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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Tammaru, Tiit (University of Tartu); de Vuijst, Elise (Delft University of Technology); Zwiers, Merle (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Income inequality is increasing in European cities and this rising inequality has a spatial footprint in cities and neighbourhoods. Poor and rich people are increasingly living separated and this can threaten the social sustainability of cities. Low income people, often with an ethnic minority background, can get cut off from important social networks and mainstream society, and this can lead to social unrest. Increasing inequality and socio-economic segregation is therefore a major concern for local and national governments. Socio-economic segregation is the outcome of a combination of inequality and poverty, and the spatial organisation of urban housing markets. Poverty, and living in poverty concentration neighbourhoods is transmitted between generations and neighbourhood poverty is reproduced over time through to the residential mobility behaviour of households. Urban policy often focusses on reducing segregation through physical measures in cities, such as demolishing houses in deprived neighbourhoods and replacing them with housing for the middle classes. Such policies will not solve the underlying causes of segregation, but only redistribute poverty over cities. Policy initiatives should first of all focus on reducing inequality by creating equal opportunities for people and invest in education and training. Inclusive growth strategies should combine both people-based and area-based policy measures. |
| Keywords: | socio-economic segregation, neighbourhood change, cities, Europe, residential mobility, social mobility, intergenerational mobility |
| JEL: | D63 D64 I32 J62 P36 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10277&r=ure |
| By: | Paulo Bastos; Julian Cristia (Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank, United States); Beomsoo Kim (Department of Economics, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea) |
| Abstract: | How much do schools differ in their effectiveness? Answering this question has been complicated by the selection of heterogeneous students into schools, which has made it difficult to distinguish between the influence of school inputs, student selection and peer effects. We exploit universal random assignment of students to high schools in certain areas of South Korea to provide clean estimates of the influence of school inputs. We find statistically significant differences across schools in the effects they have on scores in college entrance exams. However, school effects explain only 0.5% of the variation in learning outcomes in areas where students are randomized to schools. These results suggest that school inputs play a limited role in explaining variation in learning outcomes. |
| JEL: | D44 H75 I21 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iek:wpaper:1607&r=ure |
| By: | Berthelon, Matias (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez); Kruger, Diana (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez); Vienne, Veronica (University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of longer school schedules on children's 2nd grade reading comprehension skills in Chile. In a setting where families choose schools, we identify the causal effect of longer schedules with instrumental variables, using the local availability of full-day schools as an instrument. We find that lower-income families are more likely to choose full-day schools, and after controlling for selection, longer school schedules lead to an increase of 0.14 standard deviations in reading comprehension. Effects are heterogeneous, with greater benefits among children attending public (municipal) and urban schools, and among girls. We also find that the benefits of longer school days accumulate over time. |
| Keywords: | reading comprehension skills, full-day schooling, school schedules, SIMCE, Chile |
| JEL: | I21 I28 I26 H43 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10282&r=ure |
| By: | Edward Glaeser; Wei Huang; Yueran Ma; Andrei Shleifer |
| Abstract: | Chinese housing prices rose by over 10 percent per year in real terms between 2003 and 2014, and are now between two and ten times higher than the construction cost of apartments. At the same time, Chinese developers built 100 billion square feet of residential real estate. This boom has been accompanied by a large increase in the number of vacant homes, held by both developers and households. This boom may turn out to be a housing bubble followed by a crash, yet that future is far from certain. The demand for real estate in China is so strong that current prices might be sustainable, especially given the sparse alternative investments for Chinese households, so long as the level of new supply is radically curtailed. Whether that happens depends on the policies of the Chinese government, which must weigh the benefits of price stability against the costs of restricting urban growth. |
| JEL: | E60 G10 R21 R28 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22789&r=ure |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia; Annalisa Loviglio |
| Abstract: | Student access to education levels, tracks or majors is usually determined by their previous performance, measured either by internal exams, designed and graded by teachers in school, or external exams, designed and graded by central authorities. We say teachers grade on a curve whenever having better peers harms the evaluation obtained by a given student. We use rich administrative records from public schools in Catalonia to provide evidence that teachers indeed grade on a curve, leading to negative peer effects. We find suggestive evidence that school choice is impacted only the year when internal grades matter for future prospects. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:940&r=ure |
| By: | Eizenberg, Alon; Lach, Saul; Yiftach, Merav |
| Abstract: | We study grocery price differentials across neighborhoods in a large metropolitan area (the city of Jerusalem, Israel). Prices in commercial areas are persistently lower than in residential neighborhoods. We also observe substantial price variation within residential neighborhoods: retailers that operate in peripheral, non-affluent neighborhoods charge some of the highest prices in the city. Using CPI data on prices and neighborhood-level credit card data on expenditure patterns, we estimate a model in which households choose where to shop and how many units of a composite good to purchase. The data and the estimates are consistent with very strong spatial segmentation. Combined with a pricing equation, the demand estimates are used to simulate interventions aimed at reducing the cost of grocery shopping. We calculate the impact on the prices charged in each neighborhood and on the expected price paid by its residents - a weighted average of the prices paid at each destination, with the weights being the probabilities of shopping at each destination. Focusing on prices alone provides an incomplete picture and may even be misleading. Specifically, we find that interventions that make the commercial areas more attractive and accessible yield only minor price reductions, yet expected prices decrease in a pronounced fashion. The benefits are particularly strong for residents of the peripheral, non-affluent neighborhoods. |
| Keywords: | consumer mobility; Retail prices; spatial segmentation |
| JEL: | L10 L11 L13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11590&r=ure |
| By: | Stephan Heblich; Alex Trew; Yanos Zylberberg |
| Abstract: | Why are the East sides of former industrial cities like London or New York poorer and more deprived? We argue that this observation is the most visible consequence of the historically unequal distribution of air pollutants across neighborhoods. In this paper, we geolocate nearly 5,000 industrial chimneys in 70 English cities in 1880 and use an atmospheric dispersion model to recreate the spatial distribution of pollution. First, individual-level census data show that pollution induced neighborhood sorting during the course of the nineteenth century. Historical pollution patterns explain up to 15% of within-city deprivation in 1881. Second, these equilibria persist to this day even though the pollution that initially caused them has waned. A quantitative model shows the role of non-linearities and tipping-like dynamics in such persistence. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood sorting, historical pollution, deprivation, persistence, environmental disamenity |
| JEL: | R23 Q53 N90 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0208&r=ure |
| By: | Guillaume Daudin (PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, LEDa-DIAL UMR IRD 225); Raphaël Franck (Bar Ilan University, Department of Economics, 52900 Ramat Gan, Israel, and Marie Curie Fellow at the Department of Economics at Brown University, Providence 02912 RI, USA.); Hillel Rapoport (Paris School of Economics, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| 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. |
| JEL: | J13 N33 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201606&r=ure |
| By: | Aslan Zorlu (University of Amsterdam, IZA, NIMA); Ruben van Gaalen (Statistics Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This study examines ethnic differences in leaving home and the choice of destination accommodation. Using unique individual administrative panel data, we study the mobility of the entire birth cohort 1983 living in the Netherlands. In contrast to previous studies, this paper includes the geographical location and quality of destination living arrangement in the analysis in an attempt to explain ethnic differences in parental home leaving. We show that ethnic minority youth, in particular Turkish and Moroccan young adults, improve their housing quality when leaving the parental home. This improvement clearly outweighs the effects of more family-oriented attitudes among Turkish and Moroccan households resulting in even earlier home-leaving than youth of Dutch origin. Our results on the early home leaving behaviour of ethnic minority youth are robust with regard to the geographical distance of nest-leavers from the parental home. |
| Keywords: | migrants, transition to adulthood, housing quality, location choice |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nim:nimawp:63/2016&r=ure |
| By: | Kurmas Akdogan; Ayse Tatar; Ayse Arzu Yavuz |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the relationship between employment security and housing credits. It is argued that higher employment protection might result in higher demand for housing due to its mitigating impact on the uncertainty about the future income stream of the workers. The results of the empirical analysis using yearly data for 23 countries from 1990 to 2013 suggest a positive relationship between job security and housing credits at the aggregate level. This evidence emphasizes potential negative effects of reducing job protection on aggregate demand. Moreover, considering the propagation mechanism linked with housing demand, this negative impact could be higher and longer than expected. |
| Keywords: | Labour markets, Job security, Credit demand, Panel data |
| JEL: | C23 J28 J65 R21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1620&r=ure |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Jeffrey Max; Philip Gleason; Matthew Johnson; Jonah Deutsch; Michael Hansen |
| Abstract: | This report examines whether low-income students are taught by less effective teachers than high-income students, and if so, whether reducing this inequity would close the student achievement gap. It also describes how the hiring of teachers and their subsequent movement into and out of schools could affect low-income students’ access to effective teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, achievement gap, access to effective teachers, teacher hiring, teacher mobility, teacher attrition |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:ce9ae6b49ff34e388113f31ca621bfa8&r=ure |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Jeffrey Max; Philip Gleason; Matthew Johnson; Jonah Deutsch; Michael Hansen |
| Abstract: | This snapshot examines whether low-income students are taught by less effective teachers than high-income students, and if so, whether reducing this inequity would close the student achievement gap. It also describes how the hiring of teachers and their subsequent movement into and out of schools could affect low-income students’ access to effective teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, achievement gap, access to effective teachers, teacher hiring, teacher mobility, teacher attrition |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:11959fb30e464bce8e2401905768ac6f&r=ure |
| By: | Julie Berry Cullen (University of California San Diego); Cory Koedel (University of Missouri); Eric Parsons (University of Missouri) |
| Abstract: | Improving public sector workforce quality is challenging in sectors such as education where worker productivity is difficult to assess and manager incentives are muted by political and bureaucratic constraints. In this paper, we study how providing information to principals about teacher effectiveness and encouraging them to use the information in personnel decisions affects the composition of teacher turnovers. Our setting is the Houston Independent School District, which recently implemented a rigorous teacher evaluation system. Prior to the new system teacher effectiveness was negatively correlated with district exit and we show that the policy significantly strengthened this relationship, primarily by increasing the relative likelihood of exit for teachers in the bottom quintile of the quality distribution. Low-performing teachers working in low-achieving schools were especially likely to leave. However, despite the success, the implied change to the quality of the workforce overall is too small to have a detectable impact on student achievement. |
| Keywords: | Teacher quality, teacher evaluation, teacher attrition, education workforce quality, public sector management |
| JEL: | I20 J45 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1614&r=ure |
| By: | Johanna Lacoe |
| Abstract: | A safe environment is a prerequisite for productive learning. Using a unique panel data set of survey responses from New York City middle school students, the article provides insight into the relationship between feelings of safety in the classroom and academic achievement. |
| Keywords: | middle school, school safety, urban, social, violence, adolescent subjects |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:88ec34c3f227460fba1e5aea0c7449c3&r=ure |
| By: | de Vuijst, Elise (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Kleinhans, Reinout (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Many theories on so-called neighbourhood effects – effects of the residential context on individual outcomes such as employment, education, and health – implicitly, or explicitly suggest lagged effects, duration effects, or for example, intergenerational effects of neighbourhoods. However, these temporal dimensions of neighbourhood effects receive only limited attention in the empirical literature, largely because of a lack of suitable data. The increasing availability of geo-coded, longitudinal, individual-level data now leads to more research which takes these temporal dimensions and time effects into account. This paper argues that it is time for an overarching framework to better understand the temporal dimension of neighbourhood effects. We propose a conceptual model that uses the life course approach as a framework to integrate the various elements of time in current neighbourhood effects theories. The life course approach emboldens the study of full individual life course biographies over time, taking into consideration multiple parallel life careers (such as education, household, housing, work, and leisure) and their relative importance to individual outcomes. A large advantage of the life course approach to neighbourhood effects is that it does not only allow us to incorporate residential neighbourhoods into individual biographies, but also allows us to study the effects of (and interactions with) other social and spatial contexts on individual outcomes. |
| Keywords: | neighbourhood effects, neighbourhood histories, life course approach, temporal dimension, contextual effects |
| JEL: | I30 J60 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10276&r=ure |
| By: | Ryan R. Brady (United States Naval Academy); Michael Insler (United States Naval Academy); Ahmed S. Rahman (United States Naval Academy) |
| Abstract: | Existing peer e ects studies produce contradictory findings, including positive, negative, large, and small effects, despite similar contexts. We reconcile these results using U.S. Naval Academy data covering a 22-year history of the random assignment of students to peer groups. Coupled with students' limited discretion over freshman-year courses, our setting affords an opportunity to better understand peer effects in different social networks. We find negative effects at the broader "company" level--students' social and residential group--and positive effects at the narrower course-company level. We suggest that peer spillovers change direction because of differences in the underlying mechanism of peer infl uence. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usn:usnawp:51&r=ure |
| By: | Philippe Bracke (Bank of England; Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) London School of Economics (LSE)); Silvana Tenreyro (London School of Economics (LSE); Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM)) |
| Abstract: | Using the universe of housing transactions in England and Wales in the last twenty years, we document a robust pattern of history dependence in housing markets. Sale prices and selling probabilities today are affected by aggregate house prices prevailing in the period in which properties were previously bought. We investigate the causes of history dependence, with its quantitative implications for the post-crisis recovery of the housing market. To do so we complement our analysis with administrative data on mortgages and online house listings, which we match to actual sales. We find that high leverage in the pre-crisis period and anchoring (or reference dependence) both contributed to the collapse and slow recovery of the volume of housing transactions. We find no asymmetric effects of anchoring to previous prices on current transactions; in other words, loss aversion does not appear to play a role over and above simple anchoring. |
| Keywords: | Housing market, Fluctuations, Down-payment effects, Reference dependence, Anchoring, Loss aversion |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfm:wpaper:1635&r=ure |
| By: | Tomomi Miyazaki (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Haruo Kondoh (Department of Economics, Seinan Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between regional business cycle fluctuations and local public investment in Japan. The empirical results show the possibility that a part of the local public investment decided by political factors may amplify regional business cycle fluctuations. @ @ |
| Keywords: | Local public investment; Volatility of the regional economy; Regional business cycles |
| JEL: | E32 E62 H30 H54 R53 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1624&r=ure |
| By: | Comino, Stefano (University of Udine); Mastrobuoni, Giovanni (University of Essex); Nicolò, Antonio (University of Padua) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | immigration, amnesty, crime reporting, victimization survey |
| JEL: | J15 K37 K42 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10306&r=ure |
| By: | Hasan, Zubair |
| Abstract: | Abstract. For financing consumer durables like houses, cars or computers, conventional banks use what are called the equated monthly installment (EMI) models. EMI is the fixed payment a borrower makes to a lender to pay off both interest and principal each month sothat over a specified number of years, the loan amount is cleared in full. Islamic banks have followed the practice using EMI on diminishing musharakah partnership basis. The model is popularly known as the MMP, an abbreviation of its Arabic nomenclature. The defining character of this model is increasing amortization of capital through a customer buy back provision in the agreement. We have shown more than once that models of the sort invariably involve compounding of return on capital and pass the ownership of property to the client at a slower rate than the rate of capital amortization until the contract is concluded. This paper provides additional evidence and documentation to reiterate that the MMP exhibits the same characteristics and is not, therefore, Shari‟ah compliant. We propose an alternative model free of the indicated blemishes, having additional advantages as well. |
| Keywords: | slamic banks, Home financing; Constructive possession, Diminishing balance,Compounding process. |
| JEL: | G20 K20 K40 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74762&r=ure |
| By: | Schlafmann, Kathrin |
| Abstract: | Using a quantitative theoretical framework this paper analyzes how problems of self control influence housing and mortgage decisions. The results show that people with stronger problems of self control are less likely to become home owners, even though houses serve as commitment for saving. The paper then investigates the welfare effects of regulating mortgage products if people differ in their degree of self control. Higher down payment requirements and restrictions on prepayment turn out to be beneficial to people with sufficiently strong problems of self control, even though these policies further restrict access to the commitment device. |
| Keywords: | Commitment Device; Housing; Mortgages; Self Control; Temptation |
| JEL: | D91 E21 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11589&r=ure |
| By: | Zelda Brutti (Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB)) |
| Abstract: | Looking at the decentralized provision of public education in a middle income country, this paper estimates the impact of local autonomy on service quality, finding large heterogeneity in the effect across different levels of local development. Colombian municipalities were assigned to administer their public education service autonomously solely on the basis of whether they exceeded the 100 thousand inhabitants threshold. Exploiting this discontinuity, I estimate the impact that autonomy has had on student test scores across municipalities, using a regression discontinuity design and fixed-effects regression on a discontinuity sample. I find a test score gap arising between autonomous municipalities in the top quartile and those in the bottom quartile of the development range, in a trend that reinforces over time. From analysis of detailed municipal balance sheet data, I show that the autonomous high-developed municipalities invest in education more than the ad hoc transfers they receive, supplementing these with own financial resources. Indicators of municipal administration quality also show significant differences between the two groups of cities, helping to explain the education outcome patterns. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, public education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I28 H41 H75 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-26&r=ure |
| By: | Barrios, Salvador (Asian Development Bank Institute); Martínez–López, Diego (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Examining the cases of Canada, Germany, and Spain, the role played by fiscal equalization schemes in determining subnational borrowing was analyzed, and the link between regional governments’ primary fiscal balances and gross domestic product per capita was tested econometrically. The study results show that either poor or rich regions can display higher regional public borrowing on average, and these results can be linked to the institutional design of regional equalization systems in place. Particular elements, such as tax efforts and fiscal capacities, also play relevant roles in this regard. Reforms of these schemes can therefore prove instrumental in reducing regional heterogeneity in public borrowing. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal equalization schemes; government borrowing; public borrowing; subnational borrowing; fiscal capacity; Canada; Germany; Spain; 公共借入金; 政府借入金; 財政能力 |
| JEL: | H70 R50 |
| Date: | 2016–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0595&r=ure |
| By: | Burgess, Simon (University of Bristol); Metcalfe, Robert (University of Chicago); Sadoff, Sally (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of incentivizing students' effort during the school year on performance on high-stakes assessments in a field experiment with 63 low-income high schools and over 10,000 students. We contribute to the literature on education incentives by incentivising inputs rather than output, by focusing on high stakes outcomes, and by comparing financial and non-financial rewards. We take advantage of our large sample and rich data to explore heterogeneity in the effects of incentives, and identify a "right tail" of underperforming students who experience a significant impact on high stakes assessments. Among students in the upper half of the distribution of incentive effectiveness, exam scores improve by 10% to 20% of a standard deviation, equal to about half the attainment gap between poor and non-poor students. |
| Keywords: | test scores, pupil incentives, pupil behaviour |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10284&r=ure |
| By: | Muralidharan, K.; Singh, A.; Ganimian, A. J. |
| Abstract: | Technology-aided instruction has the potential to sharply increase productivity in delivering education, but its promise has yet to be realized. This paper presents experimental evidence on the impact of a technology-aided after-school instruction program on secondary school learning outcomes in urban India. We report five main findings. First, students in this setting are several grade-levels behind their enrolled grade, and this gap grows with every grade. Second, the offer of the program led to large increases in student test scores of 0.36? in math and 0.22? in Hindi over a 4.5-month period, which represent a two-fold increase in math and a 2.5 times increase in Hindi test score value-added relative to non-participants. IV estimates suggest that attending the program for 90 days increases math and Hindi test scores by of 0.59? and 0.36? respectively. Third, absolute treatment effects are large and similar at all levels of baseline scores, but the relative gain is much greater for academically weaker students because their ?business as usual? rate of learning is close to zero. Fourth, we show that the program precisely targets instruction to students? preparation level, thus catering to wide variation within a single grade. Fifth, the program is highly cost-effective, both in terms of productivity per dollar and unit of time. Our results suggest that well-designed technology-aided instruction programs can sharply improve productivity in education by relaxing multiple constraints to effective teaching and learning. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:467377&r=ure |
| By: | Silvia Fedeli; Vito Mariella; Marco Onofri |
| Abstract: | On the basis of a newly built regional panel data set that considers, not only the evolution of employment in the Italian regions, but also indicators of counterfeiting activities and criminality, we empirically explore the link between employment performance and criminality during the period of a deep economic and financial crisis. We consider both unemployment and inactivity rates in order to check whether and to what extent, in a period of widely recognized economic crisis, criminal activities of counterfeit and other forms of crime have affected the labour market. We present results of GMM regressions showing a positive/peculiar effect of criminal activities on both the components of joblessness. |
| Keywords: | Inactivity rate, unemployment rate, criminality counterfeit, joblessness |
| JEL: | E24 J6 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp176&r=ure |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London and CReAM); Uta Schönberg (University College London and CReAM); Jan Stuhler (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | We classify the empirical literature on the wage impact of immigration into three groups, where studies in the first two estimate different relative effects, and the third the total effect of immigration on wages. We interpret the estimates obtained from the different approaches through the lens of the canonical model to demonstrate that they are not comparable. We then relax two key assumptions in this literature, allowing for inelastic and heterogeneous labor supply elasticities of natives and the downgrading of immigrants. We show that heterogeneous labor supply elasticities, if ignored, may complicate the interpretation of wage estimates, in particular of relative wage effects. Moreover, downgrading may lead to biased estimates in those approaches that estimate relative effects of immigration, but not in approaches that estimate total effects. We conclude that empirical models that estimate total effects not only answer important policy questions, but are also more robust to alternative assumptions than models that estimate relative effects. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, impact, wage effects |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1626&r=ure |
| By: | Animesh Giri (Cornerstone Research, Washington DC); Vinish Shrestha (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of increases in schools constructed during the late 1980s and early 1990s on educational outcomes in Nepal. We use a difference-in-differences framework by combining the across- district differences in the number of new schools with variation in exposure to these schools created by the virtue of individuals being of school-going-age. Our results indicate that an additional school constructed (per 1,000 kilometer square) increased the probability to read and write among females by 1.5 percentage points and increased the highest level of schooling attained by 0.12 units but did not affect basic literacy skills among males. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that on average the increase in the number of schools can explain about a fourth of the total differences in the reading and writing outcomes between the treated and control groups of women. These results underscore the continued importance of increasing access to schooling in developing countries like Nepal. |
| Keywords: | School construction, access to education, female education, female literacy. |
| JEL: | I2 O1 H52 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2016-18&r=ure |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Ufuk Akcigit; William Kerr |
| Abstract: | Technological progress builds upon itself, with the expansion of invention in one domain propelling future work in linked fields. Our analysis uses 1.8 million U.S. patents and their citation properties to map the innovation network and its strength. Past innovation network structures are calculated using citation patterns across technology classes during 1975-1994. The interaction of this pre-existing network structure with patent growth in upstream technology fields has strong predictive power on future innovation after 1995. This pattern is consistent with the idea that when there is more past upstream innovation for a particular technology class to build on, then that technology class innovates more. |
| JEL: | D85 O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22783&r=ure |
| By: | Moffat, John; Roth, Duncan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Using data from 49 European regions covering 2005-2012, this paper finds that the estimated effect of cohort size on employment and unemployment outcomes is very sensitive to the age range of the sample. We argue that this is because the identification strategy commonly used in this literature is unable to eliminate the bias caused by measurement error in the cohort-size variable. The latter arises because large shares of the young choose to acquire education and consequently the size of an age group provides a poor measure of age-specific labour supply. In our view older age groups provide a more suitable sample to test the implications of cohort crowding since the former will have largely entered the labour market. Using a sample aged 25 - 29, which has relatively low rates of participation in education, we find robust evidence that an increase in cohort size increases employment and reduces unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J10 J21 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201637&r=ure |
| By: | Paolo Pinotti (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the e ect of immigrant legalization on the crime rate of immigrants in Italy by exploiting an ideal regression discontinuity design: fixed quotas of residence permits are available each year, applications must be submitted electronically on specific 'Click Days', and are processed on a first-come, first-served basis until the available quotas are exhausted. Matching data on applications with individual- level criminal records, we show that legalization reduces the crime rate of legalized immigrants by 0.6 percentage points on average, on a baseline crime rate of 1.1 percent. |
| Keywords: | legal status, crime, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J61 K37 K42 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1625&r=ure |
| By: | Margarita Rubio (University of Nottingham); Mariarosaria Comunale (Bank of Lithuania) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a two-country monetary union new Keynesian general equilibrium model with housing and collateral constraints, to be calibrated for Lithuania and the rest of the euro area. Within this setting, and following the recent entrance of Lithuania in the EMU, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, we study how shocks are transmitted differently in the two regions, considering the recent common monetary policy. Then, we analyze how macroprudential policies should be conducted in Lithuania, in the context of the EMU. As a macroprudential tool, we propose a decentralized Taylor-type rule for the LTV which responds to national deviations in output and house prices. We find that, given the housing market features in Lithuania, common shocks are transmitted more strongly in this country than in the rest of the euro area. In terms of macroprudential policies, results show that the optimal policy in Lithuania with respect to the euro area may have a different intensity and that it delivers substantial benefits in terms of financial stability. |
| Keywords: | Macroprudential policy, housing market, LTV, monetary union, financial stability |
| JEL: | E32 F44 F36 |
| Date: | 2016–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lie:wpaper:34&r=ure |
| By: | Chen, Zhao (Asian Development Bank Institute); Lu, Ming (Asian Development Bank Institute); Ni, Pengtu (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents research findings on how urbanization enhances productivity and economic growth in both urban and rural sectors. Through agglomeration effects, employment opportunities and income levels can largely increase. In addition, the mechanisms of sharing, matching, and learning are much stronger in cities, especially large cities. However, in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), urbanization lags far behind industrialization. Institutional barriers against rural-to-urban and interregional migration, such as the hukou system, have reduced the ability of urban growth to absorb rural labor. As for rural development, urbanization has propelled agricultural productivity, rural income, and consumption levels. Moreover, agricultural productivity is driven to a large extent by capital accumulation, through capital deepening and remittance. Agricultural organizations, urbanization, and outflow of migrant workers make it possible for large-scale production and agricultural mechanization to occur. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization; rural development; PRC; China; hukou system; productivity; economic growth; 都市化; 農村開発; 経済成長; 中国 |
| JEL: | E23 O14 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0596&r=ure |
| By: | Julie L. Hotchkiss; Anil Rupasingha |
| Abstract: | We make use of predicted social and civic activities (social capital) to account for selection into "social" occupations. Individual selection accounts for more than the total difference in wages observed between social and non-social occupations. The role that individual social capital plays in selecting into these occupations and the importance of selection in explaining wage differences across occupations is similar for both men and women. We make use of restricted 2000 Decennial Census and 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey. Individual social capital is instrumented by distance weighted surrounding census tract characteristics. |
| Keywords: | social capital, wage differentials, occupational choice, switching regression, non-public data, factor analysis |
| JEL: | J31 J24 C34 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-46&r=ure |
| By: | Aslan Zorlu (University of Amsterdam, IZA, NIMA) |
| Abstract: | Admission and geographic distribution of asylum seekers has a central place in public discourse in Western countries, amid mounting asylum applications and dire humanitarian crises. Receiving countries usually distribute the newly arriving asylum seekers across the entire country, in particular in small remote communities. Incidental opposition actions by local residents against the siting of Asylum Seeker Centers (ASC) has created the perception of strong and widespread resistance in the public sphere. This paper aims to assess this alleged backlash by examining attitudes toward asylum seekers in small local communities. Using data from three representative surveys conducted among residents in the vicinity of four ASCs in the Netherlands, the regression analysis shows a strikingly high willingness to host an ASC, which stands in opposition to popularly assumed public opinion. |
| Keywords: | reception of asylum seekers, attitudes, immigrants, local communities |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nim:nimawp:62/2016&r=ure |
| By: | Grabrucker, Katharina (University of Passau); Grimm, Michael (University of Passau) |
| Abstract: | An often-heard argument is that South Africa's very high crime rate is the main reason for the country's small share of business ownership. Combining a fixed-effects model with an instrumental variable approach, we estimate the effect of crime on self-employment and business performance using a matched data set of census, survey and police data. In contrast to previous studies, which focus on perceived rather than actual crime and often deal with geographically limited areas, we do not find robust evidence that high crime rates have a negative impact on self-employment. Although the impact of crime is statistically significant and negative, it is economically small. Moreover, our results suggest a positive rather than a negative relationship between robbery and burglary and sales and average business profits. These results suggest that crime may not be in general a serious threat for small businesses in low and middle-income countries. |
| Keywords: | crime, self-employment, microenterprises, South Africa, informal sector |
| JEL: | D22 J24 J46 K40 L26 O12 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10280&r=ure |
| By: | Bredtmann, Julia (RWI); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate sibling correlations in educational outcomes, which serve as a broad measure of the importance of family and community background. Making use of rich longitudinal survey and register data for Denmark, our main aim is to identify the parental background characteristics that are able to explain the resemblance in educational outcomes among siblings. We find sibling correlations in educational outcomes in the range of 15 to 33 percent, suggesting that up to a third of the variation in educational achievement can be explained by family and community background. Our results further reveal that parents' socio-economic background can account for a large part of the sibling correlation. Other family characteristics such as family structure, the incidence of social problems, and parents' educational preferences also play a role, though these factors only contribute to explaining sibling similarities at lower levels of the educational distribution. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, sibling correlations, education |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10286&r=ure |
| By: | Stijn Ferrari (National Bank of Belgium); Mara Pirovano (National Bank of Belgium); Pablo Rovira Kaltwasser (National Bank of Belgium) |
| Abstract: | In December 2013 the National Bank of Belgium introduced a sectoral capital requirement aimed at strengthening the resilience of Belgian banks against adverse developments in the real estate market. This paper assesses the impact of this macroprudential measure on mortgage lending spreads. Our results indicate that affected banks reacted heterogeneously to the introduction of the measure. Specifically, mortgage-specialised and capital-constrained banks increase mortgage lending spreads by a greater amount. As expected, the impact of the measure on mortgage loan pricing has been rather modest in economic terms. |
| Keywords: | Regions, productivity, labour costs, linked panel data |
| JEL: | E44 E58 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201610-306&r=ure |
| By: | Franz Westermaier |
| Abstract: | In the 2000s, a major educational reform in Germany reduced the academic high school duration by one year while keeping constant the total number of instructional hours before graduation. The instructional hours from the eliminated school year shifted to lower grade levels, which increased the time younger students spend at school. This study explores the impact of the reform on youth crime rates and substance abuse using administrative police crime statistics, administrative student enrollment data, and a student drug survey. The staggered implementation of the reform in different Länder-age-groups allows for a difference-in-difference approach. I find that the reform resulted in a decline in crime rates, which is almost exclusively driven by a reduction in violent crime and illegal substance abuse. Regarding the latter, the rate of illegal cannabis consumption strongly declined; however, no significant effect is detected on cannabis dealers or the consumption of other illegal drugs. The survey evidence further suggests that decreased cannabis consumption was not driven by a shift of consumption into `school hours'. The results point to an `incapacitation' effect of schooling due to the increased instructional hours at lower grade levels. |
| Keywords: | illegal substance abuse, school reform, difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | I12 I28 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1616&r=ure |
| By: | Johannes VAN DER POL |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to offer an analytical review of the literature focusing on the link between collaboration and performance. More precisely, the paper analyses the impact the position of the firm in the network has on the performance of the firm. Evolving in an innovation network implies that the firm is exposed to knowledge flows from collaborators. They are also exposed to the diffusion of their reputation through their partners. This document summarizes the different factors that have an impact on the manner in which firms can profit from their network and how, in their turn, they can impact the network. |
| Keywords: | Innovation networks ; Performance ; Knowledge ; Collaboration |
| JEL: | L14 D83 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2016-23&r=ure |
| By: | Hadjivassiliou, Kari P (Institute for Employment Studies (IES)); Tassinari, Arianna (University of Warwick); Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Wozny, Florian (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession that has engulfed Europe since 2008 has had a profound impact on the process of young people's school-to-work (STW) transition. Countries' institutional configurations considerably matter in shaping the structure of young people's STW transitions and mediating the impact of the Great Recession on youth unemployment. Drawing upon Pohl and Walther's concept of 'youth transition regime' (2007), we have assessed the performance of selected EU countries belonging to different clusters regarding the speed, ease and quality of STW transitions. Differences in performance across regimes exists, with some faring better than others, although at the same time a common, worrying trend can be identified across clusters, comprising a progressive deterioration of the quality of youth transitions across the board, despite the positive policy intentions to strengthen and improve the efficacy of transition regimes. |
| Keywords: | school-to-work, youth unemployment, transition regime, European Union |
| JEL: | I2 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10301&r=ure |
| By: | Michel Grabisch (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Agnieszka Rusinowska (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We present an application of lattice theory to the framework of influence in social networks. The contribution of the paper is not to derive new results, but to synthesize our existing results on lattices and influence. We consider a two-action model of influence in a social network in which agents have to make their yes-no decision on a certain issue. Every agent is preliminarily inclined to say either 'yes' or 'no', but due to influence by others, the agent's decision may be different from his original inclination. We discuss the relation between two central concepts of this model: influence function and follower function. The structure of the set of all influence functions that lead to a given follower function appears to be a distributive lattice. We also consider a dynamic model of influence based on aggregation functions and present a general analysis of convergence in the model. Possible terminal classes to which the process of influence may converge are terminal states (the consensus states and non trivial states), cyclic terminal classes and unions of Boolean lattices. |
| Keywords: | convergence,terminal class,aggregation function,Influence function,follower function,distributive lattice |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00977005&r=ure |
| By: | Ortega, Javier (City University London); Verdugo, Gregory (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Exploiting a large French panel for 1976-2007, we examine the impact of low-educated immigration on the labour market outcomes of blue-collar natives initially in jobs where immigrants became overrepresented in the last decades. Immigrant inflows generate substantial reallocations of natives across locations and occupations. Location movers are negatively selected while occupation movers are positively selected and move towards better paid-jobs characterised by less routine tasks. As a result, controlling for composition effects has an important quantitative impact on the estimated effects of immigration. Low-educated immigration generally lowers the wages of blue-collar workers, but its impact is heterogeneous across sectors. |
| Keywords: | immigration, wages, employment |
| JEL: | J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10303&r=ure |
| By: | Dylan Glover; Amanda Pallais; William Pariente |
| Abstract: | Examining the performance of cashiers in a French grocery store chain, we find that manager bias negatively affects minority job performance. In the stores studied, cashiers work with different managers on different days and their schedules are determined quasi-randomly. When minority cashiers, but not majority cashiers, are scheduled to work with managers who are biased (as determined by an Implicit Association Test), they are absent more often, spend less time at work, scan items more slowly, and take more time between customers. Manager bias has consequences for the average performance of minority workers: while on average minority and majority workers perform equivalently, on days where managers are unbiased, minorities perform significantly better than do majority workers. This appears to be because biased managers interact less with minorities, leading minorities to exert less effort. |
| JEL: | J24 J71 J78 M50 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22786&r=ure |
| By: | Kali, Karen (National Community Reinvestment Coalition); Zdenek, Robert (National Community Reinvestment Coalition) |
| Abstract: | Older adults are indicating a desire to live and grow old in their own homes and communities. Yet there are often numerous barriers and threats to aging in community, as many communities lack a comprehensive community model. With a focus on financial institutions and utilizing the concept of Age-Friendly Banking, this paper explores the economic security of older adults and ways to improve older adults’ ability to live safely in their own homes and communities as long as possible. Investing in age-friendly communities can prove beneficial to both communities for all ages and financial institutions serving local customers. These mutual investments can include access to loans for home repairs, nearby location of health care facilities, improved safety features within the community, and more. Through Age-Friendly Banking practices and an understanding of the core elements of Aging in Community, financial institutions can play a large role in expanding successful Aging in Community efforts. |
| Date: | 2016–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfcw:2016-05&r=ure |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin; Rachel Upton |
| Abstract: | This report summarizes findings from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of Race to the Top (RTT) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the policies and practices states reported using in spring 2013 and examines the relationship between RTT and student achievement. |
| Keywords: | RTT, Race to the Top, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:4169441544e144b08777d967ea983893&r=ure |