level data of issued mortgage by one regional government mortgage provided in order to understand the interdependence between underwriting, choice of contract terms including loan insurance by borrower and loan performance. We found an evidence of a difference in credit risk measures for insured and uninsured loans and interest income. |
| JEL: | C36 D12 R20 |
| Date: | 2016–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eer:wpalle:16/03e&r=ure |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser; Andrew Hillis; Scott Duke Kominers; Michael Luca |
| Abstract: | Can open tournaments improve the quality of city services? The proliferation of big data makes it possible to use predictive analytics to better target services like hygiene inspections, but city governments rarely have the in-house talent needed for developing prediction algorithms. Cities could hire consultants, but a cheaper alternative is to crowdsource competence by making data public and offering a reward for the best algorithm. This paper provides a simple model suggesting that open tournaments dominate consulting contracts when cities have a reasonable tolerance for risk and when there is enough labor with low opportunity costs of time. We also illustrate how tournaments can be successful, by reporting on a Boston-based restaurant hygiene prediction tournament that we helped coordinate. The Boston tournament yielded algorithms—at low cost—that proved reasonably accurate when tested “out-of-sample” on hygiene inspections occurring after the algorithms were submitted. We draw upon our experience in working with Boston to provide practical suggestions for governments and other organizations seeking to run prediction tournaments in the future. |
| JEL: | C53 D04 D8 L88 M50 R5 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22124&r=ure |
| By: | Inoue, Hiroyasu; Nakajima, Kentaro; Saito, Yukiko Umeno |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the localization of establishment-level knowledge creation using data from a Japanese patent database. Using distance-based methods, we obtain the following results. First, Japanese patent-creating establishments are significantly localized at the 5% level, with a localization range of approximately 80 km. Second, localization is observed for all patent technology classes, and the extent of localization has a positive relationship with the level of technology measured by R&D investment. Finally, the extent of localization is stronger for establishments that are more productive in terms of both the number of patents and the number of citations received, i.e., quantitatively and qualitatively. These results indicate that geographical proximity is important for knowledge spillover, particularly for knowledge-demanding establishments. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge spillover, Agglomeration, Micro-geographic data |
| JEL: | R11 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:remfce:47&r=ure |
| By: | Ahlin, Lina (CIRCLE & Department of Economics, Lund University); Andersson, Martin (Department of Industrial Economics, Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Karlskrona & CIRCLE, Lund University); Thulin, Per (Department of Industrial Economics and Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm & Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | Sorting of high-ability workers is a main source of urban-rural disparities in economic outcomes. Less is known about when such human capital sorting occurs and who it involves. Using data on 15 cohorts of university graduates in Sweden, we demonstrate significant sorting to urban regions on high school grades and education levels of parents, i.e. two attributes typically associated with latent abilities that are valued in the labor market. A large part of this sorting occurs already in the decision of where to study, because top universities are predominantly located in urban regions. Estimates from a selection model show that even after controlling for sorting prior to labor market entry, the ‘best and brightest’ are still more likely to start working in urban regions, and are also more likely to remain there over long time periods. We conclude that a) urban regions are true magnets for high-ability graduates, and that b) studies of human capital sorting need to account for selection processes to and from universities, because neglecting mobility prior to labor market entry is likely to lead to underestimation of the extent of sorting to urban regions. |
| Keywords: | human capital; university graduates; spatial sorting; migration; labor mobility; ability; geography of talent; spatial selection |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2016_010&r=ure |
| By: | Michael J. Kottelenberg; Steven F. Lehrer |
| Abstract: | We extend earlier research evaluating the Quebec Family Policy by providing the first evidence on the distributional effects of universal child care on two specific developmental outcomes. Our analysis uncovers substantial policy relevant heterogeneity in the estimated effect of access to subsidized child care across two developmental score distributions for children from two-parent families. Whereas past research reported findings of negative effects on mothers and children from these families, igniting controversy, our estimates reveal a more nuanced image that formal child care can indeed boost developmental outcomes for children from some households: particularly disadvantaged single-parent households. In addition, we document significant heterogeneity that differs by child gender. We present suggestive evidence that the heterogeneity in policy effects that emerges across child gender and family type is consistent with differences in the home learning environments generated by parents behaviors that are previously present and are shaped by responses to the policy. |
| JEL: | C23 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22126&r=ure |
| By: | Phang, Sock-Yong (Asian Development Bank Institute); Helble, Matthias (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Singapore has developed a unique housing system, with three-quarters of its housing stock built by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and homeownership financed through Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. As a result, the country’s homeownership rate of 90% is one of the highest among market economies. At different stages of its economic development, the Government of Singapore was faced with a different set of housing problems. An integrated land–housing supply and financing framework was established in the 1960s to solve the severe housing shortage. By the 1990s, the challenge was that of renewing aging estates and creating a market for HDB transactions. Housing subsidies in the form of housing grants were also introduced. Recent challenges include curbing speculative and investment demand, as well as coping with increasing income inequalities and an aging population. These have brought about carefully crafted macroprudential policies, targeted housing grants, and schemes to help elderly households monetize their housing equity. This paper analyzes key pillars of the housing policy, specifically land acquisition, the HDB–CPF system, the role of markets, housing market interventions, the Ethnic Integration Policy, and the Lease Buyback Scheme. It concludes with lessons learned for other countries. |
| Keywords: | Singapore; housing policies; homeownership; targeted housing grants |
| JEL: | R21 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2016–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0559&r=ure |
| By: | Jason Long; Henry E. Siu |
| Abstract: | We construct longitudinal data from the U.S. Census records to study migration patterns of those affected by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Our focus is on the famous "Okie" migration of the Southern Great Plains. We find that migration rates were much higher in the Dust Bowl than elsewhere in the U.S. This difference is due to the fact that individuals who were typically unlikely to move (e.g., those with young children, those living in their birth state) were equally likely to move in the Dust Bowl. While this result of elevated mobility conforms to long-standing perceptions of the Dust Bowl, our other principal findings contradict conventional wisdom. First, relative to other occupations, farmers in the Dust Bowl were the least likely to move; this relationship between mobility and occupation was unique to that region. Second, out-migration rates from the Dust Bowl region were only slightly higher than they were in the 1920s. Hence, the depopulation of the Dust Bowl was due largely to a sharp drop in migration inflows. Dust Bowl migrants were no more likely to move to California than migrants from other parts of the U.S., or those from the same region ten years prior. In this sense, the westward push from the Dust Bowl to California was unexceptional. Finally, migration from the Dust Bowl was not associated with long-lasting negative labor market effects, and for farmers, the effects were positive. |
| JEL: | J61 J62 N12 N32 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22108&r=ure |
| By: | Dupor, William D. (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I estimate the effect of defense spending on the U.S. macroeconomy since World War II. First, I construct a new panel dataset of state-level federal defense contracts. Second, I sum observations across states and, using the resulting time series, estimate the aggregate effect of defense spending on national income and employment via instrumental variables. Third, I estimate local multipliers using the state-level data, which measures the relative effect on economic activity due to relative differences in defense spending across states. Comparing the aggregate and local multiplier estimates, I find that the two differ dramatically. I infer that the local multiplier estimates alone do not provide useful information about the aggregate effects of policy. Finally, I use the panel aspect of the data to dramatically increase the precision of estimates of the aggregate multiplier (relative to using the aggregate data alone) by including a spillover term in the panel regressions. My baseline aggregate findings are a long-run multiplier on income equal to 1.6, a moderate long-run effect on employment, and no effect on income or employment effect in the short run. The results suggest that lags in the effects of defense spending are so long that they render countercyclical spending policies ineffective. In addition, I find negative short-run spillovers on employment of spending across state borders. |
| Date: | 2016–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2016-004&r=ure |
| By: | Dilli, Selin (Economic and Social History); Elert, Niklas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Although institutional reforms are necessary to increase rates of entrepreneurship in European countries, we argue that one-size-fits-all reform strategies are unlikely to be successful. Reform strategies must be informed by a better knowledge of the varieties of European capitalism and the institutional complementarities that drive these differences. We investigate these issues by gathering a number of potentially relevant entrepreneurial regime measurements as well as indicators of formal and informal institutions based on data available from the 2000s onward. We employ principal component analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis to examine how 21 European countries and the United States cluster in the entrepreneurial and institutional dimensions. Our results reveal six country clusters, or entrepreneurial regimes, with a distinct bundle of entrepreneurial characteristics and institutional attributes. The main implication is that different reform strategies are appropriate to promote entrepreneurship and economic growth in European countries in different clusters. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Institutions; Regulation |
| JEL: | L50 M13 O31 P14 |
| Date: | 2016–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1118&r=ure |
| By: | Hart, Robert A. (University of Stirling); Moro, Mirko (University of Stirling); Roberts, J. Elizabeth (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the introduction of free universal secondary education in England and Wales in 1944. It focuses on its effects in relation to a prime long-term goal of pre-war Boards of Education. This was to open secondary school education to children of all social backgrounds on equal terms. Adopting a difference-in-difference estimation approach, we do not find any evidence that boys and girls from less well-off home backgrounds displayed improved chances of attending selective secondary schools. Nor, for the most part, did they show increased probabilities of gaining formal school qualifications. One possible exception in this latter respect relates to boys with unskilled fathers. |
| Keywords: | family background, free secondary education, 1944 Education Act, school qualifications |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9827&r=ure |
| By: | Takuji Komatsuzaki |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the macroeconomic effects of improving public infrastructure in the Philippines. After benchmarking the Philippines relative to its neighbors in terms of level of public capital and quality of public infrastructure, and public investment efficiency, it uses model simulations to assess the macroeconomic implications of raising public investment and improving public investment efficiency. The main results are as follows: (i) increasing public infrastructure investment results in sustained gains in output; (ii) the effects of improving public investment efficiency are substantial; and (iii) deficit-financed increases in public investment lead to higher borrowing costs that constrain output increases over time, underscoring the importance of revenue mobilization. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure;Philippines;Asia and Pacific;Public Investment Efficiency, investment, public investment, tax, stock, capital stock, Infrastructures, |
| Date: | 2016–02–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/39&r=ure |
| By: | Thibaut Jaulin (Sciences Po) |
| Keywords: | Tunisia |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:15-01c&r=ure |
| By: | Sander Gerritsen; Bas ter Weel; Dinand Webbink |
| Abstract: | In the Netherlands, a neighbourhood investment programme was implemented in 2008. It consisted of large scale neighbourhood investments in social and physical infrastructure aimed at improving the living conditions in 40 disadvantaged neighbourhoods (Vogelaarwijken). In the period 2008-2011 the Dutch government invested 216 million Euros, while an additional amount of one billion Euros was invested by housing corporations. Such investment programmes have been evaluated using several different econometric techniques. A popular way to estimate treatment effects is by making use of regression discontinuity (RD) designs. One of the main reasons for this is that variation around the cut-off value, which determines assignment to the treatment, can be considered as good as random. The reason for this is that those who take part in the programme have no control over the assignment. However, knowledge about the assignment rule might influence the assignment to the treatment and thereby invalidate the key assumption that individuals on either side of the discontinuity threshold are similar. This research documents a case of sorting disadvantaged areas into the neighbourhood investment programme. Policymakers at the national level, who designed and implemented the assignment rules for the policy in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, sorted areas into and out of the programme in such a way that there exists a large discontinuity in the share of non-Western immigrants at the discontinuity threshold. At the threshold value for the assignment to the treatment we find a large and statistically significant gap in the proportion of non-Western immigrants of between 11 and 21 percentage points. Moreover, there exists non-compliance with a bias toward removing areas with lower shares of non-Western immigrants from the treatment group. The violation of a continuous distribution around the discontinuity threshold of this important characteristic could be due to the way the selection process of neighbourhoods has been carried out. Politicians at the national level demanded that there had to be a list of 40 eligible neighbourhoods. To determine the 40 neighbourhoods, a two-step procedure has been used. In the first step, a preliminary list of 40 neighbourhoods was created based on the most disadvantaged postal code areas (PCAs) according to the ‘quality’ index. Because most neighbourhoods consist of multiple adjacent PCAs, policymakers sometimes merged PCAs with different rank numbers to create a neighbourhood. This opens possibilities of adding lower-ranked PCAs to an already identified neighbourhood. When we move down the list of PCAs, it is possible to add more PCAs beyond the point at which 40 geographical areas have been identified as neighbourhoods. This process continues until a PCA from a different geographical area is next on the list and would become neighbourhood number 41. We show that neighbourhood 41 is indeed in another city. In the second step, a number of PCAs were removed from and added to this list to obtain a final list of 40 eligible neighbourhoods. We show that the added neighbourhoods are not close to the discontinuity threshold. We illustrate the bias of the RD estimates when using the official cut-off. We find that the estimates from RD models that do not take account of the endogenous sorting differ from the estimates from RD models that do account for the endogenous sorting. We also show that a different selection process of 40 neighbourhoods does not lead to a discontinuity in the share of non-Western immigrants. Finally, we cannot rule out that the result of selecting 40 neighbourhoods in this way is a coincidence. Using the same procedure to select 30 neighbourhoods does not yield the same discontinuities. |
| JEL: | C90 D70 R58 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:329&r=ure |
| By: | Or Levkovich (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands); Jan Rouwendal (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we provide evidence of segmentation of the Dutch land markets by spatial planning into three compartments referring to agricultural, industrial and residential use. We analyze transactions of ready-to-be developed land provided by the Dutch Land Register (Kadaster) and find that residential land is much more expensive than industrial land. We also compare the prices observed in these transactions with prices for agricultural land in the vicinity and find that agricultural land is much cheaper than residential and industrial land. |
| Keywords: | land use policy; spatial planning; land prices |
| JEL: | R52 R21 R33 |
| Date: | 2016–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160018&r=ure |
| By: | Cara Orfield; Sheila Hoag; Debra Lipson |
| Abstract: | More than 16,000 uninsured children and parents nationwide enrolled in or renewed health insurance through the Cities Expanding Health Access for Children and Families initiative. The program helped protect and improve public health by using enrollment campaigns targeted at families who were eligible for but not enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The initiative was sponsored by the Atlantic Philanthropies, administered by the National League of Cities, and evaluated by Mathematica Policy Research. |
| Keywords: | Health, insurance, coverage, ACA, cities, CHIP, Medicaid, enrollment, foundations |
| Date: | 2016–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:f667991fcf66420b82edb55ba97b235a&r=ure |
| By: | Javier Ortega (City University London - City University London); Gregory Verdugo (OFCE - OFCE - Sciences Po, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We characterise how the assimilation patterns of minorities into the strong and the weak language differ in a situation of asymmetric bilingualism. Using large variations in language composition in Canadian cities from the 2001 and 2006 Censuses, we show that the differences in the knowledge of English by immigrant allophones (i.e. the immigrants with a mother tongue other than English and French) in English-majority cities are mainly due to sorting across cities. Instead, in French-majority cities, learning plays an important role in explaining differences in knowledge of French. In addition, the presence of large anglophone minorities deters much more the assimilation into French than the presence of francophone minorities deters the assimilation into English. Finally, we find that language distance plays a much more important role in explaining assimilation into French, and that assimilation into French is much more sensitive to individual characteristics than assimilation into English. Some of these asymmetric assimilation patterns extend to anglophone and francophone immigrants, but no evidence of learning is found in this case. |
| Keywords: | minorities,immigration,assimilation,language policies |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-01296745&r=ure |
| By: | Sachiko Kazekami (Chukyo University) |
| Abstract: | First, this paper empirically evaluates the incidence of the Japanese place-based job creation program, which has been rarely studied in Japan. The program increases employment, especially in the agricultural, retail trade and service sectors that most treated cities promote. Second, this paper explores the cities that the program most affects. Those with large aging populations and those with small working age population decrease the effects of the program. Third, this paper assesses the rationale of this program and does not observe a strong reduction in sales, workers or establishments in the neighboring cities of the treated city. |
| Keywords: | Place-based policy, job creation, unemployment, rationale, externality effect |
| JEL: | J23 J68 R23 H22 H23 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bai:series:series_wp_02-2016&r=ure |
| By: | Raul A. Ponce-Rodriguez (Department of Economics, Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez); Charles R. Hankla (Department of Political Science, Georgia State University); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://aysps.gsu.edu/isp/index.html); Eunice Heredia-Ortiz (Developemtn Alternatives Inc., DAI) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we investigate how differences in the political institutions necessary for implementing decentralization reform may affect the efficiency and welfare properties of decentralization itself. We incorporate insights from political science and economics into a rigorous and formal extension of the influential “decentralization theorem” first developed by Oates in 1972. In our analysis, we go beyond Oates by producing a strong decentralization theorem that identifies the political conditions under which democratic decentralization dominates centralization even in the presence of interjurisdictional spillovers. More specifically, we find that beneficial outcomes for public service delivery will obtain when democratic decentralization (i.e. the creation of popularly elected sub-national governments) is combined with party centralization (i.e. the power of national party leaders to nominate candidates for sub-national office). We also find that the participation rules of primaries, whether closed or open, have important implications for the expected gains from decentralization. Most notably, we find that, when primaries are closed, even Oates’ convhaentional decentralization theorem does not hold. In summary, our theory shows that political institutions matter considerably in determining the welfare gains of decentralization outcomes. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1603&r=ure |