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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Areendam Chanda; Dachao Ruan |
| Abstract: | We explore the extent to which present day economic development at the sub-national level captured by GDP per capita, urbanization, and night-time light density is correlated to regional economic development in 1850. Drawing on historical city data, we construct a measure of urban population density and other features of urbanization in 1850 for 2,055 sub-national regions covering 135 countries. We find strong evidence of persistence in regional development. In our baseline estimates, a one standard deviation increase in urban density in 1850 raises 2005 GDP per capita by almost 10%. Further, the presence of the largest national city in 1850 confers significant advantages to the region even 150 years later. While, our findings are robust to a large range of geographic and spatial controls, proximity to the coast and rivers continues to have a significant effect. We also find that while persistence is generally true there is also considerable heterogeneity across subsets of nations with it being strongest in Asia and West Europe. Finally, early urbanization is also associated with human capital and infrastructure differences across regions. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2017-01&r=ure |
| By: | Rainald Borck; Jan Brueckner |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first investigation of the effects of optimal energy taxation in an urban spatial setting. Rather than exploring the effects of a carbon tax, our approach is to derive the supplements to existing taxes that are needed to support the social optimum. We then analyze the effects of these taxes on urban spatial structure. Emissions are generated by housing consumption and commute trips, and the optimal tax structure has a tax on commuting, housing floor space, and land. These taxes reduce the extent of commuting and the level of housing consumption while increasing building heights, generating a more-compact city with a lower level of emissions per capita. |
| Keywords: | emissions; energy; taxation; monocentric city |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 R1 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p714&r=ure |
| By: | Charles G. Nathanson; Eric Zwick |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of disagreement in amplifying housing cycles. Speculation is easier in the land market than in the housing market due to frictions that make renting less efficient than owner-occupancy. As a result, undeveloped land both facilitates construction and intensifies the speculation that causes booms and busts in house prices. This observation reverses the standard intuition that cities where construction is easier experience smaller house price booms. It also explains why the largest house price booms in the United States between 2000 and 2006 occurred in areas with elastic housing supply. |
| JEL: | D84 G12 G14 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23030&r=ure |
| By: | Aizawa, Toshiaki (Asian Development Bank Institute); Helble, Matthias (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Despite Japan’s highly developed housing market, little is known about the determinants of renter-to-homeowner tenure transition. Exploiting the Japanese longitudinal household data of the Keio Household Panel Survey (2004–2013), this paper aims to close this gap. Our results show that income level and increase in family size are the strongest determinants for homeownership in Japan. We find that although both rural and urban households with higher incomes are more likely to transition to homeownership, access in rural areas is more equally distributed over various income groups. Since most of the previous empirical studies on tenure choice pay little attention to wealth as a measure of purchasing power, possibly due to data limitation, we draw attention to it and its relative levels. We find that household wealth levels matter, particularly in urban areas, whereas in rural areas homeownership is more equally distributed. Nonetheless, given the relatively low levels of household wealth among renters, our results suggest that income is a more important determinant of successful tenure transition. |
| Keywords: | homeownership; housing tenure; tenure choice in Japan; Japanese homeowner |
| JEL: | R21 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0625&r=ure |
| By: | Yukiko Abe |
| Abstract: | Large regional differences exist in female participation across regions within Japan. This paper uses two datasets to show that a significant convergence in female participation took place from 1940 to 2010. Historically, urban areas have had low participation, whereas non-urban areas have had high participation. The participation rate rose steadily and significantly in urban areas and, to a lesser extent in non-urban areas, and as a result, regional differences shrank over time. The microdata from 1982 to 2012 reveal that regional dispersion is large for married women?s regular full-time participation in the traditional sector (manufacturing for the less educated and teaching for the highly educated). Compositional changes in demographics and educational attainment explain 74 percent of the convergence for the age 25-39 group, while they explain 40 percent of the convergence for the age 40-54 group. The increase of non-regular employment explains 60 percent of convergence in the latter group. Convergence in married women?s regular full-time participation is only observed in the traditional sector (manufacturing and teaching) but not in the new sector (service and retail). Since the compositional change is the major source of convergence for young women?s participation, their behavior did not become alike across regions. |
| Keywords: | convergence; region; female participation |
| JEL: | J21 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p473&r=ure |
| By: | Ana Barufi; Eduardo Haddad; Peter Nijkamp |
| Abstract: | Agglomeration economies have a relevant impact on local labour markets. The interaction of workers and firms in dense urban areas may generate productivity advantages that result in higher wages. City size has an important impact on the relative bargaining power of workers and firms in the labour market. When analysing the relationship of local wages and the business cycle, wage flexibility, measured by the wage curve, is higher in informal sectors in less dense areas in Brazil. Therefore, large agglomerations are supposed to provide a higher bargaining power for workers, as they have further job opportunities. In addition, labour market dualism is an essential ingredient in the evaluation of the wage curve in developing economies. However, this type of analysis should be conducted in the adequate regional level (labour market areas), mking it possible to find a relevant impact of city size on the relative bargaining power of workers and firms. |
| Keywords: | wage curve; city size; labour market |
| JEL: | R23 J31 J46 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p279&r=ure |
| By: | Wanzenböck, Iris; Piribauer, Philipp |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate space-time impacts of the embeddedness in R&D networks on regional knowledge production by means of a dynamic spatial panel data model with non-linear effects for a set of 229 European NUTS-2 regions in the period 1999-2009. Embeddedness refers to the positioning in networks where nodes represent regions that are linked by joint R&D endeavours in European Framework Programmes. We observe positive immediate impacts on regional knowledge production arising from increased embeddedness in EU funded R&D networks, in particular for regions with lower own knowledge endowments. However, long-term impacts of R&D network embeddedness are comparatively small.(authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | R&D networks; European Framework Programme; regional knowledge production; dynamic spatial panel data model; space-time impacts |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4652&r=ure |
| By: | He, Qing; Liu, Fangge; Qian, Zhongxin; Chong, Terence Tai Leung |
| Abstract: | We investigate the interaction between the real estate market and the business cycle volatility in China over the past two decades. A Bayesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with nominal stickiness and collateral constraints is estimated. It is found that shocks from the housing market (e.g., loan-to-value ratio and housing preference shocks) affect the macroeconomy of China. The interactive feedback between credit constraints and housing prices amplifies the impact of various economic shocks, which plays an important role in explaining the business cycle volatility in China. |
| Keywords: | housing prices; business cycle; DSGE; China |
| JEL: | E32 E42 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75921&r=ure |
| By: | Weizeng Sun; Siqi Zheng; Yuming Fu |
| Abstract: | We study spatial inequality in access to local public services between low-income and high-income households in Chinese cities. We examine the extent to which such inequality is exacerbated by residential sorting with respect to household income that makes neighborhoods with better access to scarce public-service resources more exclusive. Evidence based on cross-city regression analysis indicates increased spatial inequality due to income sorting where public-service resources are scarcer and income sorting is easier. Thus additional provision of public-service resources is found to benefit low-income households more than high-income households as a result of reduced spatial inequality. The housing supply conditions that facilitate income sorting are found to help the rich at the expanse of the poor in taking advantage of local public service resources. |
| Keywords: | Spatial inequality; income sorting; provision of local public services |
| JEL: | R14 R58 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p799&r=ure |
| By: | Raymond, Elora (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta); Duckworth, Richard (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta); Miller, Ben (Georgia State University); Lucas, Michael (Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation); Pokharel, Shiraj (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | In this research we document the eviction crisis in the city of Atlanta and adjacent suburbs. We place eviction-driven housing instability in the broader context of changing housing markets, examining the relationships between post-foreclosure single-family rentals, large corporate landlords, and eviction rates. The rise of the large corporate landlord in the single-family rental market has the potential to rehabilitate vacant properties and offer affordable housing in desirable neighborhoods, or conversely could perpetuate housing instability and spatial inequality. To understand the eviction rate in Atlanta and investigate how corporate ownership relates to housing instability, we use a unique data set: publicly available, parcel-level eviction records from Fulton County, Georgia. We document a high, spatially concentrated eviction rate. Over 20 percent of all rental households received an eviction notice in 2015 and up to 12.2 percent of all households were forcibly displaced. Evictions are spatially concentrated: in some zip codes over 40 percent of all rental households received an eviction notice and over 15 percent of all households were evicted. {{p}} Examining single-family rentals with a cross-sectional regression, we find that large corporate owners of single-family rentals, which we define as firms with more than 15 single-family rental homes in Fulton County, are 8 percent more likely than small landlords to file eviction notices. Although evictions are highly correlated with neighborhood characteristics such as education levels, change in the employment-population rate, and racial composition, the trend holds true even after controlling for property and neighborhood characteristics. Another analysis identifies large private equity investors and finds that some firms have uniquely high eviction rates. Some of the largest firms file eviction notices on a third of their properties in a year and have an 18 percent higher housing instability rate even after controlling for property and neighborhood characteristics. |
| Keywords: | evictions; institutional investors; private equity; Atlanta; post-foreclosure; single-family rental |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2016–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedacd:2016-04&r=ure |
| By: | Ghent, Andra C. (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Kudlyak, Marianna (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco) |
| Abstract: | We document novel, economically important correlations between children’s future credit risk scores, default, and homeownership status and their parents’ credit characteristics measured when the children are in their late teens. A one standard deviation higher parental credit risk score when the child is 19 is associated with a 24 percent reduction in the likelihood that the child goes bankrupt by age 29, a 36 percent lower likelihood of other serious default, a 35 point higher child credit score, and a 23 percent higher chance of the child becoming a homeowner. The linkages persist after controlling for parental income. The linkages are stronger in cities with lower intergenerational income mobility, implying that common factors might drive both. Existing measures of state-level educational policy have limited effects on the strength of the linkages. Evidence from a sample of siblings suggests that the linkages might be largely due to family fixed effects. |
| JEL: | D14 E21 G10 |
| Date: | 2017–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2016-31&r=ure |
| By: | Rokhaya Dieye; Bernard Fortin |
| Abstract: | This paper explores gender peer effects heterogeneity in adolescent Body Mass Index (BMI). We propose a utility-based non-cooperative social network model with effort technology. We allow the gender composition to influence peer effects. We analyze the possibility of recovering the fundamentals of our structural model from the best-response functions. We provide identification conditions of these functions generalizing those of the homogeneous version of the model. Extending Liu and Lee [2010], we consider 2SLS and GMM strategies to estimate our model using Add Health data. We provide tests of homophily in the formation of network and reject them after controlling for network (school) fixed effects. The joint (endogenous plus contextual) gender homogeneous model is rejected. However, we do not reject that the endogenous effects are the same. This suggests that the source of gender peer effects heterogeneity is the contextual effects. We find that peers’ age, parents’ education, health status, and race are relevant for the latter effects and are gender-dependent. |
| Keywords: | Obesity, Social Networks, Gender, Heterogeneity, Peer Effects, Identification, Add Health, |
| JEL: | L12 C31 Z13 D85 |
| Date: | 2017–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2017s-03&r=ure |
| By: | Felipe Carozzi; Luca Repetto |
| Abstract: | We ask whether the birthplaces of Italian members of Parliament are favoured in the allocation of central government transfers. Using a panel of municipalities for the years between 1994 and 2006, we find that municipal governments of legislators' birth towns receive larger transfers per capita. Exploiting variation in birthplaces induced by parliamentary turnover for estimation, we find that this effect is driven by legislators who were born in a town outside their district of election. As a result, we argue that our findings cannot be a consequence of re-election incentives, the usual motivation for pork-barrel policies in the literature. Rather, politicians may be pursuing other personal motives. In line with this hypothesis, we find that the birth town bias essentially disappears when legislative elections are near. We explore several possible mechanisms behind our results by matching parliamentarians to a detailed dataset on local level administrators. |
| Keywords: | pork-barrel politics; distributive policies; careers in politics; political economy |
| JEL: | H5 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2016–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:64867&r=ure |
| By: | Catia Batista; Ana Isabel Costa |
| Abstract: | What role do social networks play in determining migrant labor market outcomes? We examine this question using data from a random sample of 1500 immigrants living in Ireland. We propose a theoretical model formally predicting that immigrants with more contacts have additional access to job offers, and are therefore better able to become employed and choose higher paid jobs. Our empirical analysis confirms these findings, while focusing more generally on the relationship between migrants’ social networks and a variety of labor market outcomes (namely wages, employment, occupational choice and job security), contrary to the literature. We find evidence that having one more contact in the network is associated with an increase of 11pp in the probability of being employed and with an increase of about 100 euros in the average salary. However, our data is not suggestive of a network size effect on occupational choice and job security. Our findings are robust to sample selection and other endogeneity concerns. JEL codes: D8, F22, J3 |
| Keywords: | Social networks, International migration, Wage determination, Labor market integration |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp1601&r=ure |
| By: | Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | The regional diversification literature claims that regions diversify in new activities related to their existing activities from which new activities draw on and combine local capabilities. The paper makes a critical assessment and identifies a number of crucial issues for future research. The paper calls for: (1) a disentanglement of the various types of capabilities that make regions diversify; (2) the inclusion of more geographical wisdom in the study of regional diversification, like a focus on the effects of territory-specific contexts (like institutions) and non-local relationships; (3) an investigation in the conditioning factors of related and unrelated diversification in regions; (4) a micro-perspective on regional diversification that assesses the role of economic and institutional agents in a multi-scalar perspective. Length: |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1702&r=ure |
| By: | Jorge Luis García; James J. Heckman; Duncan Ermini Leaf; María José Prados |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the long-term benefits from an influential early childhood program targeting disadvantaged families. The program was evaluated by random assignment and followed participants through their mid-30s. It has substantial beneficial impacts on health, children's future labor incomes, crime, education, and mothers' labor incomes, with greater monetized benefits for males. Lifetime returns are estimated by pooling multiple data sets using testable economic models. The overall rate of return is 13.7% per annum, and the benefit/cost ratio is 7.3. These estimates are robust to numerous sensitivity analyses. |
| JEL: | C93 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22993&r=ure |
| By: | Surico, Paolo; Trezzi, Riccardo |
| Abstract: | The introduction of a temporary housing tax as prominent part of the 2011 fiscal consolidation plan generated a sizable quasi-experiment across Italian municipalities and households, which we exploit to study the effects of this policy on consumer spending. The tax hike on the main dwelling led to large expenditure cuts (especially on vehicle purchases) among mortgagors, who hold low liquid wealth relative to income despite owning sizable illiquid assets. In contrast, higher tax rates on other residential properties mostly affected affluent home-owners, thereby having only a negligible impact on consumer spending. |
| Keywords: | fiscal consolidation; housing taxes; marginal propensity to consume; mortgage debt.; tax hike |
| JEL: | E21 E62 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11735&r=ure |
| By: | Morgan, Peter (Asian Development Bank Institute); Trinh, Long Q. (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Sustainable and inclusive growth in emerging Asian economies requires continued high levels of public sector investment in areas such as infrastructure, education, health, and social services. These responsibilities, especially with regard to infrastructure investment, need to be devolved increasingly to the regional government level. However, growth of sources of revenue and financing for local governments has not necessarily kept pace, forcing them, in some cases, to increase borrowing or cut spending below needed levels. This paper reviews alternative models of the relationship between central and local governments, and provides an overview and assessment of different financing mechanisms for local governments, including tax revenues, central government transfers, bank loans, and bond issuance, with a focus on the context of emerging Asian economies. The paper also reviews financing mechanisms for local governments and mechanisms for maintaining fiscal stability and sustainability at both the central and local government levels. Based upon the evidence on the decentralization process in Asia, it proposes some policy implications for improving central-local government relations and fiscal sustainability. |
| Keywords: | Government decentralization; government fiscal balance; intra-government transfers; expenditure assignment; revenue assignment; local government borrowing; mechanisms for fiscal stability |
| JEL: | H70 H71 H72 H74 H77 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0605&r=ure |
| By: | Punzi, Maria Teresa; Kauko, Karlo |
| Abstract: | This paper presents VAR results on the recent economic history of the U.S and focuses on the dependence of U.S. macrofinancial variables on international capital flows. Both gross and net flows are included in the analysis. The results indicate that cross-border funding has affected the build-up in the U.S. housing market irrespective of how these flows are defined and measured. Both the savings glut hypothesis and the banking glut hypothesis are supported by these findings. However, net banking flows appear to explain the higher volatility in the increase in house prices as well as the mortgage loan boom. (authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | Global Banking Glut; Global Savings Glut; Cross-Border Banking Transactions; House Prices; Mortgage Loans; VAR model; USA; Internationale Kapitalbewegung; Kreditgeschäft; Grenzüberschreitende Verflechtung; Immobilienmarkt; Preisentwicklung; Hypothekenkredit |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4494&r=ure |
| By: | Felix Wilmsen; Friederike Gesing (University of Bremen) |
| Abstract: | Urban areas and cities have received growing recognition in transnational climate governance as crucial sites of emission sources, and as governmental and administrative actors with significant influence on carbon-intense infrastructures (Bulkeley & Betsill 2013; Schroeder et al. 2013). Since the late 1980s, greenhouse gas emission inventories have been conducted for cities and metropolitan regions as a means of developing reduction measures and monitoring their effects. Early approaches were characterized by great discrepancies between methodologies that were specifically designed for particular local needs. Subsequently, various transnational actors began to develop standardized tools by adapting existing methodologies developed for the national level and for corporations to the needs of cities and municipalities. So far, no municipal emission inventory protocol has been recognized as a globally agreed standard. The field received new momentum in 2014, when the two transnational city networks ICLEI and C40 Cities joined under the newly established Compact of Mayors initiative, and announced the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC). This paper provides a genealogy of the GPC by comparing several municipal inventory protocols. The analysis suggest that if understood as a means of strengthening the political claims of transnational actors, the GPC can indeed be expected to have considerable impact on the global climate policy arena. However, despite its considerable effort, the protocol ultimately does not bring much new to the table in technical terms, as it does not solve known issues of geographic-plus emissions accounting. Therefore, the GPC is characterized as a new passage point on an old road. |
| Keywords: | cities and climate change, emissions accounting, emissions reporting, non-state actors, transnational municipal networks, standardization, transnational climate governance |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zen:wpaper:68&r=ure |
| By: | Timo Gschwind (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany); Michael Drexl (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany and Deggendorf Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | In the dial-a-ride problem (DARP), user-specified transport requests from origin to destination points have to be served by a fleet of homogeneous vehicles. The problem variant we consider aims at finding a set of minimum-cost routes satisfying constraints on vehicle capacity, time windows, maximum route duration, and maximum user ride times. We propose an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) for its solution. The key novelty of the approach is an exact amortized constant-time algorithm for evaluating the feasibility of request insertions in the repair steps of the ALNS. In addition, we use two optional improvement techniques: a local-search based, intra-route improvement of routes of promising solutions using the Balas-Simonetti neighborhood, and the solution of a set-partitioning model over a subset of all routes generated during the search. With these techniques, the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of solution quality. New best solutions are found for several benchmark instances. |
| Keywords: | Dial-a-ride problem, Adaptive large neighborhood search, Feasibility testing |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1624&r=ure |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Jin Man Lee (The Institute for Housing Studies and Department of Economics DePaul University); Zackary Hawley (Department of Economics Texas Christian University); Joshua J. Miller (Department of Housing and Urban Development) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of property tax delinquency on the sales price of nearby residential properties, an effect that we call the "delinquency discount". We use a sample of 34,500 home sales and the population of delinquent properties for Chicago, Illinois during the period 2010 to 2013. We focus on the delinquency discount for properties within the same census block. We also examine the effect of delinquency duration on neighboring properties, as this measures the level of their financial distress. We estimate the magnitude of the delinquency discount using several alternative estimation methods, in each case controlling for local foreclosure activity. Our preferred method is a matching estimator, as it works to eliminate the potential for omitted variable bias that is common in this type of estimation. We find large, negative, and statistically meaningful effects of delinquent properties for which the local government has placed a tax lien and has put the lien up for sale to private investors. For properties with a tax lien that are not successfully sold, we estimate a negative spillover of 5.1 percent ($12,872) on surrounding properties. Properties with a tax lien that are sold to private investors have a smaller, but still negative impact on surrounding property values of 2.5 percent ($6,310). |
| Keywords: | State and Local Taxation, Housing Supply and Markets, Property Tax Delinquency. |
| JEL: | H71 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1623&r=ure |
| By: | Christopher Esposito; David Rigby |
| Abstract: | Explanations for why some cities outperform others frequently rest on the assumed benefits of local and global interaction. Within the Òbuzz and pipelinesÓ literature, the costs and returns to interaction have rarely been examined in formal settings. In this paper we extend research on knowledge sharing by modeling local and global interactions between firms distributed across city-regions. Our simulation model develops an evolutionary framework where firms explore and exploit knowledge sets that are accumulated over time by recombining technologies held by local and non-local firms. Our results make two contributions to the existing literature. First, we show why too much local interaction can induce technological lock-in and restrict citiesÕ innovative growth. Second, we illustrate that non-local interaction entails opportunity costs that can outweigh its benefits. Together, the results unearth the conditions under which local and non-local interactions strengthen the economies of cities and when they fail to do so. Length: |
| Keywords: | regional economic growth, innovation, networks, computer simulation |
| JEL: | R11 D83 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1701&r=ure |
| By: | Solé-Ollé, Albert; Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how local governments adjust their spending, savings and taxes in response to a temporary revenue windfall generated by a housing boom and how they cope with the inevitable shortfall that appears during the bust. We focus on Spanish local governments given the intensity of the last housing boom-bust experienced there and the large share of construction-related revenues they obtain. We find, first, that just a small share of the boom windfall was saved, with revenues being used primarily to increase spending (above all, current spending) and (to a lesser extent) to cut taxes. Second, we find that the failure to save during the boom is higher in places with less informed voters and more contested elections. Third, we also examine the what happens during the bust, and find that these governments had to cut abruptly their spending (above all, capital), raise taxes, and allow deficits to grow. Finally, in places wit less informed voters and more contested elections local governments had more trouble in adjusting during the bust, and they tend to rely more on spending cuts than on tax increases. |
| Keywords: | tax volatility,forward-looking behaviour,voter information |
| JEL: | E62 H72 R5 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:17001&r=ure |
| By: | Catia Batista; Francesco Cestari |
| Abstract: | Social ties are potentially an important determinant of migrants’ intentions to return to their home country. This relationship has, however, not been addressed in the economics literature on international migration. This study examines the absolute and relative importance of migrant social networks, at both destination and origin, on migrant return intentions. Using rich data on social networks of immigrants, we explore the effects of heterogeneous characteristics of social network members on different time horizons for return. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and reverse causality biases, we find that the social network at home seems to be the most important determinant of the migrant’s intention to return home within five to ten years. JEL codes: D8, F22, J15, J61 |
| Keywords: | International migration, Return migration, return intentions, Social networks |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp1602&r=ure |
| By: | Nathan Goldschlag; Stefano Bianchini; Julia Lane; Joseba Sanmartín Sola; Bruce Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Public support of research typically relies on the notion that universities are engines of economic development and that university research is a primary driver of high wage localized economic activity. However, the evidence supporting that notion is based on aggregate descriptive data, rather than detailed links at the level of individual transactions. Here we use new micro-data from three countries—France, Spain and the United States—to examine one mechanism whereby such economic activity is generated, namely purchases from regional businesses. We show that grant funds are more likely to be expended at businesses physically closer to universities than at those farther away. In addition, if a vendor has been a supplier to a grant once, that vendor is subsequently more likely to be a vendor on the same or related grants. Firms behave in a way that is consistent with the notion that propinquity is good for business; if a firm supplies a research grant at a university in a given year, it is more likely to open an establishment near that university in subsequent years than other firms. |
| JEL: | O31 R1 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23018&r=ure |
| By: | Crespo Cuaresma, Jesus; Doppelhofer, Gernot; Huber, Florian; Piribauer, Philipp |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present an econometric framework aimed at obtaining projections of income growth in Europe at the regional level. We account for model uncertainty in terms of the choice of explanatory variables, as well as the nature of the spatial spillovers of output growth and human capital investment. Building on recent advances in Bayesian model averaging, we construct projected trajectories of income and human capital simultaneously, while integrating out the effects of other covariates. This approach allows us to assess the potential contribution of future educational attainment to economic growth and income convergence among European regions over the next decades. Our findings suggest that income convergence dynamics and human capital act as important drivers of income growth for the decades to come. In addition we find that the relative return of improving educational attainment levels in terms of economic growth appears to be higher in peripheral European regions. (authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | Income projections; model uncertainty; spatial filtering; European regions |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4583&r=ure |
| By: | Xavier Giroud; Holger M. Mueller |
| Abstract: | Local labor market shocks are difficult to insure against. Using confidential micro data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database, we document that firms redistribute the employment impacts of local demand shocks across regions through their internal networks of establishments. During the Great Recession, the massive decline in house prices caused a sharp drop in consumer demand, leading to large employment losses in the non-tradable sector. Consistent with firms smoothing out the impacts of these shocks across regions, we find large elasticities of non-tradable establishment-level employment with respect to house prices in other counties in which the firm has establishments. At the same time, establishments of firms with larger regional networks exhibit lower employment elasticities with respect to local house prices in the establishment’s own county. To account for general equilibrium adjustments, we aggregate non-tradable employment at the county level. Similar to what we found at the establishment level, we find that non-tradable county-level employment responds strongly to local demand shocks in other counties linked through firms’ internal networks. These results are not driven by direct demand spillovers from nearby counties, common shocks to house prices, or local demand shocks affecting non-tradable employment in distant counties indirectly via the trade channel. Our results suggest that firms play an important role in the extent to which local labor market risks areshared across regions. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-03&r=ure |
| By: | Crespo Cuaresma, Jesus; Piribauer, Philipp |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the performance of Bayesian variable selection approaches for spatial autoregressive models. We present two alternative approaches which can be implemented using Gibbs sampling methods in a straightforward way and allow us to deal with the problem of model uncertainty in spatial autoregressive models in a flexible and computationally efficient way. In a simulation study we show that the variable selection approaches tend to outperform existing Bayesian model averaging techniques both in terms of in-sample predictive performance and computational efficiency. (authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | spatial autoregressive model; variable selection; model uncertainty; Markov chain Monte Carlo methods |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4584&r=ure |
| By: | Uwe Blien; Wolfgang Dauth |
| Abstract: | In most industrialized countries, employment has grown predominately in jobs at the upper and lower tails of the wage distribution, while employment in the middle part of the distribution has stagnated or declined. This process of job polarization is well documented for a number of countries. We propose a straightforward way to meas-ure the actual magnitude of job polarization and use this measure to compare polar-ization across German local labor markets. Job polarization almost exclusively oc-curs in urban areas where the hypothesis of routine biased technological change is most likely to prevail. |
| Keywords: | job polarization; local labor markets; job tasks; routine biased technological change; structural change |
| JEL: | J31 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p114&r=ure |
| By: | Lábaj, Martin; Morvay, Karol; Silanic, Peter; Weiss, Christoph; Yontcheva, Biliana |
| Abstract: | The present paper provides first microlevel (indirect) empirical evidence on changes in the determinants of firm profitability, the role of fixed and sunk costs, as well as the nature of competition for a transition economy. We estimate size thresholds required to support different numbers of firms for four retail and professional service industries in a large number of geographic markets in Slovakia. The three time periods in the analysis (1995, 2001 and 2010) characterize different stages of the transition process. Specific emphasis is given to spatial spill-over effects between local markets. Estimation results obtained from a spatial ordered probit model suggest that entry barriers have declined considerably (except for restaurants) and the intensity of competition has increased. We further find that demand spill-overs and/or the effects associated with a positive correlation in unobservable explanatory variables seem to outweigh negative spill-over effects caused by competitive forces between neighboring cities and villages. The importance of these spatial spill-over effects differs across industries. |
| Keywords: | entry thresholds; competition; Slovakia; transition; geographic markets |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4851&r=ure |
| By: | Vasiliki Delitheou; Georgios Papastamatiou |
| Abstract: | Tourism has been an important factor for national and local development. Local taxes on tourism could increase local revenues which in turn could upgrate local environment. This paper proposes a model of urban renaissance and redevelopment of the local tourist industry, based on the levying of a tourist charge fee that will replenish a contributory mechanism which will provide a guarantee capacity to the hotel establishments, who will be able to create large investment projects in upgrading and modernising their existed infrastructure facilities, while at the same time this mechanism will also combine the contribution of funds coming from the E.U. funds, which will be used for the implementation of aesthetics interventions over the façade of the old and abandoned buildings. The imposition of a small tax- fee which will be provided to a significant number of tourist who will be offered overnight lodgings in a city, will have a much less pronounced impact on the tourist trade but a significant one on the busyness of this section, because through the re-circulated use of the funds, due to this wide guaranteed funding mechanism, the redevelopment of the already existed hotel establishments will be strengthened, while, through the benefits of this mechanism, new investments in hotel establishments will be held in less-favored regions of a city. |
| Keywords: | Tourism; taxes; local government revenues |
| JEL: | L83 O18 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p902&r=ure |
| By: | Gabor Fukker (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of contagion in interbank lending networks. I introduce a new measure based on the harmonic distance of Acemoglu et al. (2015) and, motivated by their theoretical results, compare it to well-known centrality measures already applied in the systemic risk literature which do not take into account the structure of a contagion mechanism. I derive an explicit formula of size-adjusted harmonic distances and extend it with the usage of liquid assets for a heterogeneous banking system. The simulation results on scale-free and complete networks do not confirm that this new distance would perform better than "off-the-shelf" measures but its performance becomes similar to the best known measures in case of averaged networks which are applied in central banking analysis. This new measure is capable of identifying systemically important institutions and its time variation is also presented in an interbank network. I also test for the scale-free property of the Hungarian interbank lending network and besides, network measures as systemic risk indicators are analyzed on Hungarian data. |
| Keywords: | systemic risk, financial networks, interbank contagion, macroprudential regulation. |
| JEL: | D85 E44 G01 G21 G28 L14 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnb:wpaper:2017/1&r=ure |
| By: | Massimiliano, Bratti; Simona, Fiore; Mariapia, Mendola; |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effects of family size and demographic structure on offspring’s international migration. We use rich survey data from Mexico to estimate the impact of sibship size, birth order and sibling composition on teenagers’ and young adults’ migration outcomes. We find no empirical support for the hypothesis that high fertility drives migration. The positive correlation between sibship size and migration disappears when endogeneity of family size is addressed using biological fertility (miscarriages) and infertility shocks. Yet, the chances to migrate are not equally distributed across children within the family. Older siblings, especially firstborn males, are more likely to migrate, while having more sisters than brothers may increase the chances of migration, particularly among girls. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Mexico, Family Size, Birth Order, Sibling Rivalry |
| JEL: | J13 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:358&r=ure |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn; Georgy Egorov; Robert Jensen |
| Abstract: | Concerns about social image may negatively affect schooling behavior. We identify two potentially important peer cultures: one that stigmatizes effort (thus, where it is “smart to be cool”) and one that rewards ability (where it is “cool to be smart”). We build a model showing that either may lower the takeup of educational activities when takeup and performance are potentially observable to peers. We design a field experiment allowing us to test whether students are influenced by these concerns at all, and then which they are more influenced by. We examine high schools in two settings: a low-income, high minority share area and a higher-income, lower minority share area. In both settings, peer pressure reduces takeup of an SAT prep package. We show that this is consistent with a greater concern for hiding effort in the lower-income school, and a greater concern with hiding low ability in the higher-income schools. |
| JEL: | C93 D83 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23020&r=ure |
| By: | Richard Fabling; Arthur Grimes; Levi Timar |
| Abstract: | The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes caused major upheaval to the people of the region. The second major quake killed 185 people, forced many from their homes, and closed Christchurch?s central business district. This paper examines the consequential effect on jobs and accumulated earnings for workers in Canterbury. In addition, we examine concurrent decisions about employment location, including job-to-job transitions and regional migration. While Canterbury workers? employment outcomes were adversely affected in the short-run, those workers were more likely to have jobs three years later (relative to a matched control group), and to have higher accumulated earnings. At the same time, they were less likely to be at the same employer, and more likely to have migrated to jobs in other New Zealand regions. Impacts vary substantially by worker characteristics and by the naturally-induced geographic variation in the severity of the shock. We show that the Earthquake Support Subsidy appears to have influenced the extent of outward migration decisions, at least for a subset of workers, though not the long-term retention of the pre-quake job under which the subsidy was gained. We interpret these findings as evidence that the subsidy ? by delaying job displacement ? achieved its goal of giving employees in badly affected firms more time to assess their options. |
| Keywords: | Earthquake; regional disaster; labour market dynamics; Christchurch |
| JEL: | J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p50&r=ure |
| By: | Johannes Rode; Sven Müller |
| Abstract: | We study spatio-temporal variation of peer effects in rooftop photovoltaics adoption of households. Our investigation employs locational data on potential adopters and a geocoded data set of all grid-connected photovoltaic systems set up in Germany through 2010. The detailed locational data allows us to construct an individual measure of peer effects for each potential adopter across Germany. Based on a discrete choice model with panel data, our analysis reveals that peer effects are mostly localized within a range of 0-0.2 km. Within this range they deflate slowly in a non-linear manner. We also find that the peer effect decreases over time. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; installed base; discrete choice models; technology adoption; imitation; photovoltaics; solar; Germany |
| JEL: | O33 C35 Q55 R10 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p579&r=ure |
| By: | Rodger Campos; Joaquim Guilhoto |
| Abstract: | The state programs for low income housing in Brazil started in the 1930s, and most recently the well-advertised program ?My House, My Life? by the Federal government had on its goals to improve the quality of life of poor people, to reduce the housing deficit and to foster the economy. The question raised by this paper is how important was the contribution of the program for the economic growth observed in the Brazilian economy in previous years? In a way to shed light on this question, the case of the low income housing programs in the state of São Paulo is taken as an example. The State program being a joint venture among the federal, state and municipal governments. To do so, a specific interregional input-output model is estimated for two regions, São Paulo and Rest of Brazil, with the insertion in the model of 5 different typologies of low income housing, ranging from a single house to building complexes. The impacts are measured in terms of GDP, tax collection and employment in the State of São Paulo and in the Rest of Brazil, showing that depending on the housing typology, the impacts in the economy are different, and that part of the investments made returns to the government in terms of tax collection. |
| Keywords: | Low Income Housing; Input-Output; Brazil; São Paulo State. |
| JEL: | R30 R15 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p700&r=ure |
| By: | Fessler, Pirmin; Schneebaum, Alyssa |
| Abstract: | Preschool attendance is widely recognized as a key ingredient for later socioeconomic success, mothers' labor market participation, and leveling the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the empirical evidence for these claims is still relatively scarce, particularly in Europe. Using data from the 2011 Austrian European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we contribute to this literature in all mentioned dimensions. In particular, we investigate the effect of preschool attendance on an individual's later educational attainment, the probability that they work full time and their hourly wages, the likelihood of the mother working when the child is 14 years old, and on the overall distribution of wages. We find strong and positive effects of preschool attendance on educational attainment, the probability of working full time, hourly wages, and the probability that the mother is in the labor market. Full time workers at the bottom and the top of the distribution tend to benefit less than those in the middle. Women in particular benefit more in terms of years of schooling and the probability of working full time. Other disadvantaged groups (second migration migrants; people with less educated parents) also often benefit more in terms of education and work. (authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | returns to preschool; kindergarten; early childhood education; education; inequality |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:5176&r=ure |
| By: | Laura Alfaro (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit); Maggie X. Chen (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Falling transportation costs and rapid technological progress in recent decades have precipitated an explosion of cross-border flows in goods, services, investments, and ideas led by multinational firms. Extensive research has sought to understand the geographic patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI). This chapter reviews existing theories and evidence specifically addressing questions including: How is FDI distributed across space? Why does the law of gravity apply? How do the costs of transporting goods, tasks, and technologies influence firms' decisions to separate tasks geographically and locate relative to one another? We discuss a variety of theoretical mechanisms through which transport cost and other geographic friction influence FDI and present the key empirical studies and findings. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:17-061&r=ure |
| By: | McCoy, Daire; Lyons, Sean; Morgenroth, Edgar; Palcic, Donal; Allen, Leonie |
| Abstract: | Can improving local infrastructure in underdeveloped areas encourage entrepreneurial activity? If so, which infrastructures and by how much? This paper analyses the impact on new business establishments of broadband infrastructure, motorways, airports and railways and a range of other local characteristics such as availability of human capital and access to third level educational facilities. The sample period spans the introduction and recent history of broadband in Ireland, and during this period 86% of the current motorway network was constructed. Human capital, measured as the percentage of the population with a third level qualification and proximity to a third level institution prove to be important determinants of new firm establishments. Availability of broadband infrastructure is significant, but its effects may be mediated by the presence of sufficiently high educational attainment in the area. Transport infrastructure access is significant for some sectors. For all sectoral groupings examined, firm establishments seem to favour a more diverse local sectoral mix rather than a concentrated one. |
| Keywords: | New business establishments,ICT,Infrastructure,Count panel regression model |
| JEL: | R3 R11 D22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148688&r=ure |
| By: | Qichun, Zhang (Asian Development Bank Institute); Shufang, Li (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Fiscal decentralization has been established in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but crises emerge at the local government level due to remaining problems of the fiscal administration system of tax allocation and the impact of replacing the business tax with a value added tax. The PRC taxation system requires readjustment and local governments have begun to focus on innovative financing models. The main path to stable and sustainable government finances is to maintain the general public budget and the government fund budget. We show that the use of innovative fundraising and financing channels will lead to the upgrading of local government infrastructure and public service. Suggestions for enhancing local government fiscal stability and sustainability include: reducing the fiscal burden at the local level by standardizing and legalizing outlay responsibilities at all government levels; forming a long-term fiscal growth mechanism by establishing a modern taxation system; establishing a standardized and predictable transfer payment system by introducing block transfer payments and prioritized transfer payments as a basis for a stable growth mechanism for general transfer payments; promoting public-private partnership legislation to encourage participation of social capital and maximize the multiplier effect of public expenditure; improving the mid-term budget and debt-annexed budget; and establishing a government planning mechanism for investment and debt financing of major infrastructure construction projects. |
| Keywords: | Local government; fiscal stability; fiscal sustainability; fiscal administration; China’s “new normal” |
| JEL: | E62 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0620&r=ure |
| By: | Yongzheng Liu (School of Finance, China Financial Policy Research Center, Renmin University of China); James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | The central government of the People's Republic of China enacted a fiscal reform known as the "Province-Managing-County" (PMC) fiscal reform in the early 2000s. This reform eliminated the prefecture city government as the intermediate layer between the province and the county, and was intended largely to improve administrative efficiency and to lessen the fiscal stress of county governments. We apply a difference-in-difference method using a panel data set of 263 cities nationwide over the period of 1999-2011 to examine how the introduction of the PMC fiscal reform affects the economic growth of the cities. Our results show that on average implementing the PMC fiscal reform moderately increases city GDP growth by around 1 percentage point. We argue that this unexpected positive growth effect of the reform is induced by the expansion of land supply of the reformed cities, which in the post-reform period have faced the need to look for revenues outside the budget system, mainly extra-budgetary funds in the form of leasing land. Our analysis provides evidence on this argument, and reveals that the reformed cities tend to expand land leasing at a speed that is 14 percent higher than the non-reformed cities. Furthermore, we show that the impacts of the reform tend to be strengthened over time following the introduction of the reform. Our results are quite robust to alternative estimation methods. |
| Keywords: | Province-Managing-County Fiscal Reform, Land Lease, City GDP Growth, China. |
| JEL: | H11 H77 R11 R52 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1625&r=ure |
| By: | Zhang, Li (Asian Development Bank Institute); Xu, Xianxiang (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | We explore the relationship between land policies and urbanization in the PRC. We analyze the land policies associated with urbanization and summarize findings related to central and local government involvement in the process of urbanization. In particular, we explore the relationship between urbanization and land leasing. We find that the urbanization rate and the land leasing revenue are positively related. Land leasing provides financial support for PRC urbanization, but damages the interest of landless peasants. Especially in the west, population urbanization lags behind land urbanization, resulting in much higher land and house prices in the east than those in inland PRC. Current land and household registration policies hinder the mobility of production factors, including construction land and the labor force, and distort the process of urbanization and industrialization. Land policy should be revised such that the market determines the allocation of land resources, which will create a unified, competitive urban–rural land market. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization; land policy; land leasing; land prices; hukou system |
| JEL: | H71 P26 R52 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0614&r=ure |
| By: | Hodur, Nancy; Bangsund, Dean; Olson, Karen; Ndembe, Elvis; Simanovic, Tia |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddaae:251983&r=ure |
| By: | Sigloch, Sebastian; Giovannetti, Emanuele; Fennell, Shailaja |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the emergent network features of the upstream connectivity structure of three mobile broadband providers in the area included between the cities of Kancheepuram and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India, from an original end-users perspective. This perspective is based on using a large dataset, collected by the authors, in February 2015, generated by the crowdsourcing-based Portolan Network Sensing Application on Android devices. The key feature of these data is that they are user generated and reflect mobility, as they were sourced from smartphones along the route between Chennai and Kancheepuram, rather than being based on stationary operators masts. Internet Service Providers traditionally rely on Border Gateway Protocols (BGP) for interconnecting purposes. Adding an end-user perspective to the existing BGP routing tables reveals a more complete picture of the underlying topology for the studied mobile broadband providers. The data were then used to conduct an Internet Periphery Analysis, pointing towards the roles of existing traffic peering agreements among the Internet Service Providers, and focussing on the role played by International Exchange Points (IXPs) key electronic infrastructures in the region. The analysis identifies the emergence of possible bottlenecks affecting upstream competition and the key role played by IXPs in providing a more widely distributed network access structure. This paper proposes to further study the usage of settlement free peering in fair competition and the preconditions of Quality of Service and service pricing in the Indian Mobile Broadband Market. |
| Keywords: | India,Tamil Nadu,Chennai,Mobile Broadband,Rural Broadband,ICT4D,Internet connectivity,Centrality,Networks,Complexity |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148705&r=ure |
| By: | Hodur, Nancy; Bangsund, Dean; Olson, Karen; Ndembe, Elvis; Simanovic, Tia |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddaae:251978&r=ure |
| By: | Emde, Simon; Gendreau, Michel |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:84551&r=ure |
| By: | Seo-Young Cho (University of Marburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically how and why men and women are different in their confidence levels. Using the data of the PISA test in math, confidence is decomposed into two dimensions: confidence in correct math knowledge and overconfidence in over-claiming false knowledge. The findings highlight that female students are not less confident than male students, but they are rather less overconfident. Furthermore, mathematical abilities have different effects on male and female students. While ability alone increases confidence and decreases overconfidence, the interaction effect of feminine gender and ability is negative. This means that the negative effect of ability on overconfidence is larger for female students than male ones, while the positive effect of ability on confidence is smaller for females. That being said, the negative gender gap in overconfidence against girls is greater for students in the higher quartiles of math scores than those in the lower quartiles. Also, the positive gender gap in confidence for girls is smaller for well-performing students than underperforming ones. The empirical evidence further reveals that such gender-asymmetric effects of ability can be explained by gender socialization that limits women’s roles and undermines their achievements. |
| Keywords: | gender differences in confidence and overconfidence; gender gaps in math; genderasymmetric effects of ability; gender equality; gender socialization effects |
| JEL: | C31 I21 I24 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201701&r=ure |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Trey Dronyk-Trosper (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Steven M. Sheffrin (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses recent trends in state (and local) taxation, examines the prospects for reform of state tax systems, and analyzes a wide range of issues that relate to ongoing state efforts to reform their tax systems. |
| Keywords: | Tax reform, Schanz-Haig-Simons taxation. |
| JEL: | H2 H7 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1621&r=ure |
| By: | Aquilante, Tommaso; Maretto, Guido |
| Abstract: | Using a unique data set on organized crime, we examine for the first time the interplay between domestic and foreign criminal organizations in Italy. We find that cooperation between Italian and foreign organizations is strongly associated to activities in which foreign organizations are well placed to supply inputs. Interestingly, this association is stronger in regions home to the headquarters of traditional Italian organizations (incum- bent regions). To mitigate reverse causality concerns, we use a Propensity Score approach. Once these are taken into account, we find that cooperation is higher when crimes are undertaken in incumbent regions and are such that foreign organizations can more easily supply inputs. Using a simple coalitional model we rationalize our results showing that they are consistent with an economic motive coupled with the threat of violence involved in criminal activities. |
| Keywords: | Organized Crime |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75949&r=ure |
| By: | Marten Middeldorp |
| Abstract: | The successfulness of the transition from education into working life is closely related to further career success. Graduates with good access to jobs earn higher wages and have lower chances of being unemployed. Access to jobs at the start of the career is therefore an important determinant of early career success and of importance for the whole career. In this paper, we study the effect of job access on the school-to-work transitions of recent higher education graduates. We use a GIS to calculate a job accessibility index based on driving time and use sequence analysis to calculate ideal-typical labor market entry trajectories and spatial mo-bility histories for 13,679 recent graduates of higher education. We subsequently relate job access, labor market entry trajectories and spatial mobility histories to analyze whether a suboptimal starting location in terms of job access leads to dif-fering career paths and spatial mobility trajectories. Finally, we analyze how they interact to influence early career success. |
| Keywords: | Job access; Spatial mobility; Labor market entry; Sequence analysis |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p741&r=ure |
| By: | Korthals, Roxanne (General Economics 2 (Macro)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to estimate the causal effects of an accelerated curriculum, in which students progress through the course material faster, on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. I employ two methods: First, I make use of the cohorts before and after the introduction of the possibility to accelerate and of classes which are and which are not considered for acceleration using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) strategy. However, it seems reasonable that the best students benefit from this policy, while it is less clear that the less able students would benefit. Therefore I also employ a second method in which I only look at the effects for the marginal student. For this, I use school grades to employ a fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (fRDD). Using both methods, I find that after one year the students who accelerated scored significantly higher on certain sub scores of the mathematics tests. I find no definitive results on non-cognitive skills: Using the DiD, I find that this positive cognitive effect is countered by lower scores on the teacher rated scores on perseverance, concentration, and conversation skills. For the marginal student, I find almost no effects on non-cognitive skills. |
| Keywords: | curriculum, instruction hours, student performance, non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2017001&r=ure |
| By: | Junichi Haraguchi (Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Hikaru Ogawa (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We propose a timing game of asymmetric tax competition with fiscal equalization scheme. The study finds that governments tend to play a sequential-move game as the scale of equalization transfer increases, which explains the emergence of tax leaders in tax competition. The presence of a tax leader is likely to exacerbate capital misallocation among countries, suggesting that equalization transfers aimed at narrowing the interregional fiscal gap might cause a problem of efficient capital allocation. |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2016cf1031&r=ure |
| By: | Israel, Danilo C.; Bunao, David Feliks M. |
| Abstract: | The paper looks into the current socioeconomic research on resilience to natural disasters among urban households, firms, and communities in the Philippines. It reviews the related analytical frameworks, methodologies, and empirical studies already available with the end purpose of identifying research gaps and recommending studies and actions that can be undertaken to address them. The paper explains that the Philippines and Manila, at present, are among the least resilient countries and cities in the world, respectively. It also shows that there are foreign and locally developed analytical frameworks and methodologies on urban resilience that have been used in research. Furthermore, it found that there are already a number of empirical studies covering resilience of households, firms, and communities, particularly to natural disasters, than have been conducted in specific urban areas like Metro Manila and other Philippine cities. From the review, the paper identifies some gaps in the current research on urban resilience and recommends specific researches and related activities that can be undertaken in the future. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, resilience, Metro Manila, natural disasters, urban resilience, socioeconomic studies, households, firms, communities, empirical studies |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2016-41&r=ure |
| By: | Jessica Lynn Peck (Ph.D. Program in Economics, Graduate Center, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of the introduction of Uber in New York City in May 2011 on drunk-driving outcomes. A difference-in-differences estimation of this effect implies a 20-30% decrease in the alcohol-related collision rate for the affected New York City boroughs, or about 40 collisions per month. With differentiated treatment effects for each effected county, the difference-in-differences effect is higher for Manhattan, average for the Bronx and Brooklyn, and lower for Queens. A synthetic control analysis shows similar effects that are pronounced over time in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and a permutation test confirms the effect is not commonly reproducible using untreated counties. |
| Keywords: | drunk driving, alcohol, taxi, ride-sharing |
| JEL: | H75 I12 R41 |
| Date: | 2017–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgc:wpaper:013&r=ure |
| By: | Firgo, Matthias; Pennerstorfer, Dieter; Weiss, Christoph |
| Abstract: | We empirically investigate the importance of centrality (holding a central position in a spatial network) for strategic interaction in pricing for the Austrian retail gasoline market. Results from spatial autoregressive models suggest that the gasoline station located most closely to the market center - defined as the 1-median location - exerts the strongest effect on pricing decisions of other stations. We conclude that centrality influences firms' pricing behavior and further find that the importance of centrality increases with market size. (authors' abstract) |
| Keywords: | Network Centrality; Spatial Competition; Retail Markets; Gasoline Prices |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:4651&r=ure |
| By: | Sophia Chen; Romain Ranciere |
| Abstract: | We study the forecasting power of financial variables for macroeconomic variables for 62 countries between 1980 and 2013. We find that financial variables such as credit growth, stock prices and house prices have considerable predictive power for macroeconomic variables at one to four quarters horizons. A forecasting model with financial variables outperforms the World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecasts in up to 85 percent of our sample countries at the four quarters horizon. We also find that cross-country panel models produce more accurate out-of-sample forecasts than individual country models. |
| Date: | 2016–12–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/251&r=ure |
| By: | Hikaru Ogawa (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Atsushi Yamagishi (Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | Studies of tax competition have found that using a unit tax is commitment-robust for governments, while we observe ad valorem taxes on capital in practice. This study presents a model that explains the emergence of ad valorem capital tax competition, incorporating an elastic supply of capital in the standard tax competition model. Specifically, it shows that if the elasticity of capital supply is positive, governments adopt the ad valorem tax method and thereby ad valorem tax competition prevails. On the other hand, under a fixed capital supply (i.e., zero elasticity of capital supply), countries compete in unit taxes. |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2016cf1030&r=ure |
| By: | Sridhar, Kala Seetharam (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Urbanization has both benefits and costs. In a market economy, the trade-off between benefits and costs determines the level, speed, and pace of urbanization. This paper summarizes research findings on how urbanization enhances productivity and economic growth in both rural and urban sectors, taking the case of India. We study the relationship between urbanization and growth in the Indian context by examining microeconomic evidence on how enterprises and consumers share production and infrastructure costs, match with specialized workers and employers more efficiently in the labor market, and learn from other producers and workers. Based on extensive data analyses of urbanization, we find no impact of urban–rural inequalities on urbanization, but a significant impact on the population of the largest city in the state. When accounting for the two-way relationship between urbanization and the rural–urban income ratio, we find that urbanization increases urban–rural inequalities initially, but, at higher levels, reduces them. This paper also studies how the urban areas are affected by migration from rural areas and how rural areas benefit from urban development. Furthermore, policy implications regarding telecommuting and investments in urban infrastructure are summarized. Lessons from India and the People’s Republic of China for each other’s urbanization are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | urbanization; rural-urban migration; rural-urban income gap; telecommuting; infrastructure investments |
| JEL: | O18 O57 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0607&r=ure |
| By: | Barry Scholnick; Hyungsuk Byun |
| Abstract: | Ackerlof and Shiller (2015), and many others, argue that slot machines are manipulative and deceptive. We examine whether the removal of slots from a specific bar or restaurant impacts bankruptcy filings in the immediate vicinity. Our identification strategy compares consumers that are fractions of a kilometer from the closed slot location, compared to consumers slightly further away. We find that the removal of slots from a bar or restaurant significantly reduces the number of neighboring bankruptcies. These effects are dependent on the dollar amount of gambling removed from each location, as well as the distance from the location. |
| Keywords: | neighborhood disamenities; slot machines; bankruptcy; |
| JEL: | R11 R32 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p607&r=ure |
| By: | Naohisa Hirakata (Bank of Japan); Yosuke Kido (Bank of Japan); Jie Liang Thum (Monetary Authority of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | We examine a sample of Japanese regional banks and explore whether exposure to market risk factors affects systemic risk through a banks' portfolio composition or revenue source, using Adrian and Brunnermeier's (2016) CoVaR to proxy for systemic risk. We find evidence of "systemic as a herd" behavior among Japanese regional banks, as portfolio and revenue components associated with market activities exert positive and significant impacts on systemic risk by generating higher comovement among banks, even though they reduce standalone bank risk through portfolio diversification. Further, the marginal effect of an increase in a given banks' market-related components on systemic risk is larger when the share of the corresponding components is already high among other banks. Our results have important implications from the macro-prudential perspective. |
| Keywords: | Systemic risk; Herd behavior; Market risk factors; CoVaR |
| JEL: | D21 G28 G32 G38 |
| Date: | 2017–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boj:bojwps:wp17e01&r=ure |
| By: | Joseph Njiku |
| Abstract: | Teaching practice is an important part of teacher training. Preparation of teacher professional documents is one among the major activities student teachers do during the teaching practice. This paper discusses the preparation of scheme of work and lesson plan as teacher professional documents and the professional support provided by experienced teachers in the teaching practice centers. The study was done in the southern highland of Tanzania during the 2015/2016 teaching practice period of the University of Dar es Salaam. Document analysis and interviews were done and qualitative data was collected. Content analysis was done and some descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings. Finds show that student teachers’ scheme of work and lesson plan had some variation based on the perception they had from the university and that little is learnt from the teaching practice stations. Some of the entries in the documents were wrongly constructed and in most cases differed among student teachers working in the same teaching practice station. It was also found out that little collaboration and assistance was offered from regular school teachers in the preparation of the documents. The paper suggests among others that schools should prepare their experienced teachers to actively be involved in the mentorship process. Key words:teaching practice, teacher professional documents, lesson plan, scheme of work. Policy |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2016-12-01&r=ure |
| By: | Bennett, Max; Yuan, Yue |
| Abstract: | Benchmark crude oils exhibited dramatic fluctuations in price spreads in the recent decade, a phenomenon that rarely occurred in earlier decades. This paper develops a rational expectations two-period model of spatial price equilibrium, and departs from standard models by assuming increasing marginal costs of transportation and storage. We econometrically validate our model using a dataset that covers an extended time period. The model allows us to determine the underlying causes of the unique phenomenon of drastically changing crude oil price spreads over the past decade. |
| Keywords: | Crude oil; price spread; spatial price equilibrium |
| JEL: | G1 Q41 |
| Date: | 2016–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76024&r=ure |
| By: | Georgios Bampinas (Hellenic Ministry of Finance, Greece; Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece); Panagiotis Konstantinou (Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece); Theodore Panagiotidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We extend the long-run Case, Quigley and Shiller (2013) type of specification on wealth effects by considering the role of inequality and demographics. Using a panel quantile framework for 48 US states, we find that higher levels of consumption lead to a larger (smaller) marginal effect of housing (financial) wealth. Both inequality and demographics affect consumption in a negative and significant way. Demographics are significant only for relative high levels of consumption. |
| Keywords: | housing wealth, wealth effect, consumption, panel quantile, demographics, inequality |
| JEL: | E21 G1 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:17-01&r=ure |
| By: | Morgan, Peter (Asian Development Bank Institute); Long, Trinh Q. (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Since 1975, Viet Nam has gradually decentralized more fiscal responsibilities to local authorities. This study has two objectives: (i) to take stock of the current institutional framework for intergovernmental fiscal relations in Viet Nam, and (ii) to empirically assess the debt sustainability of local governments in Viet Nam. The empirical analysis uses two estimation methods: (i) fully modified ordinary least squares (OLS) to estimate the long-term correlations between co-integration equations, including vectors of co-integration variables, and stochastic regressor innovations; and (ii) fiscal reaction equations at the provincial level, based upon the Bohn (2008) model. The empirical results suggest that deficit levels are generally sustainable at the local level. |
| Keywords: | Government decentralization; government fiscal balance; intra-government transfers; expenditure assignment; revenue assignment; local government borrowing; Viet Nam |
| JEL: | H70 H71 H72 H74 H77 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0613&r=ure |
| By: | Akanksha Srivastava |
| Abstract: | The teacher who provides a learning environment where a child can learn by himself/herself and doesn’t imposes his /her own theories, philosophies or ideas on the child is a real teacher. Our present educational system is focusing on teaching rather than creating. The focus needs to be shifted from teaching to learning, from teacher to child, from reproducing to creating. We are preparing a work force which can react, to some measure, to the external situations but is totally unaware of its inner self, its potential, the miracle it carries in itself. We have to shift our focus from the standardized model of education where certain values and concepts are taken for granted and we blindly keep on following and transferring them through generations. We the teachers, as a part of this standardized system, give very little opportunities to our students to imagine. Education has to be more Personal. We cannot follow the age old system because they were the best but we have to change and let our students choose what is the best and what will be the best for them. The present paper focuses on the loop holes of present system of education that blocks and systematically destroys the creative capacity of children and an attempt has also been made in the paper to present some ideas which can be implied to help foster creativity. Key words:Learning Environment, Standardized System, Creative Capacity Policy |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2016-12-03&r=ure |
| By: | Hui He; Nan Li; Jing Fang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the rapid growing firm patenting activity in China is associated with real economic outcome by building a unique dataset uniting detailed firm balance sheet information with firm patent data for the period of 1998-2007. We find strong evidence that within-firm increases in patent stock are associated with increases in firm size, exports, and more interestingly, total factor productivity and new product revenue share. Event studies using first-time patentees as the treatment group and non-patenting firms selected based on Propensity-Score Matching method as the control group also demonstrate similar effects following initial patent application. We also find that although state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on average have lower level of productivity and are less innovative compared to their non-state-owned peers, increases in patent stock tend to be associated with higher productivity growth among SOEs, especially for patents with lower innovative content. The latter could reflect the preferential government policies enjoyed by SOEs. |
| Keywords: | Technological innovation;China;Business enterprises;Public corporations;Innovation, Growth, Patent, R&D, Productivity, SOE Reforms, China |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/249&r=ure |
| By: | Gerli, Paolo; Whalley, Jason |
| Abstract: | Across Europe, policymakers and market forces are striving to deploy next generation access (NGA) networks and ensure ubiquitous access to superfast broadband services. Due to scale economies and sunk costs, the roll-out of NGA is expected to be profitable only for large-scale providers and in densely populated areas. This has resulted in an uneven distribution of NGA networks, which is expected to be complemented by public intervention. Nonetheless, alternative providers, such as utilities and local communities, have significantly contributed to NGA diffusion in many countries. Over the past five years, several small-scale initiatives have emerged in the UK, bringing fibre networks to urban and rural areas previously overlooked by either commercial or subsidised deployments. A multiple case study is here employed to investigate the nature and the drivers of niche providers in the UK NGA market. The comparison emphasised similarities and differences across these initiatives, identifying a number of elements recurring in their strategies. This analysis sheds light on the contribution of niche providers to bridging the digital divide in the UK and is meant to provide a preliminary assessment of their sustainability and potential growth. |
| Keywords: | Alternative broadband providers,niche strategies,digital divide |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148671&r=ure |
| By: | Rajni Kumari; Yogesh Punia |
| Abstract: | There is need for a functional and reliable system of school-based evaluation i.e. continuous and comprehensive evaluation.” National Curriculum Framework (2005). Teacher are the most important link for the successful realization of any education policy and therefore building their capacity in understanding the concept and purpose of CCE is essential to the successful implementation of the program. Keeping in view, the investigator has conducted an independent study to measure the attitude of teacher trainees towards continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE). Survey method was used in the present investigation. A self-developed scale for Attitude of Teacher Trainees towards CCE was used and Mean, SD and t-test were used for analysis and interpretation of data in present study. Results of the study reveals that still we have a place for improvement in teacher training in relation to CCE. Until the space is not filled up it is not possible to make impartial and successful implementation of CCE in education system, a reality. Key words: School-based Evaluation, NCF (2005), Education Policy |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2016-09-01&r=ure |
| By: | Wan, Guanghua (Asian Development Bank Institute); Wang, Chen (Asian Development Bank Institute); Zhang, Xun (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between inequality and structural transformation by constructing a theoretical model, developing analytical frameworks, and implementing a case study. The general equilibrium model we develop demonstrates that inequality exhibits an inverted U shape as structural change proceeds from onset to completion. Our analytical frameworks enable decomposition of total inequality into sector contributions and a change in total inequality into a component attributable to structural transformation and the other component to concentration or spatial agglomeration. Applying the decomposition frameworks to data from the People’s Republic of China yield various interesting findings and more importantly confirms the inverted U shape as predicted by our theoretical model. |
| Keywords: | Structural transformation; structural change; income distribution; income inequality; inequality decomposition; spatial agglomeration; macroeconomics; China; 不均等; 收入分配; 结构变化 |
| JEL: | D63 O18 O53 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0608&r=ure |
| By: | Ori Heffetz; Ted O'Donoghue; Henry S. Schneider |
| Abstract: | We study response behavior of New York City parking-ticket recipients by analyzing administrative data on 6.6 million tickets issued to 2 million individuals over two years. Exploiting variation (from a policy change and a field experiment) in letters sent to recipients, we find that forgetting plays a major role in delay–letters seem to act mostly as reminders, with their content mattering little. Moreover, by studying an individual’s behavior across multiple tickets, we find significant heterogeneity in underlying types, with different types reacting differently to deadlines and reminders. Failure to account for this heterogeneity yields biased–and sometimes incorrect–conclusions. |
| JEL: | D03 D04 D12 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23012&r=ure |
| By: | Diewert, W. Erwin; Huang, Ning; Kate Burnett-Isaacs, Kate |
| Abstract: | Measuring the service flow and the stock value of condominium apartments in Canada and decomposing these values into constant quality price and quantity components is important for many purposes. In addition, the System of National Accounts requires that these service flows and stock values for condos be decomposed into constant quality land and structure components. In Canada and most other countries, such a land and structure decomposition of condominium apartment sale prices does not currently exist. In this paper, we provide such a decomposition of condominium apartment sales in Ottawa for the period 1996-2009. Specific attention is paid to the roles of communal land and structure space, as well as building commercial space, on condominium apartment unit selling prices. Key findings include methods to allocate land and building space to a single condominium unit, identifying the characteristics that best explain condominium prices, and developing an average depreciation rate for condos for the 14 year time period. |
| Keywords: | Condominium apartment price indexes, land and structure price indexes, hedonic regressions, net depreciation rates, System of National Accounts. |
| JEL: | C2 C23 C43 E31 R21 |
| Date: | 2016–11–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:pmicro:erwin_diewert-2016-13&r=ure |
| By: | Benjamin Wirth; Davidt Hardt; Isabella Lehmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines capitalization effects of fiscal variables such as taxes and public expenditure into land prices in Bavaria. Based on panel data analyses on municipality level we discuss the potential existence of capitalization as well as the changes over time possibly related to supply reactions. Especially, we check the persistence of these effects using the approach in Stadelmann and Billon (2015). So far, we conclude that capitalization of fiscal variables seems to occur in case of property taxes and for categories of public expenditures. Persistent capitalization seems to hold for taxes but not for expenditure. Furthermore, the effect of tax capitalization is only robust for less relevant property tax A. Our results are contradictory to international studies (Sirmans, Gatzla?, & Macpherson, 2008) and findings for German wages in case of the local corporate taxes in Fuest, Peichl, and Siegloch (2016). The missing capitalization of the German local corporate tax is surprising and may be explained by the observed tax harmonization. Our further research will focus on either confirming or invalidating these results and address the remaining lack of clarity. |
| Keywords: | Capitalization; Fiscal variables; Tax incidence |
| JEL: | R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p773&r=ure |
| By: | Akcigit, Ufuk; Grigsby, John; Nicholas, Tom |
| Abstract: | We examine the golden age of US innovation by undertaking a major data collection exercise linking US patents to state and county-level aggregates and matching inventors to Federal Censuses between 1880 and 1940. We identify a causal relationship between patented inventions and long run economic growth and outline a basic framework for analyzing key macro and micro-level determinants. We explore drivers of regional performance including population density, financial development, geographic connectedness and social structure. We then profile the characteristics of inventors and their life cycle, measure the returns to technological development, and document the relationship between innovation, inequality and social mobility. Our new data help to address important questions related to innovation and long-run growth dynamics. |
| Keywords: | census; demographics; Earnings; growth; innovation; inventors; migration; patents |
| JEL: | N11 N12 O31 O40 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11755&r=ure |
| By: | Hildegunn Stokke |
| Abstract: | The empirical evidence on the incidence of payroll taxation is primarily based on the wage bill of firms. This paper applies matched employer-employee register data on individual wages for all private sector workers in Norway. Exploiting a payroll tax reform and using the difference-in-difference approach, I find that 1% reduction in labor costs generates 0.5% wage increase. Among low educated workers the degree of tax shifting equals 50%, while the wage response for highly educated is insignificant. Lower payroll taxes have limited effects on employment. The findings imply that the absolute value of the labor demand elasticity decreases with the level of education. |
| Keywords: | Payroll tax cut; individual wages; heterogeneous effects; education |
| JEL: | H22 J23 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p169&r=ure |
| By: | Maria Estela Ferreira |
| Abstract: | A Contribution for the Identification of Indicators for the Evaluation of the Impact on Regional Innovation and Development of an EU Program for University Research in the North of Portugal ABSTRACT Co-financed Programs by the European Union have been with no doubt relevant to contribute to some endeavours of Research and Development in the North of Portugal. This paper intends to provide an insight view on the way some available and/ or feasible indicators can illustrate the results and impact, specifically on Regional Innovation and Development, of an EU Program for Northern Universities, which was devoted to a large spectrum of matters. After an introductory section summarizing some literature mining as relevant to be had in mind while evaluating such Program, the paper briefly describes the three main Universities at stake. That description is followed by a discussion of the relevance of each indicator for the undertaken purposes and, finally, the way the Program could hopefully contribute to Cohesion Policy of the EU, as well as Europe 2020 objectives is stressed. |
| Keywords: | University; Innovation;regional development; Indicators |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p387&r=ure |
| By: | Ihley, Dorothee; Siebert-Meyerhoff, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Recently, homeownership rates of migrants in Germany increased by more than 10 percentage points. To shed light on this sharp increase, this paper investigates the change in homeownership rates of immigrant households in Germany between 1996 to 2005 and 2000 to 2012 respectively using a probit-based non-linear decomposition method. Empirical findings suggest that 50 percent of the change in immigrant's homeownership rate within the first time period can be explained by characteristics, especially by age and educational attainment. In the second time period, the explanatory power of characteristics is almost zero indicating that it is the favorable economic environment during that time that is responsible for the increase in homeownership of immigrant households in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Homeownership,International Migration,Germany |
| JEL: | F22 J15 R21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cawmdp:92&r=ure |
| By: | Charlie Karlsson; Sam Tavassoli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of regional characteristics on innovation persistency among firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced the innovative behavior of firms over a ten-year period, i.e. between 2002 and 2012. On the one hand, we distinguish between four types of innovations: process, product, marketing, and organizational innovations. On the other hand, we considered various regional characteristics including knowledge stock, market thickness, and extent of knowledge spillovers. Using a dynamic Probit model, we found that, in general, those firms located in the regions with higher stock of knowledge, thicker market, and higher extent of knowledge spillovers exhibit higher probability of being a persistent innovators. Such higher persistency is mostly pronounced for product innovators. |
| Keywords: | location; persistence; innovation; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; firms; Community Inno¬vation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p154&r=ure |
| By: | Moises Lenyn Obaco Alvarez; Vicente Royuela; Xavier Vítores |
| Abstract: | We present a new approach to shape functional urban areas in terms of proximity. It uses travel time from urban cores to connect them and to determine its hinterland. It only needs information that nowadays it is available for most countries. In addition, we test this approach to a developing economy to show that it might be applied to the developing world. We compare it with commuting patterns, which is the common approach in literature. This might be a solution to identify functional areas in the developing world, where the characteristic is the lack of data to apply sophisticated methods. We also test internal migration and gravitational equation as proxies to define hinterland. We hope that this contribution helps to fill the gap at the time to work with developed and developing regions jointly, something impossible so far. |
| Keywords: | Integrated cities; Ecuador; FUAs; Travel time |
| JEL: | R12 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa16p238&r=ure |
| By: | Cyron, Laura (Asian Development Bank Institute); Schwerdt, Guido (Asian Development Bank Institute); Viarengo, Martina (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of having opposite sex siblings on cognitive and noncognitive skills of children in the United States at the onset of formal education. Our identification strategy rests on the assumption that, conditional on covariates, the sibling sex composition of the two firstborn children in a family is arguably exogenous. With regard to cognitive skills, learning skills, and self-control measured in kindergarten, we find that boys benefit from having a sister, while there is no effect for girls. We also find evidence for the effect fading out as early as first grade. |
| Keywords: | sibling gender effects; gender peer effects; education; cognitive skills; noncognitive skills; early childhood |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0627&r=ure |
| By: | Price, Richard |
| Abstract: | The UK is embarking on a significant institutional reform to put long-term infrastructure planning on a firmer basis. The creation of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), building on experience in Australia and elsewhere, should help promote a better evidence-based discussion on the UK’s infrastructure needs and political choices, and to put infrastructure design and delivery on a surer footing. Interactions with the system of economic regulation need to be worked through, but the NIC will help governments to give a clearer statement of long-term policy within which regulators can operate and ensure projects are delivered efficiently. Funding and financing challenges however have yet to be fully addressed across the infrastructure planning and delivery chain – not just in the UK but globally. A number of initiatives are beginning to tackle this policy gap, and recent UK experience suggests ways in which projects can be brought to market in ways which secure private investment and secure the interests of consumers and taxpayers. There is a major opportunity to deliver better infrastructure efficiently if we can get this right. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure investment Finance Funding PPP economic regulation water energy policy government |
| JEL: | G23 G24 G28 G38 H54 L51 L90 O18 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74977&r=ure |