|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Colin Caines |
| Abstract: | Explaining asset price booms poses a difficult question for researchers in macroeconomics: how can large and persistent price growth be explained in the absence large and persistent variation in fundamentals? This paper argues that boom-bust behavior in asset prices can be explained by a model in which boundedly rational agents learn the process for prices. The key feature of the model is that learning operates in both the demand for assets and the supply of credit. Interactions between agents on either side of the market create complementarities in their respective beliefs, providing an additional source of propagation. In contrast, the paper shows why learning involving only one side on the market, which has been the focus of most of the literature, cannot plausibly explain persistent and large price booms. Quantitatively, the model explains recent experiences in US housing markets. A single unanticipated mortgage rate drop generates 20 quarters of price growth whilst capturing the full appreciation in US house prices in the early 2000s. The model is able to generate endogenous liberalizations in household lending conditions during price booms, consistent with US data, and replicates key volatilities of housing market variables at business cycle frequencies. |
| Keywords: | Learning ; Non-rational expectations ; House prices ; Boom-bust cycles |
| JEL: | E30 E17 D83 G12 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgif:1181&r=ure |
| By: | Licia Ferranna (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics); Margherita Gerolimetto (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics); Stefano Magrini (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of spatial wage disparities in the US context for the period 1980-2000. Agglomeration benefits are estimated based on city productivity premia which are computed after controlling for the skills distribution among metropolitan areas as well as industry fixed effects. The drivers of productivity differentials that are taken into consideration are the size of the local economy, the spatial interactions among local autonomous economic systems and the structure of urban governance as well as the policy responses to the fragmentation issue. A metropolitan area with ten percentage more administrative units than another of the same size, experiences wages that are between 2.0% and 3.0% lower. The presence of a voluntary governance body is found to mitigate the problem of fragmentation only marginally, while the existence of special purpose districts have a negative impact on regional productivity. The implementation of a metropolitan government with a regional tax system is expected to increase productivity by around 6%. |
| Keywords: | Governance, Productivity, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Agglomeration Econonomies |
| JEL: | H70 R12 R23 J3 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2016:26&r=ure |
| By: | Clément Gorin (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - PRES Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Highly skilled professionals are regarded as one of the main driver for the economic development of cities through their effect on innovative capabilities. Skilled individuals are mobile in space and tend to cluster within a limited number of urban areas, therefore a crucial question is what factors shape this flows and influence the divergent levels of economic development across urban areas. Building on these considerations, this paper takes advantage of a large-scale dataset to shed light on the patterns and determinants of inventors' mobility across European urban areas. First, a descriptive analysis is carried out to document the dynamics of inventors' mobility and their spatial dimension. Second, a gravity model is used to analyse how job opportunities and socio-professional networks influence the flows of inventors between urban areas. From a methodological perspective, this paper uses a spatial filtering variant of the Poisson gravity model, which accommodate the nature of the data, while controlling for multilateral resistance and spatial autocorrelation in mobility flows. The descriptive analysis suggest that inventors' mobility occurs primarily between relatively large and collocated urban areas, partly because of the high level of circular and intra-firm mobility. The econometric analysis shows that employment opportunities, social networks, as well as various forms of proximity are important determinants of inventors' mobility. |
| Keywords: | Inventors’ mobility, urban areas, job opportunities, socio-professional network, Poisson gravity model, spatial filtering |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01313086&r=ure |
| By: | Andrea Lepine |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on a large-scale teacher incentive program in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, which awarded group bonuses to teachers and school staff conditional on improvements in student performance. By using a difference-in-differences and triple-differences framework, I show that the program had overall positive effects on student achievement, although improvements vary across grades and subjects. The robustness of the results is assessed through the use of a series of alternative counterfactuals. I also investigate whether initial school characteristics affect the impact of the program. Although it could be expected that free-riding effects increase with the number of teachers in schools, therefore limiting the impact of the program, this does not seem to be the case. More sizeable differences are found according to school's previous performance. Initially low-performing schools improved much more than the average, suggesting there may be considerable differences in the ability of schools to respond to this type of policy. |
| Keywords: | Pay for performance; Student achievement; Incentives |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J45 |
| Date: | 2016–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2016wpecon18&r=ure |
| By: | David Rappoport |
| Abstract: | Mortgage subsidies affect homeownership costs by reducing effective mortgage rates and increasing house prices. I show analytically the role of mortgage subsidies in determining house price changes, economic incidence, and efficiency costs using a theoretical framework for applied welfare analysis. I derive simple expressions for these effects, as functions of reduced-form sufficient statistics, which I use to measure the effects from eliminating mortgage deductions. My main results characterize the distributional impact of mortgage subsidies among buyers and owners and how house price responses attenuate efficiency losses. My results provide broader methodological insights into the welfare analysis of credit policies. |
| Keywords: | Public economics ; Mortgage subsidies ; Incidence ; Optimal taxation ; House prices ; Mortgage interest deductions ; MID |
| JEL: | H22 R21 R28 |
| Date: | 2016–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2016-81&r=ure |
| By: | Pierre-Daniel Sarte (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond); Felipe Schwartzman (Federal Reserve Bank Richmond); Esteban Rossi-Hansberg (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate within city productive spillovers in the U.S. and study their implications for location-based industrial policies. Spillovers arise from the interaction of workers, but the degree of externalities across industries depends on their occupational makeup. Using a structural model of trade across cities, combined with data on output, employment, wages and prices varying across cities, sectors, and occupations, we obtain estimates of both city-specific and sector-specific productivity across 33 sectors and 381 U.S. cities. Moreover, using information on regional price parities, we also obtain estimates of transport costs and trade elasticities for sectors where bilateral trade data is lacking. The extensive set of disaggregated productivities that we construct then allows us, by way of an instrumental variable approach that accounts for the endogenous location decisions of workers, to estimate the extent of productivity spillovers across occupations. Given our estimates of within city productive spillovers and the framework we develop, we study the effectiveness of policies promoting particular industries or occupations within different U.S. cities. In doing so, we assess how the distribution of industries and workers in space influences national output, local development, and the distribution of wages across occupations. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1016&r=ure |
| By: | Fredrik Andersson; John C. Haltiwanger; Mark J. Kutzbach; Giordano E. 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 data and suitable identification strategies. We create a national-level longitudinal data set that enables us to analyze how children’s housing experiences affect adult earnings and incarceration rates. While naive estimates suggest there are substantial negative consequences to childhood participation in voucher-assisted and public housing, this result appears to be driven largely by selection of households 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 naive specifications, household fixed-effects estimates for earnings are universally more positive, and they suggest that there are positive and statistically significant benefits from childhood residence in assisted housing on young adult earnings for nearly all demographic groups. Childhood participation in assisted housing also reduces the likelihood of incarceration across all household race/ethnicity groups. Time spent in voucher-assisted or public housing is especially beneficial for females from non-Hispanic Black households, who experience substantial increases in expected earnings and lower incarceration rates. |
| JEL: | I38 J15 J31 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22721&r=ure |
| By: | C. Hémet; C. Malgouyres |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at determining whether and how the level of origins' diversity of a community affects its members' employment prospects. Relying on detailed data from the French Labor Force Survey, we measure diversity at two geographic levels: the neighborhood and the local labor market. The correlation between diversity and employment varies accordingly: it is negative at the former level but positive at the latter level. We then tackle the endogenous location selection issue in two ways. First, we rely on a standard instrumental variable approach to deal with diversity at the local labor market level, and propose a new instrument: diversity in the public housing sector. After correcting for endogeneity, the positive effect of diversity at this level is driven down to zero, revealing that it was mostly due to self-selection. Second, regarding neighborhood diversity, we adopt the strategy developed by Bayer et al. (2008) which takes advantage of the very precise localization of the data. The negative effect of diversity on employment at the neighborhood level is reinforced. We also show that diversity in terms of nationalities (a proxy for cultural diversity) matters more than diversity based on parents' origins (a proxy for ethnic diversity). These results reveal that local diversity may act as a barrier to communication, preventing job information transmission, and hence reducing employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | diversity, employment, neighborhood effects. |
| JEL: | J15 J60 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:605&r=ure |
| By: | Cathrine Ulla Jensen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Toke Emil Panduro (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Thomas Hedemark Lundhede (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen); Kathrine von Graevenitz (Department of Environmental and Resource Economics, Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)); Bo Jellesmark Thorsen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the housing markets in a suburb north of the Danish capital Copenhagen. We find that households sort themselves in relation to nature area. The concentration of affluent households decreases rapidly with distance to nature. This indicates that a welfare change generated by a change in the supply of urban nature could be skewed due to a systematic difference in preference that is highly correlated with demographics. In this paper we assess if and to what extent this is the case. We conduct a second-stage hedonic house price study and recover household-specific preferences for availability of nature. Preference parameters are identified locally through restrictions on household utility-functions. First, we assess the relation between demographic factors and household WTP for nature. Households with higher incomes and wealth have a 0.9% higher WTP per 1.000 EUR and this figure is slightly higher at the low end of the distribution. Interestingly, education mainly impacts the centre of the distribution and impacts the tails less. We conduct a policy simulation to illustrate how heterogeneity in preferences and local supply of nature areas can drive the outcome of a welfare economic assessment of a policy change. Our study contributes to the discussion of the distributional aspects of environmental benefits. This is a discussion mainly fuelled by stated-preference methods, and we contribute with results based on a revealed-preference method. Our results show that socio-economic distribution is a relevant factor to consider when evaluating nature area policies. |
| Keywords: | public policy, green space, 2nd stage hedonic regression, quantile regression |
| JEL: | R21 Q51 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2016_07&r=ure |
| By: | Battaglini, Marco; Díaz, Carlos; Patacchini, Eleonora |
| Abstract: | We exploit the exogenous variation in peer groups generated by high school to college transitions to study the theoretical predictions of Battaglini, Benabou and Tirole's (2005) model of self-control in peer groups. We find evidence consistent with the two key predictions of this theory regarding the relationship between an agent's expected self-control problems and the size and composition of his or her social circles: (i) students embedded in social circles have more self-control than those who are alone and their self-control is increasing in the size of their social group; (ii) students' self-control is, however, a non-monotonic hump-shaped function of the average self-control of their friends. |
| Keywords: | peer effects; Self-Control |
| JEL: | C31 D71 D85 I21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11563&r=ure |
| By: | Mike Waugh (New York University); Ahmed Mobarak (Yale University); David Lagakos (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | To what extent do the large urban-rural wage gaps in developing countries reflect a spatial misallocation of labor? We answer this question using a dynamic model of internal migration that encompasses two broad interpretations of these gaps. The first is that workers are misallocated across space due to uninsurable migration risk and incomplete markets. The second is that workers are heterogenous and sort efficiently across space given migration costs. We discipline the model quantitatively using evidence from a controlled migration experiment in Bangladesh and new survey evidence about migration opportunities for potential migrants. We then use the model to compare the status quo to the efficient spatial allocation of workers chosen by a benevolent planner. We conclude that urban-rural wage gaps mostly reflects sorting and migration costs, though improved access to financial markets would still reduce misallocation and improve living standards substantially for some workers. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1032&r=ure |
| By: | Armona, Luis (Stanford University); Fuster, Andreas (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Zafar, Basit (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | Home price expectations are believed to play an important role in housing dynamics, yet we have limited understanding of how they are formed and how they affect behavior. Using a unique “information experiment” embedded in an online survey, this paper investigates how consumers’ home price expectations respond to past home price growth and how they impact investment decisions. After eliciting respondents’ initial beliefs about past and future local home price changes, we present a random subset of the respondents with factual information about past (one- or five-year) changes and then re-elicit expectations. This unique “panel” data allows us to identify causal effects of the information and provides insights on the expectation formation process. We find that, on average, year-ahead home price expectations are revised in a way consistent with short-term momentum in home price growth, though respondents tend to underpredict the strength of momentum. Revisions of longer-term expectations show that respondents do not expect the empirically occurring mean reversion in home price growth. These results are consistent with recent behavioral models of housing cycles. Finally, we present robust evidence of home price expectations impacting (actual and intended) housing-related behaviors, both in the cross section and within-individual. |
| Keywords: | housing; expectation formation; information; updating |
| JEL: | D84 G11 R21 |
| Date: | 2016–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:798&r=ure |
| By: | Daniela Glocker; Marissa Plouin |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses national public expenditure on housing in Poland, within the context of recent trends in the housing market. It focuses on direct expenditure on housing by the former Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, which until 2016 was the primary ministry charged with housing policy. While Poland has made considerable progress in reducing the housing deficit and improving housing quality, housing affordability and limited diversity of the housing stock remain important policy challenges. A comprehensive and conclusive evaluation of housing policy instruments in Poland is difficult, due to limited relevant data. As such, this paper outlines a series of key questions to guide policy makers in selecting housing policy instruments and in facilitating a more robust framework to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of housing policy instruments.gg |
| Keywords: | housing, indicators, housing prices, monitoring and evaluation, housing policies |
| Date: | 2016–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2016/7-en&r=ure |
| By: | Adrien Bouguen (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); Kamilla Gumede (Aarhus University [Aarhus]); Marc Gurgand (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) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the role of parents by looking at the effect of a parental involvement program implemented in poor primary school in South Africa. Based on a random variation of the program assignment and on a partial population design, it allows to rigorously identify impacts on parental involvement, on the relationship between parents and teachers and on student outcomes. We find mixed results suggesting that parents who volunteer to attend the meetings changed their behavior toward more involvement at home and at school. Such behavioral change appears stronger for a subgroup of parents whose children is enrolled in the facilitating teacher's class, suggesting positive interactions between parents and teachers. Yet, no cognitive or non cognitive impact on students can be detected. We interpret these disappointing results as evidence that in a developing country context, parents face constraints that makes such program unable to have significant effects on student performances |
| Keywords: | Education,parental involvement,Development |
| Date: | 2015–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01241957&r=ure |
| By: | Christopher Jepsen; Peter Mueser; Kenneth Troske |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate the educational returns to General Educational Development (GED) certification using state administrative data. We use fuzzy regression discontinuity (FRD) methods to account for the fact that GED test takers can repeatedly retake the test until they pass it and the fact that test takers have to pass each of five subtests before receiving the GED. We generally find positive effects of the GED on multiple measures of postsecondary education. Although the GED increases the likelihood of postsecondary attendance substantially, the GED impact on overall credits completed is much more modest: The GED causes an average increment of only two credits for men and six credits for women. The effects of the GED on postsecondary awards are inconclusive, likely related to the small percentage of awards received by GED test takers. |
| Keywords: | General educational development (GED) tests; Postsecondary education |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/6648&r=ure |
| By: | Di Cataldo, Marco; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | The European Union promotes development strategies aimed at producing growth with "a strong emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction" . However, whether the economic conditions in place in EU regions are ideal for the generation of high- and low-skilled employment and labour market inclusion is unclear. This paper assesses how the key factors behind EU growth strategies -infrastructure, human capital, innovation, quality of government- condition employment generation and labour market exclusion in European regions. The findings indicate that the dynamics of employment and social exclusion vary depending on the conditions in place in a region. While higher innovation and education contribute to overall employment generation in some regional contexts, low-skilled employment grows the most in regions with a better quality of government. Regional public institutions, together with the endowment of human capital, emerge as the main factors for the reduction of labour market exclusion - particularly in the less developed regions- and the promotion of inclusive employment growth across Europe. |
| Keywords: | employment; Europe; regions; skills; social exclusion |
| JEL: | J64 O52 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11551&r=ure |
| By: | Jiang, Ge; Weidenholzer, Simon |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of switching costs on the long run outcome in 2x2 coordination games played in the circular city model of local interactions. For low levels of switching costs the predictions are in line with the previous literature and the risk dominant convention is the unique long run equilibrium. For intermediate levels of switching costs the set of long run equilibria still contains the risk dominant convention but may also contain conventions that are not risk dominant. The set of long run equilibria may further be non-monotonic in the level of switching costs, i.e. as switching costs increase the prediction that the risk dominant convention is the unique long run equilibrium and the prediction that both conventions are long run equilibria alternate. Finally, for high levels of switching costs also non-monomorphic states will be included in the set of long run equilibria. |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:17770&r=ure |
| By: | Konstantin A. Kholodilin; Tymofiy Gerasymov |
| Abstract: | World War I led to radical changes in the government policy of participating countries. The enormous demographic and economic disturbances caused by the war forced the governments of all the belligerent nations to drastically restrict the market freedom. In particular, the state began actively intervening in the housing market. Ukraine as a part of the former Russian Empire, for the first time in its history saw the introduction of rent controls and protection of tenants from eviction. This paper concentrates on the government intervention in the rental housing market of Right-Bank Ukraine during World War I (1914–1918). It identifies the factors that made the state intervene in the relationships between landlords and tenants, analyzes changes in the housing legislation, and assesses the effectiveness of the regulations. |
| Keywords: | rental housing market; rent controls; tenant protection; government regulations; World War I; Right-Bank Ukraine |
| JEL: | C22 N43 O18 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1610&r=ure |
| By: | Wagner, Valentin |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how framing manipulations affect the quantity and quality of decisions. In a field experiment in elementary schools, 1.377 pupils are randomly assigned to one of three conditions in a multiple-choice test: (i) gain frame (Control), (ii) loss frame (Loss) and (iii) gain frame with a downward shift of the point scale (Negative). On average, pupils in both treatment groups answer significantly more questions correctly compared to the "traditional grading". This increase is driven by two different mechanisms. While pupils in the Loss Treatment increase significantly the quantity of answered questions - seek more risk - pupils in the Negative Treatment seem to increase the quality of answers - answer more accurately. Moreover, differentiating pupils by their initial ability shows that a downward shift of the point scale is superior to loss framing. High-performers increase performance in both treatment groups but motivation is significantly crowded out for low-performers only in the Loss Treatment. |
| Keywords: | behavioral decision making,quantity and quality of decisions,framing,loss aversion,field experiment,motivation,education |
| JEL: | D03 I20 D80 C93 M54 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:227&r=ure |
| By: | Sheung-Chi Chow (Research Institute of Business, Hang Seng Management College); Juncal Cunado (Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Navarra); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Wing-Keung Wong (Department of Finance, Asia University and Department of Economics, Lingnan University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we modify the multivariate nonlinear causality test to be panel nonlinear causality test and we recommend academics and practitioners to carry out cross linear and nonlinear causality tests in their study.Thereafter, we apply the tests we proposed and other existing related tests to examine the causal relationship between Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) and real housing returns in China and India using monthly data from January 1998 to December 2014. While both panellinear and nonlinear Granger causality tests suggest the existence of only linear and nonlinear unidirectional causality relationships from EPU shocks to real housing returns in both China and India, and bivariate linear Granger causality test suggest the existence of only linear unidirectional causality relationship from EPU shocks to real housing returns only in China, nonlinear bivariate Granger causality test conclude that the existence of nonlinear bidirectional causality relationships between EPU shocks and real housing returns in both China and India and cross bivariate linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests discover that there is only a linear causality relationship from Indian EPU shocks to Chinese housing returns. The results confirm the relevance of EPU data to better understand and predict the future behaviour of housing market returns in these countries. |
| Keywords: | Economic policy uncertainty; Housing market returns; Granger causality linear and nonlinear tests |
| JEL: | C32 G10 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201674&r=ure |
| By: | Laurent Gobillon (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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), CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, University of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia]); Matthieu Solignac (University of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia]) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the difference in homeownership rates between natives and first-generation immigrants in France, and how this difference evolves over the 1975-1999 period, by using a large longitudinal dataset. We find that the homeownership gap is large and has increased. Entries into the territory have a large negative effect on the evolution of homeownership rates for immigrants. Although entrants have on average better education than people staying in the territory for the entire period (i.e. stayers), they are younger and thus at an earlier stage in the wealth accumulation process. They are also located in large cities, where the homeownership rate is lower, and the returns to their characteristics are lower than those for stayers. Leavers have a positive effect on the evolution of homeownership rates for immigrants because they have a low access to homeownership and they exit the country. But this effect is only one-third that of entrants. For stayers, we show that returns to characteristics change in favor of immigrants, which is consistent with assimilation theories. However, among stayers who access homeownership, immigrants end up in owned dwellings that are of lesser quality than natives. |
| Keywords: | Homeownership,Immigrants,Longitudinal data |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01233069&r=ure |
| By: | Duffy, David; Foley, Daniel; McQuinn, Kieran; Mc Inerney, Niall |
| Keywords: | qec |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:resnot:rn2016/3/1&r=ure |
| By: | Jian-Xin Wu; Ling-Yun He |
| Abstract: | Urban-rural gap and regional inequality are long standing problems in China and result in considerable number of studies. This paper examines the dynamic behaviors of incomes for both urban and rural areas with a prefectural data set. The analysis is conducted by using a distribution dynamics approach, which have advantages in examination on persistence, polarization and convergence clubs. The results show that persistence and immobility are the dominant characteristics in the income distribution dynamics. The prefectural urban and rural areas converge into their own steady states differentiated in income levels. This pattern of urban-rural gap also exists in three regional groups, namely the eastern, central and western regions. Examination on the dynamics of the poorest areas shows that geographical poverty traps exist in both urban and rural prefectural areas. Our results indicate that more policy interventions are required to narrow down the urban-rural gap and to eliminate the poverty traps in China. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1610.05171&r=ure |
| By: | Bernhard Enzi; Benedikt Siegler |
| Abstract: | How did the introduction of the Bachelor-degree system affect students in Germany? Combining rich data on university students with administrative data on universities' study programs, we exploit variation in the timing of Bachelor-degree implementation across departments. To account for endogeneity in students' enrollment decisions, we apply an instrumental-variable approach based on the distance differential between an individual's nearest universities with a Bachelor's and a traditional degree program. Overall, we do not find reform effects on students' mobility, dropout, and internship participation, although there is indication that the reform reduced dropout for females and for high-achieving students and increased study satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Bologna Reform; Bachelor introduction; student outcomes; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I28 I21 H75 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:165_enzisiegler&r=ure |
| By: | Juan Andres Espinosa Torre |
| Abstract: | This article examines asymmetric effects of monetary policy on real estate price growth dynamics. We estimate a Markov Switching model using monthly data from 1994 to 2015 for theColombianhouseprices’growthrates. Empiricalresultssuggestthathousingpricegrowth has alarger magnitude decreasewith acontractionary monetary shock in higher volatility periods than during calm ones, but is not as persistent as in less volatile ones. This suggests thatmonetarypolicyismoreeffectiveintermsofreducinghousingpricegrowthduringcrisis periods than those when economic conditions are more favorable. |
| Keywords: | Markov switching model, real estate price, monetary polic |
| Date: | 2016–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000416:015124&r=ure |
| By: | Sümeyra Atmaca; Koen Schoors; Marijn Verschelde (-) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we consider how the intensity and channels of the relation between social networks and bank loyalty vary according to the state of the economy. We analyze bank exit over the period 2005-2012 for over 300,000 retail clients of a commercial bank that experienced a bank run in 2008 due to a solvency risk. The unique and rich data we constructed in close collaboration with the bank enables us to distinguish different sorts of family networks from neighborhood networks, while controlling for a wide battery of client-level and branch-level characteristics and events. Using a proportional hazards model, we show the importance of family networks. In times of nancial distress, family networks become even more important and retail clients take weaker, less direct social relationships into account. |
| Keywords: | peer e ects; social networks; bank exit; nancial crisis; depositor discipline. |
| JEL: | D12 G01 G21 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:16/923&r=ure |
| By: | Comino, Stefano; Mastrobuoni, Giovanni; Nicolò, Antonio |
| Abstract: | We analyze the consequences of illegally residing in a country on the likelihood of reporting a crime to the police and, as a consequence, on the likelihood to become victims of a crime. We use an immigration amnesty to address two issues when dealing with the legal status of immigrants: it is both endogenous as well as mostly unobserved in surveys. Right after the 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act, which disproportionately legalized individuals of Hispanic origin, crime victims of Hispanic origin in cities with a large proportion of illegal Hispanics become considerably more likely to report a crime. Non-Hispanics show no changes. Difference-in-differences estimates that adjust for the misclassification of legal status imply that the reporting rate of undocumented immigrants is close to 11 percent. Gaining legal status the reporting rate triples, approaching the reporting rate of non-Hispanics. We also find some evidence that following the amnesty Hispanics living in metropolitan areas with a large share of illegal migrants experience a reduction in victimization. This is coherent with a simple behavioral model of crime that guides our empirical strategies, where amnesties increase the reporting rate of legalized immigrants, which, in turn, modify the victimization of natives and migrants. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:17806&r=ure |
| By: | Pflüger, Michael P. (University of Würzburg); Tabuchi, Takatoshi (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | The division of labor between and within countries is driven by two fundamental forces, comparative advantage and increasing returns. We set up a simple Ricardian model with a Marshallian input sharing mechanism to study their interplay. The key insight that emerges is that the interaction between agglomeration economies and comparative advantage involves a fundamental tension which is intricately affected by trade costs. A reduction of trade costs fosters the dispersive impact of comparative advantage in sectors governed by this force whilst the impact of agglomeration economies is enhanced by trade cost reductions in the increasing returns sector. The key implication for international trade is that the wage ratio between large and small economies is not only shaped by the primitives that determine agglomeration economies and comparative advantage but also, and differentially, by the sectoral levels of trade costs. The fundamental implication for an economic geography context where labor is mobile across locations is that partial agglomeration emerges when agglomeration economies are strong relative to comparative advantage, and this is more likely the lower are trade costs in increasing returns sectors and the higher are trade costs in sectors governed by comparative advantage. The model may serve as a foundation for an urban system where the endogenously emerging larger city exhibits more diversity in production. |
| Keywords: | comparative advantage, increasing returns, labor mobility, agglomeration, offshoring, urban systems |
| JEL: | F12 F22 R11 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10273&r=ure |
| By: | Guillaume Daudin (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); Raphaël Franck (Bar-Ilan University - Bar-Ilan University [Israël]); Hillel Rapoport (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | France experienced the demographic transition before richer and more educated countries. This paper offers a novel explanation for this puzzle that emphasizes the diffusion of culture and information through internal migration. It tests how migration affected fertility by building a decennial bilateral migration matrix between French regions for 1861-1911. The identification strategy uses exogenous variation in transportation costs resulting from the construction of railways. The results suggest the convergence towards low birth rates can be explained by the diffusion of low-fertility norms by migrants, especially by migrants to and from Paris. |
| Keywords: | Fertility,France,Demographic Transition,Migration |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01321952&r=ure |
| By: | Clifford Lam; Pedro C.L. Souza |
| Abstract: | In many economic applications, it is often of interest to categorize, classify or label individuals by groups based on similarity of observed behavior. We propose a method that captures group affiliation or, equivalently, estimates the block structure of a neighboring matrix embedded in a Spatial Econometric model. The main results of the LASSO estimator shows that off-diagonal block elements are estimated as zeros with high probability, property defined as “zero-block consistency”. Furthermore, we present and prove zero-block consistency for the estimated spatial weight matrix even under a thin margin of interaction between groups. The tool developed in this paper can be used as a verification of block structure by applied researchers, or as an exploration tool for estimating unknown block structures. We analyzed the US Senate voting data and correctly identified blocks based on party affiliations. Simulations also show that the method performs well. |
| Keywords: | spatial weight matrix; LASSO penalization; zero-block consistency; spatial lag/error model; Nagaev-type inequality |
| JEL: | C31 C33 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:59898&r=ure |
| By: | David Lapierre (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal); Pierre Lefebvre (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal); Philip Merrigan (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal) |
| Abstract: | Very few studies analyze the long-term educational effects of private secondary school attendance while controlling for socioeconomic status. In Québec, the second most populous Canadian province, twenty percent of students at this level are enrolled in private schools subsidized by the government that however sets a relatively low ceiling for the fees in exchange for subsidies. Selection bias arising from a host of factors, preclude simplistic comparisons of their educational results with those of their public sector peers. This study uses the first four longitudinal waves of the two cohorts from Statistics Canada?s Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to estimate the average treatment on the treated effect of private school on the high school graduation rate within the expected number of years after starting high school (5), enrollment in postsecondary institutions at age 19, university enrollment at age 21 or more, university graduation at age 24 or more, and enrollment in a professional degree program. The econometric estimation of treatment effects is based on a particular entropy balancing algorithm with a large set of key balancing covariates. Results are validated by a simulation-based sensitivity analysis for matching estimators. We find large, positive, robust, and statistically significant effects of private schooling on almost all outcomes analyzed. Most results are not sensitive to simulations of omitted variable bias. |
| Keywords: | YITS, high school graduation, postsecondary education and professional programs enrollment and graduation, longitudinal data, treatment effect, entropy balancing |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grc:wpaper:16-02&r=ure |
| By: | Maliranta, Mika; Määttänen, Niku; Pajarinen, Mika |
| Abstract: | The bulk of innovation subsidies in Finland are allocated to firms in industries where the employment share of “innovators,” i.e., workers who are specialized in R&D&I, is very high. The average subsidy per employee is typically the highest among young firms. At the firm level, an increase in innovation subsidies is typically associated with an inflow of innovators from high-productivity firms. These findings suggest that innovation subsidies contribute to economic renewal and the diffusion of knowledge between firms. Non-innovation subsidies, in contrast, appear to support established industry structures: a large share of them has been granted to relatively old firms within “traditional” manufacturing industries. Since non-innovation subsidies are systematically allocated to different types of firms than innovation subsidies, they may also crowd out resources from firms that receive innovation subsidies, thereby overriding some of the possible beneficial effects of innovation subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Firm subsidies, innovation, productivity, labor mobility |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O38 J62 |
| Date: | 2016–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:60&r=ure |
| By: | Tidiane Ly (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - PRES Université de Lyon - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the efficiency properties of tax competition between submetropolitan jurisdictions when capital, residents and workers are mobile, and both households and firms compete for local land markets. We analyze two decentralized equilibria: (1) with a local tax on residents and two separate local taxes on capital and land inputs, efficiency is achieved and the existence of a marginal fiscal cost due to residents' mobility is revealed; (2) combination of the taxes on capital and land inputs into a single business property tax leads local authorities to charge inefficiently high taxation on capital. We show that capital mobility induces a reduction in the business land taxation and local public inputs are used to offset the distorting effects of the property tax, accounting for the distorting impact of workers' mobility. |
| Keywords: | Tax competition, Mobility, Public goods, Public inputs |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01349869&r=ure |
| By: | Giulia Baschieri (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Andrea Carosi (Dept. of Economics and Business, University of Sassari); Stefano Mengoli (Dept. of Management, University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | IPO, Going Public Decision, Underpricing, Long-run Under-performance, Firm Location. |
| JEL: | G10 G14 G32 G24 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:124&r=ure |
| By: | Andrea Lamorgese (Bank of Italy); Andrea Petrella (Bank of Italy) |
| Keywords: | urban productivity premium, agglomeration, urban growth |
| JEL: | D24 O47 R30 A A A |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_362_16&r=ure |
| By: | Seth Freedman (Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 1315 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA); Haizhen Lin (Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 1309 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA); Jeff Prince (Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 1309 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA) |
| Abstract: | We examine hospital Electronic Medical Record (EMR) vendor adoption patterns and how they relate to market structure. Hospitals have incentives to both coordinate with, and differentiate from, local competitors in their choice of vendors, with some of these incentives even linked to receipt of government subsidies through the HITECH Act of 2009. We find that hospitals tend to agglomerate in their vendor choices, and the level of agglomeration grows stronger with competition. These findings suggest that incentives to coordinate dominate incentives to differentiate overall, and the relative balance grows stronger in favor of coordination as markets become more competitive. Hence, a potential downside of hospital competition, i.e., increased difficulty in information sharing due to increased incentive to differentiate, does not appear to materialize in this market. |
| Keywords: | health information technology, network externalities, business stealing |
| JEL: | I11 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1619&r=ure |
| By: | De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria); Gioia, Francesca (University of Edinburgh); Scoppa, Vincenzo (University of Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether and how social ties affect performance in teams by implementing a field experiment in which a sample of undergraduate students are randomly assigned to either teams composed by friends or teams composed by individuals not linked by friendship relationships. Students undertake an intermediate exam divided into two parts: one graded on the basis of individual performance and the other graded on the basis of the team performance. We find that students assigned to socially connected teams perform significantly better than control students in both the team part and the individual part of the exam, suggesting that social ties are relevant both for solving free-riding problems and for inducing knowledge spillovers among teammates. The positive effect of friendship persists over time: treated students obtain better grades also in a second individual test after the conclusion of the experiment. |
| Keywords: | team, free-riding, knowledge spillover, social ties, randomized field experiment |
| JEL: | J33 J24 D82 D86 L14 C93 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10257&r=ure |
| By: | F. Aleskerov; N. Meshcheryakova; S. Shvydun |
| Abstract: | We propose a new method for assessing agents influence in network structures, which takes into consideration nodes attributes, individual and group influences of nodes, and the intensity of interactions. This approach helps us to identify both explicit and hidden central elements which cannot be detected by classical centrality measures or other indices. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1610.05892&r=ure |