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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | William D. Larson (Federal Housing Finance Agency); Weihua Zhao (University of Lousiville) |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of a monocentric, oil-exporting city. The model predicts a "twist" (rotation combined with a level shift) of the house price gradient with an oil price change due to the combined producer price and transportation cost effects. Using ZIP code level house price indices between 1975 and 2015, we show the slope of the house price gradient steepens in all cities when the price of oil is high and flattens when the price of oil is low. Areas specialized in oil and gas-related industries have house price changes that are positively linked with the price of oil. These results are consistent with theoretical predictions, and they quantify the large and differential risks to house prices associated with oil price changes both within and across all cities. |
| Keywords: | transportation cost, gasoline price, industrial specialization, input-output model, economic base model |
| JEL: | R30 Q4 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hfa:wpaper:16-03&r=ure |
| By: | Redding, Stephen J.; Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban |
| Abstract: | The observed uneven distribution of economic activity across space is influenced by variation in exogenous geographical characteristics and endogenous interactions between agents in goods and factor markets. Until recently, the theoretical literature on economic geography had focused on stylized settings that could not easily be taken to the data. This paper reviews more recent research that has developed quantitative models of economic geography. These models are rich enough to speak to first-order features of the data, such as many heterogenous locations and gravity equation relationships for trade and commuting. Yet at the same time these models are sufficiently tractable to undertake realistic counterfactuals exercises to study the effect of changes in amenities, productivity, and public policy interventions such as transport infrastructure investments. We provide an extensive taxonomy of the different building blocks of these quantitative spatial models and discuss their main properties and quantification. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; cities; economic geography; quantitative models; spatial economics |
| JEL: | F10 F14 R12 R23 R41 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11500&r=ure |
| By: | Allison Shertzer; Tate Twinam; Randall P. Walsh |
| Abstract: | Comprehensive zoning is ubiquitous in U.S. cities, yet we know surprisingly little about its long-run impacts. We provide the first attempt to measure the causal effect of land use regulation over the long term, using as our setting Chicago’s first (1923) comprehensive zoning ordinance. Our results indicate that zoning has had a broader and more significant impact on the spatial distribution of economic activity than was previously believed. In particular, zoning may be more important than either geography or transportation networks – the workhorses of urban economic geography models – in explaining where commercial and industrial activity are located. |
| JEL: | H7 N42 R3 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22658&r=ure |
| By: | Kincses, Áron |
| Abstract: | Foreign nationals have had a significantly positive influence on the regional socioeconomic developments of Hungary. Two realignments took place between the last two censuses: at first, the composition of citizenship changed; then, the local redistribution changed partly because of the different structure of citizenship. Fields of interests and research: Regional science, regional geography, regional and urban development, regional analysing methods, social- and economic geography network-analysis, applied mathematics and the application of physical science models in geography. |
| Keywords: | international migration, census, dual citizenship |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 R00 R10 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73941&r=ure |
| By: | Beuchert, Louise Voldby (Aarhus University); Humlum, Maria Knoth (Aarhus University); Nielsen, Helena Skyt (Aarhus University); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | We exploit variation stemming from school consolidations in Denmark from 2010- 2011 to analyze the impact on student achievement as measured by test scores. For each student we observe enrollment and test scores one year prior to school consolidation and up to four years after. We find that school consolidation has adverse effects on achievement in the short run and that these effects are most pronounced for students exposed to school closings. Furthermore, students initially enrolled in small schools experience the most detrimental effects. The effects appear to weaken over time, suggesting that part of the effect is due to disruption. |
| Keywords: | school size, school resources, disruption effects, educational production function, test scores |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10195&r=ure |
| By: | Marco Di Maggio; Amir Kermani; Christopher Palmer |
| Abstract: | Despite massive large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) by central banks around the world since the global financial crisis, there is a lack of empirical evidence on whether and how these programs affect the real economy. Using rich borrower-linked mortgage-market data, we document that there is a “flypaper effect” of LSAPs, where the transmission of unconventional monetary policy to interest rates and (more importantly) origination volumes depends crucially on the assets purchased and degree of segmentation in the market. For example, QE1, which involved significant purchases of GSE-guaranteed mortgages, increased GSE-eligible mortgage originations significantly more than the origination of GSE-ineligible mortgages. In contrast, QE2's focus on purchasing Treasuries did not have such differential effects. We find that the Fed's purchase of MBS (rather than exclusively Treasuries) during QE1 resulted in an additional $600 billion of refinancing, substantially reduced interest payments for refinancing households, led to a boom in equity extraction, and increased refinancing mortgagors’ consumption by an additional $76 billion. This de facto allocation of credit across mortgage market segments, combined with sharp bunching around GSE eligibility cutoffs, establishes an important complementarity between monetary policy and macroprudential housing policy. Our counterfactual simulations estimate that relaxing GSE eligibility requirements would have significantly increased refinancing activity in response to QE1, including a 20% increase in equity extraction by households. Overall, our results imply that central banks could most effectively provide unconventional monetary stimulus by supporting the origination of debt that would not be originated otherwise. |
| JEL: | E21 E58 E65 G01 G18 G21 R28 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22638&r=ure |
| By: | Renuka K. Ganegodage (School of Economics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Australia); Peyman Khezr (School of Economics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Australia); Rabindra Nepal (CDU Business School, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of fossil-fired power plants on the value of neighborhood properties in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Fossil-fuels accounts for significant proportion of electricity generation in Australia. Thus, there are growing community concerns regarding the possible negative environmental effects of these power plants given the high level of emission produced by these plants. We use a comprehensive data with the exact location of each property to estimate the effect of an existing fossil-fuel power plant on the value of neighborhood properties. We use spatial econometric models to estimate these effects with controls over several characteristics of properties. Our results suggest that coal-fired power plants have significant negative effects on property values within a specific radius. These effects are less but still negative for gas and gas reciprocating power plants. |
| Keywords: | Fossil-fired; power plants; emissions; property price |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 R11 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:569&r=ure |
| By: | Fare, Rolf (Oregon State University); Grosskopf, Shawna (Oregon State University); Shang, Chenjun (Rice University); Sickles, Robin (Rice University) |
| Abstract: | The recent housing bubble has provided impetus for revisiting indicators of housing price inflation and property characteristics. Diewert (2011, Alternative Approaches to Measuring Housing Price Inflation, paper presented at the Economic Measurement Group Workshop, 2011, UNSW, Australia) for example has provided a comparison of various methods of constructing property price indices using index number and hedonic regression methods, which he illustrates using data from a small Dutch town over a number of quarters. We provide an alternative approach based on Shephard's dual lemma and apply it to the same data used by Diewert. This method avoids the multicollinearity problem associated with traditional hedonic regression, and the resulting prices of property characteristics show smoother trends than Diewert's results. We also revisit the Diewert and Shimizu (2013) study that employed hedonic regressions to decompose the price of residential property in Tokyo into land and structure components and that constructed constant quality indexes for land and structure prices respectively. We use three models from Diewert and Shimizu (2013) to fit our real estate data from town "A" in Netherlands, and also construct the price indices for land and structure, which are compared with our results derived above. |
| JEL: | C02 C23 C43 D12 E31 R21 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:riceco:15-013&r=ure |
| By: | Gabrielle Fack (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Julien Grenet (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), PSE - Paris School of Economics); Yinghua He (TSE - Toulouse School of Economics - Toulouse School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We propose novel approaches and tests for estimating student preferences with data from school choice mechanisms, e.g., the Gale-Shapley Deferred Acceptance. Without requiring truth-telling to be the unique equilibrium, we show that the matching is (asymptotically) stable, or justified-envy-free, implying that every student is assigned to her favorite school among those she is qualified for ex post. Having validated the methods in simulations, we apply them to data from Paris and reject truth-telling but not stability. Our estimates are then used to compare the sorting and welfare effects of alternative admission criteria prescribing how schools rank students in centralized mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Gale-Shapley Deferred Acceptance Mechanism,School Choice,Stable Matching,Student Preferences,Admission Criteria,C78,D47,D50,D61,I21 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01215998&r=ure |
| By: | Filipe Campante; David Yanagizawa-Drott |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of international long-distance flights on the global spatial allocation of economic activity. To identify causal effects, we exploit variation due to regulatory and technological constraints which give rise to a discontinuity in connectedness between cities at a distance of 6000 miles. We show that these air links have a positive effect on local economic activity, as captured by satellite-measured night lights. To shed light on how air links shape economic outcomes, we first present evidence of positive externalities in the global network of air links: connections induce further connections. We then find that air links increase business links, showing that the movement of people fosters the movement of capital. In particular, this is driven mostly by capital flowing from high-income to middle-income (but not low-income) countries. Taken together, our results suggest that increasing interconnectedness generates economic activity at the local level by inducing links between businesses, but also gives rise to increased spatial inequality locally, and potentially globally. |
| JEL: | F15 F21 F23 F63 O11 O18 O19 O47 R11 R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22653&r=ure |
| By: | André K. Anundsen (Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway)) |
| Abstract: | With the aid of econometric modeling, I investigate whether rapidly increasing house prices necessarily imply the existence of a bubble that will eventually burst. I consider four alternative econometric methods to construct indicators of housing market imbalances for the US, Finland and Norway. The four approaches are used to study if house prices in these countries in the 2000s can be explained by underlying economic fundamentals, or whether the developments are best characterized by bubble-dynamics. For the US, all measures unanimously suggest a bubble in the early to mid 2000s, whereas current US house prices are found to be aligned with economic fundamentals. Only one of the measures indicate imbalances in the Finnish housing market, while none of the measures suggest a bubble in Norway. |
| Keywords: | Cointegration, Explosive Roots, Housing Bubbles |
| JEL: | C22 C32 C51 C52 C53 G01 R21 |
| Date: | 2016–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bno:worpap:2016_11&r=ure |
| By: | J. Ignacio García-Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of a remedial education programme implemented in Spain between 2005 and 2012 that offered after-school classes for underperforming students from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. We use two different estimation strategies, re-weighting estimators and propensity score matching, and address the existence of selection bias. We find that this programme had a substantial positive effect on children's academic achievement: the probability of falling behind the general progress of the group declined by approximately 5% and mean reading scores increased by approximately 10% of one standard deviation. We also find that a larger exposure to the programme improves students' scores: whereas students in schools that participated in the programme for at most two years do not experience any significant positive effect, those in schools that participated for at least three years did. The programme significantly reduced the probability of belonging to the bottom part of the distribution (by approximately 7.5%) and improved mean scores (by approximately 18% of one standard deviation). Finally, we find that the impact of the programme is much stronger for students in rural schools than for students in urban schools. |
| Keywords: | Remedial education, PAE, programme evaluation, PISA, selection bias |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:16.09&r=ure |
| By: | Patacchini, Eleonora (Cornell University); Arduini, Tiziano (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | Using detailed data on a cohort of young Americans who were in their late twenties and early thirties in 2008, we investigate the importance of forces different from economic incentives in nest-leaving decisions. We apply recent methods from social network econometrics to identify the importance of peers net of confounding factors. For the entire sample, our findings reveal no evidence of peer effects. Indicators of parenting and the social structure of families appear to be the major factors in the decisions to coreside with parents. However, for those who moved back home after a few years of living alone, we find strong peer effects. These findings are consistent with theories of social influences in peer groups in which peers play a critical role for individuals with time-inconsistent preferences. |
| Keywords: | living arrangements, social networks, endogenous network formation, spatial autoregressive model, control function approach, Bayesian estimation, social multiplier |
| JEL: | A14 C21 D85 R21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10186&r=ure |
| By: | Woessmann, Ludger (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | Students in some countries do far better on international achievement tests than students in other countries. Is this all due to differences in what students bring with them to school – socioeconomic background, cultural factors, and the like? Or do school systems make a difference? This essay argues that differences in features of countries’ school systems, and in particular their institutional structures, account for a substantial part of the cross-country variation in student achievement. It first documents the size and cross-test consistency of international differences in student achievement. Next, it uses the framework of an education production function to provide descriptive analysis of the extent to which different factors of the school system, as well as factors beyond the school system, account for cross-country achievement differences. Finally, it covers research that goes beyond descriptive associations by addressing leading concerns of bias in cross-country analysis. The available evidence suggests that differences in expenditures and class size play a limited role in explaining cross-country achievement differences, but that differences in teacher quality and instruction time do matter. This suggests that what matters is not so much the amount of inputs that school systems are endowed with, but rather how they use them. Correspondingly, international differences in institutional structures of school systems such as external exams, school autonomy, private competition, and tracking have been found to be important sources of international differences in student achievement. |
| Keywords: | student achievement, international comparison, education production function, schools, education, institutions, external exams, autonomy, competition, private schools, tracking, educational expenditure, teachers, instruction time, TIMSS, PISA JEL Classification: I21, H52, L38, J24, D02 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:300&r=ure |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | Do general amnesty programs lead to reductions in the crime rate among immigrants? We answer this question by exploiting both cross-sectional and time variation in the number of immigrants legalized generated by the enactment of repeated amnesty programs between 1990 and 2005 in Italy. We address the potential endogeneity of the "legalization treatment" by instrumenting the actual number of legalized immigrants with alternative predicted measures based on past amnesty applications patterns and residential choices of documented and undocumented immigrants. We find that, in the year following an amnesty, regions in which a higher share of immigrants obtained legal status experienced a greater decline in non-EU immigrant crime rates, relative to other regions. The effect is statistically significant but relatively small and not persistent. In further results, we fail to find any evidence of substitution in the criminal market from other population groups - namely, EU immigrants and Italian citizens - and we observe small and not persistent reduction in total offenses. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, legalization, migration policy |
| JEL: | F22 J61 K37 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1621&r=ure |
| By: | Massimiliano Ferraresi (University of Ferrara); Giuseppe Migali (University of Lancaster & University Magna Graecia); Francesca Nordi (University of Messina & University of Ferrara); Leonzio Rizzo (University of Ferrara & IEB) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the existence of spatial interaction in spending decisions among Italian municipalities. We estimate a spatial autoregressive dynamic panel data model, using information on 5,564 Italian municipalities over the period 2001-2011, exploiting their border contiguity as a measure of spatial neighborhood. We find a positive effect of neighboring expenditures on total, capital and current expenditures of a given municipality. We do not find any evidence of yardstick competition when we take account of political effects, while we find a negative relationship between spatial interaction and the size of the municipality for current expenditure. Thus, we conclude that spillover effects drive the strategic interaction. |
| Keywords: | Local public spending interaction, spillovers, yardstick competition, spatial econometrics, dynamic panel data, system GMM. |
| JEL: | C23 H72 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-22&r=ure |
| By: | Jagtiani, Julapa (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Lemieux, Catharine (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | The recent decline in small business lending (SBL) among U.S. community banks has spurred a growing debate about the future role of small banks in providing credit to U.S. small businesses. This paper adds to that discussion in three key ways. First, our research builds on existing evidence that suggests that the decline in SBL by community banks is a trend that began at least a decade before the financial crisis. Larger banks and nonbank institutions have been playing an increasing role in SBL. Second, our work shows that in the years preceding the crisis, small businesses increasingly turned to mortgage credit--most notably, commercial mortgage credit--to fund their operations, exposing them to the property crisis that underpinned the Great Recession. Finally, our work illustrates how community banks face an increasingly dynamic competitive landscape, including the entrance of deep-pocketed alternative nonbank lenders that are using technology to find borrowers and underwrite loans, often using unconventional lending practices. Although these lenders may pose a competitive threat to community banks, we explore emerging examples of partnerships and alliances among community banks and nonbank lenders. |
| JEL: | G21 G23 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:upafin:16-02&r=ure |
| By: | Baum-Snow, Nathaniel (University of Oxford); Hartley, Daniel (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | Neighborhoods within 2 km of most central business districts of U.S. metropolitan areas experienced population declines from 1980 to 2000 but have rebounded markedly since 2000 at greater pace than would be expected from simple mean reversion. Statistical decompositions reveal that 1980-2000 departures of residents without a college degree (of all races) generated most of the declines while the return of college educated whites and the stabilization of neighborhood choices by less educated whites promoted most of the post-2000 rebound. The rise of childless households and the increase in the share of the population with a college degree, conditional on race, also promoted 1980-2010 increases in central area population and educational composition of residents, respectively. Estimation of a neighborhood choice model shows that changes in choices to live in central neighborhoods primarily reflect a shifting balance between rising home prices and valuations of local amenities, though 1980-2000 central area population declines also reflect deteriorating nearby labor market opportunities for low skilled whites. Rising 1980-2000 central neighborhood home prices were about equally offset by rising amenity valuations among college educated whites; declining amenity valuations reinforced rising home prices to incentivize departures of other demographic groups from central neighborhoods during this period. Greater increases in amenity valuations after 2000 encouraged college educated whites to move in and other whites to remain but were not large enough to offset rising housing costs for minorities. |
| Keywords: | Accounting; neighborhood change; U.S Metropolitan areas |
| JEL: | M41 N32 R42 |
| Date: | 2016–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2016-09&r=ure |
| By: | Ghassen El Montasser (Universitaire de la Manouba); Rangan Gupta (University of Pretoria); Charl Jooste (University of Pretoria); Stephen M. Miller (University of Nevada, Las Vegas and University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interplay of fiscal policy and asset price returns of the United States in a time-varying-parameter vector autoregressive model. Using annual data from 1890 to 2013, we study the effects of dynamic shocks to both fiscal policy and asset returns on asset returns and fiscal policy. Distinguishing between low volatility (bull market) and high volatility (bear market) regimes together with a time-varying-parameter vector autoregressive model enables us to isolate the different size and sign of responses to shocks during different time periods. The results indicate that increases in the primary deficit to GDP ratio decrease house returns over the entire sample and at each impulse horizon. Unlike the house return response, stock returns only decrease in the first year after the fiscal shock, but then increase for the following eight years. Furthermore, the findings show that asset return movements affect fiscal policy, whereby fiscal policy responds more to equity returns than to house returns. The response of fiscal policy to asset returns proves relatively stable and constant over time while controlling for and identifying various asset return regimes. Asset returns respond uniformly to fiscal policy shocks since the 1900's. |
| Keywords: | TVP-VAR, countercyclical fiscal policy, stock prices, house prices |
| JEL: | C11 C15 C32 H30 H61 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2016-15&r=ure |
| By: | Alan Roncoroni; Matus Medo |
| Abstract: | Models of spatial firm competition assume that customers are distributed in space and transportation costs are associated with their purchases of products from a small number of firms that are also placed at definite locations. It has been long known that the competition equilibrium is not guaranteed to exist if the most straightforward linear transportation costs are assumed. We show by simulations and also analytically that if periodic boundary conditions in two dimensions are assumed, the equilibrium exists for a pair of firms at any distance. When a larger number of firms is considered, we find that their total equilibrium profit is inversely proportional to the square root of the number of firms. We end with a numerical investigation of the system's behavior for a general transportation cost exponent. |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1609.04944&r=ure |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A. (Stanford University); Ruhose, Jens (Leibniz University); Woessmann, Ludger (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | Although many U.S. state policies presume that human capital is important for state economic development, there is little research linking better education to state incomes. We develop detailed measures of skills of workers in each state based on school attainment from census micro data and on cognitive skills from state- and country-of-origin achievement tests. These new measures of knowledge capital permit development accounting analyses calibrated with standard production parameters. We find that differences in knowledge capital account for 20-35 percent of the current variation in per-capita GDP among states, with roughly even contributions by school attainment and cognitive skills. Similar results emerge from growth accounting analyses, emphasizing the importance of appropriately measuring worker skills. These estimates support emphasis on school improvement as a strategy for state economic development. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, human capital, cognitive skills, schooling, U.S. states JEL Classification: O47, I25, J24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:299&r=ure |
| By: | Köppl Turyna, Monika; Pitlik, Hans |
| Abstract: | According to the fiscal federalism literature sub-central budget constraints become softer when local governments are more dependent on revenues over which they have no discretion. As a consequence of higher ’transfer-dependency’, sub-central governments can expect to be bailed out by the central government and therefore tend to accumulate higher levels of debt. We test this conjecture with data from Austrian municipalities. Austria is a fiscally highly centralized federation in which tax autonomy at the sub-central level is almost absent. Our identification strategy is based on a discontinuity caused by a special regulation on population weights in the tax sharing agreement between central government and the municipalities. We analyze the discontinuity in the conditional expectation of borrowing given population size to unveil an average causal effect of the treatment. Our results indicate that in line with theoretical expectations municipalities with higher revenue dependency observe higher net borrowing per capita. We also find that almost one half of the observed discontinuity works through an investment channel. Net borrowing is spatially correlated. |
| Keywords: | fiscal autonomy; subnational borrowing; vertical fiscal imbalance; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | D72 D78 H74 H77 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73749&r=ure |
| By: | Ben Craig; Martín Saldías |
| Abstract: | This paper computes data-driven correlation networks based on the stock returns of international banks and conducts a comprehensive analysis of their topological properties. We first apply spatial-dependence methods to filter the effects of strong common factors and a thresholding procedure to select the significant bilateral correlations. The analysis of topological characteristics of the resulting correlation networks shows many common features that have been documented in the recent literature but were obtained with private information on banks' exposures, including rich and hierarchical structures, based on but not limited to geographical proximity, small world features, regional homophily, and a core-periphery structure. |
| Keywords: | International banks;International banking;Econometric models;Time series;Network analysis, spatial dependence, banking. |
| Date: | 2016–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/184&r=ure |
| By: | Paloma Taltavull de la Paz (University of Alicante); Francisco Juárez (University of Alicante); Paloma Monllor (University of Valencia) |
| Abstract: | The literature has traditionally approached fuel poverty as a result of poverty. Fuel poor are those households who cannot pay fuel bill and have to live in cold ambient, with grave effects on their health. As fuel poverty is actually considered in poverty’s analysis, there is little discussion about whether homeowners (who own housing wealth and, theoretically, cannot be poor) could suffer this problem. This paper assesses fuel poverty amongst Spanish households. It deeps on how poverty situations triggers fuel poverty in the context of housing and discusses whether or not housing tenure causes fuel poverty due to housing characteristics, those usually evaluated as poverty component. The paper finds empirical evidence about the relevance of tenancy when it comes to explain the likelihood of falling under the poverty line as well as about the fact that fuel poverty has become a systematic situation in all poor Spanish households regardless of their tenant status. Using micro-data obtained from the Quality of Life Survey (EU-SILC) for Spain, the data are segmented by residential tenure and household type, calculating poverty lines for homeowners, renters (both at market prices and below them), and free-rent housing ‒the four tenure formulas existing in the Spanish housing market‒ and including two variables to capture fuel poverty situations. A logistic regression model is applied and results suggest that fuel poverty clearly appears as an expression of poverty at any tenancy type. |
| Keywords: | Housing poverty, fuel poverty, Spain, tenancy types, homeownership, rental market |
| JEL: | Q43 R21 I32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-20&r=ure |
| By: | Agarwal, Sumit (Georgetown University); Ben-David, Itzhak (Ohio State University); Yao, Vincent W. (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | Institutions often offer a menu of contracts to consumers in an attempt to create a separating equilibrium that reveals borrower types and provides better pricing. We test the effectiveness of a specific set of contracts in the mortgage market: mortgage points. Points allow borrowers to exchange an upfront amount for a decrease in the mortgage rate. We document that, on average, points takers lose about $700. Also, points takers are less financially savvy (less educated, older), and they make mistakes on other dimensions (e.g., inefficiently refinancing their mortgages). Overall, our results show that borrowers overestimate how long they will stay with the mortgage. |
| JEL: | D03 D12 D14 D18 G01 G21 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2016-09&r=ure |
| By: | Molnár, Ernő; Lengyel, István Máté |
| Abstract: | Labour-intensive industries have declined in the East Central European economy after the beginning of the millennium. Given this deterioration, significant employers are vanishing from rural areas, leaving behind serious employment problems in regions which are less capable of resilient restructuring. This article examines this shrinkage from a geographical aspect in the context of the Hungarian leather and footwear industry. This study focuses on the interpretation and explanation of the spatial differentiation that accompanies this shrinking process. The aim of this paper is to reveal the influencing factors that stand in the background of spatially uneven development. The analysis – embedded in the theoretical framework of global production networks – is based on the corporate database of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office and invokes the experience of interviews carried out with representatives of industrial actors as well. In addition to an understanding of spatial processes, the intention of the authors was to investigate the issues to be addressed in certain locations and under what conditions the long-standing industrial culture related to the sector can be preserved. |
| Keywords: | global production networks, labour-intensive industries, leather and footwear industry |
| JEL: | R00 R10 R11 R19 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73944&r=ure |
| By: | Bondurant, Samuel R. (Texas A&M University); Lindo, Jason M. (Texas A&M University); Swensen, Isaac D. (Montana State University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate the effects of expanding access to substance-abuse treatment on local crime. We do so using an identification strategy that leverages variation driven by substance-abuse-treatment facility openings and closings measured at the county level. The results indicate that substance-abuse-treatment facilities reduce both violent and financially motivated crimes in an area, and that the effects are particularly pronounced for relatively serious crimes. The effects on homicides are documented across three sources of homicide data. |
| Keywords: | substance abuse treatment, crime, homicides |
| JEL: | I12 K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10208&r=ure |
| By: | Na, Kyoung-Youn; Yoon, Chang-ho |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of ICT network on productivity contribution of transportation infrastructure. Using dynamic panel data of OECD member countries, the paper finds that there exists significant complementarity between ICT network and transportation infrastructure. The network effect of motorway infrastructure in OECD countries tends to accelerate when the ICT network grows beyond a certain threshold level. |
| Keywords: | Intelligent Transport System,ICT convergence,productivity growth,complementarity |
| JEL: | O47 O38 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsr15:146329&r=ure |
| By: | John V. Winters (Oklahoma State University) |
| Abstract: | State and local policymakers are very interested in how attending college in one’s home state affects the likelihood of living in that state after college. This paper uses cohort-level data from the American Community Survey, decennial censuses, and other sources to examine how birth-state college enrollment affects birth-state residence several years later. Ordinary least squares and instrumental variables estimates both suggest a statistically significant positive relationship. The preferred instrumental variable estimates suggest that a one percentage point increase in birth-state enrollment rates increases later life birth-state residence by roughly 0.33 percentage points. Implications for policy are discussed. |
| Keywords: | higher education policy; in-state college enrollment; migration; college attendance |
| JEL: | H75 I25 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:okl:wpaper:1702&r=ure |
| By: | Papa Ousmane Cissé (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LERSTAD - laboratoire d'Etudes et de recherches en Statistiques et Développement - Université Gaston Bergé Sénégal); Abdou Kâ Diongue (LERSTAD - laboratoire d'Etudes et de recherches en Statistiques et Développement - Université Gaston Bergé Sénégal); Dominique Guegan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we introduce a new model called Fractionally Integrated Separable Spatial Autoregressive processes with Seasonality and denoted Seasonal FISSAR for two-dimensional spatial data. We focus on the class of separable spatial models whose correlation structure can be expressed as a product of correlations. This new modelling allows taking into account the seasonality patterns observed in spatial data. We investigate the properties of this new model providing stationary conditions, some explicit expressions form of the autocovariance function and the spectral density function. We establish the asymptotic behaviour of the spectral density function near the seasonal frequencies and perform some simulations to illustrate the behaviour of the model. |
| Keywords: | spatial autocovariance,spatial stationary process,seasonality,spatial short memory,seasonal long memory,two-dimensional data,separable process |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01278126&r=ure |
| By: | Pénzes, János; Molnár, Ernő; Pálóczi, Gábor |
| Abstract: | The current research puts the issue of functional urban regions (or districts) into the focus delimited by the commuting network of employees. The local labour system (LLS) provided a specific dimension of this complex approach however it is one of the most adequate possibilities to delineate these areas of commuting. The delimitation process consisted of two steps with the separation of employment centres and with the assignment of settlements to these cores. The alteration of the LLS pattern was also analysed as the investigation was carried out by the census data from 2001 and 2011. The results provided a comprehensive overview about the process of territorial concentration and the instability of peripheral areas. Significant regional disparities of commuting came to light as the consequence of the body of settlement network. The territorial division of the country provided by LLS pattern is fitting to the new and integrated European approach of cities and their hinterlands but it is not alternative against other administrative or statistical divisions of Hungary. However this territorial point of view is in closer relation to the issues of analysing the local labour market processes or the developments targeting the increase in employment. |
| Keywords: | employment, functional urban area, commuting, LLS, settlement network |
| JEL: | R00 R11 R19 R41 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73938&r=ure |
| By: | Marshall, Phil |
| Abstract: | Urban transportation systems are at the cusp of a major transformation that capitalizes on the proliferation of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), autonomous and cooperative vehicular and intelligent roadway technologies, advanced traffic management systems, and big data analytics. The benefits of these smart-transportation technologies were investigated using System Dynamics modeling, with particular emphasis towards vehicle sharing, intelligent highway systems, and smart-parking solutions. The modeling results demonstrate that these solutions offer the potential to deliver tremendous opportunities to improve the efficiencies in urban transportation systems. However it is also observed that by improving the overall utility of roadway transportation, it is likely that there will be an increase in roadway usage that potentially negates the benefits that planners are seeking. As a consequence, when smarttransportation technologies are adopted, they must be implemented in conjunction with solutions and incentive plans that encourage the desired commuter behaviors. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsr15:146348&r=ure |
| By: | Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay |
| Abstract: | The persistence of regional inequalities in developing countries is well recognised to be of great concern. In this paper I track stochastic convergence in relative incomes for Indian states between 1960-2011 with the intent to identify high persistence and mean reversal. Traditional unit root tests suggest that shocks to relative incomes across the Indian states are permanent thus contradicting the stochastic convergence hypothesis. Interval estimates of the largest autoregressive root for the relative incomes of 15 Indian states are very wide. However, confidence interval estimates of the half life of the relative income shocks, that are robust to high persistence and small samples, reveal that in most cases they die out within 10 years, suggesting mean reversion for a large number of states. Finally, I estimate a fractionally integrated model and obtain mixed evidence of mean reversion in the data, with six out of the fifteen states experiencing mean reversion. In sum, while the evidence obtained does not support the stochastic convergence hypothesis, our findings reveal that the relative incomes have a relatively short half life and that some states’ relative incomes are mean-reverting. This result is encouraging and in contrast to earlier studies which indicate long term divergence and polarisation (Bandyopadhyay 2011). |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Stochastic Convergence, Half Life, Fractional Integration, India |
| JEL: | O47 O53 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:74&r=ure |
| By: | Schäfer, Andreas; Steger, Thomas M.; Fuchs, Benjamin; Grossmann, Volker |
| Abstract: | We investigate the dynamic effects of interregional labor market integration on migration flows, capital formation, and the price for housing services. The co-evolution of these variables depends on initial conditions at the time of labor market integration. In an initially capital-poor economy, there may be a reversal of migration flows during the transition to the steady state, while housing costs are increasing over time. Although capital may accumulate while labor emigrates early in the transition, the causal effect of immigration on capital investments and housing costs is positive. We present new data on the evolution of net migration flows and rental rates for housing in East Germany after 1990. Our results are consistent with the presented evidence in the reverse migration scenario. |
| Keywords: | Capital formation; German reunification; Housing services; Labor market integration; Reverse migration |
| JEL: | D90 F20 O10 |
| Date: | 2016–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00474&r=ure |
| By: | Ghanbari, Amirhossein; Álvarez San-Jaime, Oscar; Casey, Thomas; Markendahl, Jan |
| Abstract: | In a historical business model, Mobile Network operators (MNO) design their own network, own their infrastructure, operate the network and offer services on top of it; a voice-revenue dependent business. Now with the data provisioning, since the revenues associated with data do not comply with the pattern of increasing data usage in mobile networks, MNOs need new revenue streams. As a result, MNOs have started changing their business models by offering services besides their usual competences. This complicated approach has then forced them to think of possible cooperation patterns in order to benefit from horizontal collaboration with others, instead of being vertically integrated. On the Other hand, Telecom Equipment Vendors (TEV) used to design their business models in a vertical manner as well. TEVs would build and manufacture equipment and sell them to their customers in a Business-to-Business (B2B) fashion while in some cases operate the networks on behalf of their customers. Looking for new markets and revenue streams, the future Smart Cities comprise a good opportunity for MNOs and TEVs. This opportunity then requires a new mindset among these actors. In the new mindset, these actors should accept to reposition themselves in the new value chain. This means that, in order to play a role that can not be overlooked, MNOs and TEVs should perform rather different blocks of the Smart City value chain. This paper intends to provide an analysis of how the traditional telecom actors (MNOs and TEVs) have changed their business strategy and repositioned in the context of the Smart City service provision. In order to do that, we will introduce the traditional telecom actors and the existing value chain, later on, smart city concept and use cases will be introduced, finalizing with an analysis of how the future smart city value chain and the repositioning of these actors. |
| Keywords: | Business Model,Horizontalization,Repositioning,Value Chain,Smart City,Telecom Actor |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsr15:146344&r=ure |
| By: | Fan Li; Prashant Loyalka; Hongmei Yi; Yaojiang Shi; Natalie Johnson; Scott Rozelle |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is describe and analyze the relationship between ability tracking and student social capital, in the context of poor students in developing countries. Drawing on the results from a longitudinal study among 1,436 poor students across 132 schools in rural China, we find a significant lack of interpersonal trust and confidence in public institutions among poor rural young adults. We also find that there is a strong correlation between ability tracking during junior high school and levels of social capital. The disparities might serve to further widen the gap between the relatively privileged students who are staying in school and the less privileged students who are dropping out of school. This result suggests that making high school accessible to more students would improve social capital in the general population. |
| Keywords: | Ability Tracking, Social Capital, Interpersonal Trust, Confidence in Public Institutions, Rural Secondary Schooling |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:37916&r=ure |
| By: | Fan Li; Yingquan Song; Hongmei Yi; Jianguo Wei; Linxiu Zhang; Yaojiang Shi; James Chu; Natalie Johnson; Prashant Loyalka; Scott Rozelle |
| Abstract: | The goal of this study is to examine whether promising a Conditional Cash Transfer (conditional on matriculation) at the start of junior high increases the rate at which disadvantaged students matriculate in to high school. Based on a randomized controlled trial involving 1,418 disadvantaged (economically poor) students in rural China, we find that the promise of a CCT has no effect on increasing high school matriculation for the average disadvantaged student. We do find, however, that providing the CCT increases high school matriculation among the subset of disadvantaged students who overestimate the direct costs of attending high school. |
| Keywords: | Conditional Cash Transfer, Voucher, Rural Education, Dropout, High School, Randomized Controlled Trial, China |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:36815&r=ure |
| By: | MURATA, Yasusada; NAKAJIMA, Ryo; TAMURA, Ryuichi |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical studies document that knowledge spillovers attenuate and industry localization decays with distance. It is thus imperative to detect localization accurately especially at short distances. We propose a new approach to testing for localization that corrects the first-order bias at and near the boundary in existing methods while retaining all desirable properties at interior points. Employing the NBER U.S. Patent Citations Data File, we illustrate the performance of our localization measure based on local linear density estimators. Our results suggest that the existing kernel density methods and regression approaches can be substantially biased at short distances. |
| Keywords: | localization, knowledge spillovers, local linear density, boundary bias, micro-geographic data |
| JEL: | R12 O31 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:iirwps:16-11&r=ure |
| By: | Glass, Anthony J. (Loughborough University); Kenjegalieva, Karligash (Loughborough University); Sickles, Robin C. (Rice University and Loughborough University) |
| Abstract: | By blending seminal literature on non-spatial stochastic frontier models with key contributions to spatial econometrics we develop a spatial autoregressive (SAR) sto- chastic frontier model for panel data. The specification of the SAR frontier allows efficiency to vary over time and across the cross-sections. Efficiency is calculated from a composed error structure by assuming a half-normal distribution for inefficiency. The spatial frontier is estimated using maximum likelihood methods taking into account the endogenous SAR variable. We apply our spatial estimator to an aggregate production frontier for 41 European countries over the period 1990-2011. In the application section, the fitted SAR stochastic frontier specification is used to discuss, among other things, the asymmetry between efficiency spillovers to and from a country. |
| JEL: | C23 C51 D24 E23 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:riceco:15-014&r=ure |
| By: | Francesco Vona (OFCE Sciences PO et SKEMA Business School); G. Marin (IRCrES-CNR); D. Consoli (INGENIO CSIC-UPV) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the nature and the key empirical regularities of green employment in US local labor markets between 2006 and 2014. We construct a new measure of green employment based on the task content of occupations. Descriptive analysis reveals the following: 1. the share of green employment oscillates between 2 and 3 percent, and its trend is strongly pro-cyclical; 2. green jobs yield a 4 percent wage premium; 3. despite moderate catching-up across areas, green jobs remain more geo- graphically concentrated than similar non-green jobs; and 4. the top green areas are mostly high-tech. As regards the drivers, changes in environ- mental regulation are a secondary force compared to the local endowment of green knowledge and resilience in the face of the great recession. To assess the impact of moving to greener activities, we estimate that one additional green job is associated with 4.2 (2.4 in the crisis period) new jobs in non-tradable activities in the local economies. |
| Keywords: | Green employment, local labor market, environmental regulation, environmental technologies, local multipliers |
| JEL: | J23 O33 Q52 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1622&r=ure |
| By: | Bertoli, Simone (CERDI, University of Auvergne); Ruyssen, Ilse (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | Social networks are known to influence migration decisions, but connections between individuals can hardly be observed. We rely on individual-level surveys conducted by Gallup in 147 countries that provide information on migration intentions and on the existence of distance-one connections for all respondents in each of the potential countries of intended destination. The origin-specific distribution of distance-one connections from Gallup closely mirrors the actual distribution of migrant stocks across countries, and bilateral migration intentions appear to be significantly correlated with actual flows. This unique data source allows estimating origin-specific conditional logit models that shed light on the value of having a friend in a given country on the attractiveness of that destination. The validity of the distributional assumptions that underpin the estimation is tested, and concerns about the threats to identification posed by unobservables are substantially mitigated. |
| Keywords: | international migration, networks, intentions |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10213&r=ure |
| By: | Christoph Lakner (Poverty and Equity Global Practice - World Bank); Maria Ana Lugo (Poverty and Equity Global Practice - World Bank); Jorge Puig (CEDLAS - UNLP); Leandro Salinardi (CEDLAS - UNLP); Martha Viveros (Poverty and Equity Global Practice - World Bank) |
| Abstract: | More than a decade of energy and transport subsidies have weakened Argentina’s fiscal capacity. Following the 2001 crisis, public services tariffs were frozen in an attempt to offset the negative effects on households’ real purchasing power. However, these subsidies steadily increased over the years, particularly since 2006, becoming a significant fiscal burden. Though subsidies can be a tool to protect the poor, in Argentina they led to distortions and a large share have been absorbed by upper classes and non-residential consumers. This paper first analyzes the incidence of the 2014 system of residential federal subsidies to residential public services (defined as electricity, gas, water and transport) and then simulates the distributional impacts of alternative subsidy structures. Simulations on the electricity sector suggest that targeting consumption levels through a simple lifeline tariff is not sufficient to achieve a propoor incidence of subsidies. Instead, explicit targeting is necessary (though not sufficient) and needs to ensure comprehensive coverage of the poorest households. Similarly, on the transport sector show that the existing tariffs are not well-targeted, but that an expanded set of social programs could improve coverage of the poorest. Gas subsidy simulations showed that a social tariff would virtually eliminate the subsidy, suggesting that there is little overlap between the receipt of social programs and access to piped gas. |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0201&r=ure |
| By: | Dekolo, Samuel; Oduwaye, Leke; Nwokoro, Immaculata |
| Abstract: | Examinations of ‘peri-urban’ remain elusive and often neglected by urban planners. However, these transitional zones are constantly under pressure by increasing populations from inner cities and migrants from the surrounding rural areas. The result in most developing countries is uncontrolled or unplanned landscapes. Although urban growth is inevitable and land use changes are imminent as peri-urban expansions of cities, peri-urban areas are pivotal regarding the agricultural resources necessary to urban survival. Understanding the development patterns, emerging urban forms, and their influences on peri-urban areas require an understanding of development decisions. Such knowledge will help decision makers and urban managers develop appropriate policies to address growth in ‘edge’ cities. This study focuses on the organic growth of Ikorodu, a peri-urban municipality on the outskirts of Lagos that emerged from a sleepy farming community with a population less than 100,000 in 1975 to a vibrant city exceeding one million residents in 2015. The study employs a multi-temporal remote sensing and GIS analysis to detect the urban pattern and emergent form over a 40-year period from 1975 to 2015. An empirical analysis was performed using survey data on 300 homeowners in 61 communities to identify the influences of rapid growth and the responses of planners to the city’s growth. |
| Keywords: | sprawl, peri-urban, remote sensing, fractals, policy |
| JEL: | O15 O18 R10 R14 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73726&r=ure |
| By: | Goyal, S. |
| Abstract: | Networks influence human behavior and well being, and realizing this, individuals make conscious efforts to shape their own networks. Over the past decade, economists have combined these ideas with concepts from game theory, oligopoly, general equilibrium, and information economics to develop a general framework of analysis. The ensuing research has deepened our understanding of classical questions in economics and opened up entirely new lines of enquiry. |
| Date: | 2016–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1652&r=ure |
| By: | Valerie Cerra; Alfredo Cuevas; Carlos Góes; Izabela Karpowicz; Troy D Matheson; Issouf Samaké; Svetlana Vtyurina |
| Abstract: | Inadequate infrastructure has been widely viewed as a principal barrier to growth and development in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of infrastructure in the region and highlights key areas in which infrastructure networks can be enhanced. The public and private sectors play complementary roles in improving the infrastructure network. Therefore, it is critical to strengthen public investment management processes as well as the regulatory framework, including to ensure an appropriate mix of financing and funding for projects and to address environmental concerns. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure;Latin America;Caribbean;Transportation;Energy;Electricity;Communications services;Fiscal policy;Public investment;Private sector;Public-private partnership;Environmental sustainability;Cross country analysis;Latin America and the Caribbean, infrastructure, public investment, investment efficiency, public-private partnerships. |
| Date: | 2016–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/185&r=ure |
| By: | Ani Harutyunyan; Omer Ozak |
| Abstract: | This research explores the effects of culture on technological diffusion and economic development. It shows that culture’s direct effects on development and barrier effects to technological diffusion are, in general, observationally equivalent. In particular, using a large set of measures of cultural values, it establishes empirically that pairwise differences in contemporary development are associated with pairwise cultural differences relative to the technological frontier, only in cases where observational equivalence holds. Additionally, it establishes that differences in cultural traits that are correlated with genetic and linguistic distances are statistically and economically significantly correlated with differences in economic development. These results highlight the difficulty of disentangling the direct and barrier effects of culture, while lending credence to the idea that common ancestry generates persistence and plays a central role in economic development. |
| Keywords: | Comparative economic development, economic growth, culture, barriers to technological diffusion, genetic distances, linguistic distances |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O20 O33 O40 O47 O57 Z10 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:38216&r=ure |