|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Stephen Gibbons; Teemu Lyytikäinen; Henry Overman; Rosa Sanchis-Guarner |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of new road infrastructure on employment and labour productivity using plant level longitudinal data for Britain. Exposure to transport improvements is measured through changes in accessibility, calculated at a detailed geographical scale from changes in minimum journey times along the road network. These changes are induced by the construction of new road link schemes. We deal with the potential endogeneity of scheme location by identifying the effects of changes in accessibility from variation across small-scale geographical areas close to the scheme. We find substantial positive effects on area level employment and number of plants. In contrast, for existing firms we find negative effects on employment coupled with increases in output per worker and wages. A plausible interpretation is that new transport infrastructure attracts transport intensive firms to an area, but with some cost to employment in existing businesses. |
| Keywords: | productivity, employment, accessibility, transport |
| JEL: | D24 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0214&r=ure |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (Blekinge Institute of Technology); Larsson, Johan P. (Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum); Wernberg, Joakim (CIRCLE) |
| Abstract: | As cities increasingly become centers of economic growth and innovation, there is a need to understand their inner workings and organization in greater detail. We use ge-coded firm-level panel data at the sub-city level to assess the long-standing question whether agglomeration economies derive from specialization (within-industry) or diversity (between-industry). We show that these two types of externalities co-exist, but differ in their spatial distribution and attenuation within cities. There are robust positive effects of diversity and specialization on firms’ TFP growth at the local within-city neighborhood level, especially for firms in high-tech and knowledge-intensive activities. While specialization effects are bound to the local sub-city level, we demonstrate a positive effect of overall diversity also at the city-wide level. The results resonate with the idea that urban economies provide a mix of industrial diversity and specialisation. A location in a within-city industry cluster in a diversified, large city appears to let firms enjoy the benefits of local industry-specific externalities, while reaping the general city-wide benefits of a diversified city. |
| Keywords: | Productivity; Diversity; Specialization; Externalities; Knowledge spillovers; Attenuation; Agglomeration economies; Geocoding |
| JEL: | D24 L23 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1167&r=ure |
| By: | Alan Manning; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | This paper models the optimal search strategies of the unemployed across space to characterize local labor markets. Our methodology allows for linkages between numerous areas, while preserving tractability. We estimate that labor markets are quite local, as the attractiveness of jobs to applicants sharply decays with distance. Also, workers are discouraged from searching in areas with strong job competition from other jobseekers. However, as labor markets overlap, a local stimulus or transport improvements have modest effects on local outcomes, because ripple effects in job applications dilute their impact across a series of overlapping markets. |
| Keywords: | job search; local labor markets; place-based policies; ripple effect |
| JEL: | J61 J63 J64 R12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:78492&r=ure |
| By: | Martin, Thorsten |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether local politicians adjust their approval of housing licenses during election times in Germany. For my research, I use a balanced Panel of 4,983 West German municipalities from 2002 to 2010. Due to the timing of local elections in Germany, I can disentangle the election effect from common time effects. My results suggest a decrease in new construction approvals for residential housing areas during election years of around 11 % evaluated at the mean, and an increase of similar magnitude in the years following the election. Furthermore, I am able to show that the decrease during election times is associated with the share of homeowners in a municipality. Hence, my research adds to the literature on political business cycles as well as to the existing literature on homevoters and their potential effect on housing policies during election times. |
| Keywords: | Urban development policies, land use regulations, homevoter, political business cycle, housing policies |
| JEL: | D72 H79 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78998&r=ure |
| By: | Ádám Banai (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)); Nikolett Vágó (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)); Sándor Winkler (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)) |
| Abstract: | This study presents the detailed method of the MNB’s house price index and the results of the new price indices. The index family is considered to be a novelty among Hungarian housing market statistics in several regards. Firstly, the national index was derived from a database starting in 1990, and thus the national index is regarded as the longest in comparison to the house price indices available so far. The long time series allows us to observe and compare the real levels of house prices across several cycles. Another important innovation of this index family is its ability to capture house price developments by region and settlement type, which sheds light on the strong regional heterogeneity underlying Hungarian housing market developments. |
| Keywords: | hhousing market, house price index, hedonic regression |
| JEL: | C43 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnb:opaper:2017/127&r=ure |
| By: | Goulas, Sofoklis; Megalokonomou, Rigissa |
| Abstract: | We use a natural experiment that relaxed class attendance requirements for one school year to explore students' marginal propensity to skip class, and to examine the effects of their absences on scholastic outcomes. We exploit exogenous variation resulting from a one-time policy Greece implemented allowing high school students to miss 30 percent more class hours without penalty during the 2009-10 academic year, a period when officials feared outbreaks of swine flu. Using a new dataset, we analyze which students missed more classes, and the effect of these absences on scholastic outcomes across the distribution of student ability, income, and peer quality. We find that while the swine flu itself did not affect the student population, the relaxed class attendance policy caused an increase in absences of roughly 10 hours per student, with more absences taken by those who had higher academic performance records, have academically weaker peers in their classes, or who live in poorer neighborhoods. End-of-year exam results show a positive effect of the relaxed attendance policy on grades across the ability distribution. The magnitude of the positive effect of absences on grades increases as we move to right of the ability distribution. Our results suggest that students who may have the resources or the human capital accumulation to learn outside the classroom may have lower performance when a strict attendance policy forces them to stay in class. |
| Keywords: | human capital, returns to education, attendance, instrumental variables, natural experiment |
| JEL: | H75 I26 |
| Date: | 2016–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75395&r=ure |
| By: | Erik O. Kimbrough (Simon Fraser University); Andrew D. McGee (University of Alberta); Hitoshi Shigeoka (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | Classroom peers are believed to influence learning by teaching each other, and the efficacy of this teaching likely depends on classroom composition in terms of peers’ ability. Unfortunately, little is known about peer-to-peer teaching because it is never observed in field studies. Furthermore, identifying how peer-to-peer teaching is affected by ability tracking—grouping students of similar ability—is complicated by the fact that tracking is typically accompanied by changes in curriculum and the instructional behavior of teachers. To fill this gap, we conduct a laboratory experiment in which subjects learn to solve logic problems and examine both the importance of peer-to-peer teaching and the interaction between peer-to-peer teaching and ability tracking. While peer-to-peer teaching improves learning among low-ability subjects, the positive effects are substantially offset by tracking. Tracking reduces the frequency of peer-to-peer teaching, suggesting that low-ability subjects suffer from the absence of high-ability peers to teach them. |
| Keywords: | Peer-to-peer Teaching, Ability Tracking, Peer Effects, Group Composition, Education and Inequality, Laboratory Experiment |
| JEL: | H32 H26 K42 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp17-08&r=ure |
| By: | Antoine Bonleu (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explain over-regulation and local social capital as barriers to immigration. The interest of social networks is that conflict resolution is independent of the law. Hence, if local individuals develop local social capital and regulation, foreigners without social networks are disadvantaged and can less easily migrate. We develop a two-country search-theoretic model where we endogenize the choice of procedural formalism (PF) and the network size. This model features two different equilibria: a Mediterranean equilibrium with PF and dense local social network and a Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon equilibrium without PF and local social networks. |
| Keywords: | housing market regulation,mobility,local social capital,climate amenities,social networks |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01502604&r=ure |
| By: | Anna Aizer; Janet Currie |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset linking preschool blood lead levels (BLLs), birth, school, and detention data for 120,000 children born 1990-2004 in Rhode Island, we estimate the impact of lead on behavior: school suspensions and juvenile detention. We develop two instrumental variables approaches to deal with potential confounding from omitted variables and measurement error in lead. The first leverages the fact that we have multiple noisy measures for each child. The second exploits very local, within neighborhood, variation in lead exposure that derives from road proximity and the de-leading of gasoline. Both methods indicate that OLS considerably understates the negative effects of lead, suggesting that measurement error is more important than bias from omitted variables. A one-unit increase in lead increased the probability of suspension from school by 6.4-9.3 percent and the probability of detention by 27-74 percent, though the latter applies only to boys. |
| JEL: | I24 J15 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23392&r=ure |
| By: | Emanuele Bracco; Federico Revelli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of holding concurrent elections in multi-tiered government structures on turnout decision and voting behaviour, based on municipal and provincial electoral data from Italy during the 2000s. When the less-salient provincial elections are held concurrently with the highly salient municipal elections, we observe three main effects: (1) turnout increases significantly by almost ten percentage points; (2) issues that are specific of the more salient (mayoral) contest affect the less salient (provincial) contest, with mayors' fiscal decisions impacting on the vote share of provincial incumbents; (3) issues that are specific to the less salient (provincial) contest stop affecting provincial elections outcomes. These findings shed light on how voters acquire information on incumbent politicians, and proves that the effectiveness of an election as an accountability tool may be hindered by the concurrence with higher-stakes elections. |
| Keywords: | concurrent elections, turnout, political accountability, local elections, coat-tails |
| JEL: | D70 H70 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:170337308&r=ure |
| By: | McQuinn, Kieran |
| Abstract: | The recent increase in house prices across the OECD highlights again the importance of understanding the different determinants of residential property demand. Sustained activity in housing markets across a number of countries was one of the contributing factors to the financial sector vulnerabilities underpinning the crisis of 2007/2008. While much of the increases in prices observed was due to changes in key economic variables such as income levels and interest rates, it is apparent that actual price movements in the period leading up to 2007 were often in excess of what underlying economic conditions might have suggested. In this paper we apply a theoretical model of house price determination that is driven by changes in income, interest rates and, which crucially allows for changes in the relationship between these variables and house prices through time. Allowing for this complexity in the relationship between fundamental economic variables and house prices is particularly important, not least in facilitating more efficient implementation of both monetary and macroprudential policy in international housing markets. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp560&r=ure |
| By: | Ngoc Thi Minh Tran (University of Waikato); Michael P. Cameron (University of Waikato); Jacques Poot (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the link between local institutional quality in the home country and locational choices of international return migrants. We scrutinize the locational choices of Vietnamese return migrants to the south central and the south regions in 2014. Binary and multinomial regression models are fitted to identify the influence of migrants’ individual attributes and the characteristics of regional destinations within Vietnam, with the main focus placed on regional institutional quality. Our analysis reveals that both individual-specific and region-specific variables are significantly related to Vietnamese return migrants’ choices when registering for permanent residency back in their home country. Older migrants are more likely to return to regions other than the central city, as are male migrants. More remarkably, we provide compelling evidence of the positive role of institutional quality at the local level in these migration decisions. Moreover, the effect of institutional quality differs by the characteristics of migrants: regions with better institutional quality are more attractive to younger return migrants, and to those who returned from host countries with better institutional quality. Our findings are strongly robust across different econometric specifications and alternative measures of host country institutional quality at the national level. |
| Keywords: | return migration; institutional quality; locational choice; Vietnam |
| JEL: | F22 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:17/10&r=ure |
| By: | Zaporozhets, Oksana (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The paper introduces metaphor "digital porosity" aiming to grasp the non-uniformity, limitations and gaps of digital connectivity (technological, material, spatial, social, etc.) in urban spaces. Being used as a research guidance, the metaphor raises the questions what digital porosity is? how is it produced? how is it changing? Based on the research of internet connectedness and practices of Internet use in the subways of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the paper states that the extension of the Internet zone and the inclusion of new urban spaces do not automatically increase the connectivity of the city, since the latter depends not only on the availability or the quality of internet communication, but also on the intentions and skills of the internet users and their ideas about the comfort and the possibility of internet connection, the role of the subway ride in the broader planning horizons |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:051717&r=ure |
| By: | Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa; Smyth, Russell |
| Abstract: | Using data from the UK Community Life Survey, we present the first study to examine the relationship between heterogeneity in one’s friendship network and subjective wellbeing. We measure network heterogeneity by the extent to which one’s friends are similar to oneself with regard to ethnicity and religion. We find that people who have friendship networks with characteristics dissimilar to themselves have lower levels of subjective wellbeing. Specifically, our two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimates, using measures of ethnic and religious diversity based on the Herfindahl-type fractionalization index that are flipped between adjoining rural/urban areas as instruments, suggest that a standard deviation increase in the proportion of one’s friends from different ethnic (religious) groups is associated with a decrease of 0.276 (0.451) standard deviations in subjective wellbeing. |
| Keywords: | friendship,heterogeneity,social capital,networks,wellbeing |
| JEL: | Z12 J15 I31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:158003&r=ure |
| By: | Moussé Sow; Ivohasina F Razafimahefa |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of fiscal decentralization on fiscal policy performance in a large sample of advanced and developing economies. The findings suggest that a larger share of decentralized expenditure is associated with a stronger fiscal balance; however, fiscal decentralization can lead to more pro-cyclical fiscal policy. Thus, the design and pace of fiscal decentralization need to be tailored to the specificities of the economy. Countries that have already established strong accountablity and budget management capacity at the local level can benefit from fiscal decentralization. In contrast, in economies prone to large volatility from internal and external shocks, the central government may need to retain a sufficient share of expenditure and revenue to conduct counter-cyclical policies. Finally, the pace of expenditure and revenue decentralization should be aligned. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal balance;Fiscal decentralization;policy cyclicality, Intergovernmental Relations, Deficit |
| Date: | 2017–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:17/64&r=ure |
| By: | ITF |
| Abstract: | This report compares the different ways in which local governments are involved in running ports and offers recommendations for more effective port governance. Around a third of the world’s largest ports are controlled by local governments. How do they perform this role, and with what results? Specifically, what are the impacts of local governments’ port policies on local job creation and greening ports? This report is part of the International Transport Forum’s Case-Specific Policy Analysis series. These are topical studies on specific issues carried out by the ITF in agreement with local institutions. |
| Date: | 2017–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaac:31-en&r=ure |
| By: | Erling Barth; Sari Pekkala Kerr; Claudia Olivetti |
| Abstract: | We use a unique match between the 2000 Decennial Census of the United States and the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data to analyze how much of the increase in the gender earnings gap over the lifecycle comes from shifts in the sorting of men and women across high- and low-pay establishments and how much is due to differential earnings growth within establishments. We find that for the college educated the increase is substantial and, for the most part, due to differential earnings growth within establishment by gender. The between component is also important. Differential mobility between establishments by gender can explain 27 percent of the widening of the pay gap for this group. For those with no college, the, relatively small, increase of the gender gap over the lifecycle can be fully explained by differential moves by gender across establishments. The evidence suggests that, for both education groups, the between-establishment component of the increasing wage gap is due almost entirely to those who are married. |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23381&r=ure |
| By: | Biroli, Pietro; Del Boca, Daniela; Heckman, James; Koh, Yu Kyung; Kuperman, Sylvi; Moktan, Sidhardth; Pettler Heckman, Lynne; Pronzato, Chiara; Ziff, Anna |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0-3) and preschool (ages 3-6) programs. The control group either did not receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by the state or religious systems. We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies: difference-in-differences,matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, election participation, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects. This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by our survey, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedagogical practices of childcare systems in the three cities over time. |
| Keywords: | childcare; early childhood education; evaluation; Italian education; Reggio approach |
| JEL: | I21 I26 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12031&r=ure |
| By: | Ronan C Lyons (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession starting in 2007 has refocused attention on the importance of understanding housing market dynamics as contributors to macroeconomic fluctuations. While the sale-to-rent ratio of housing prices is generally regarded as a fundamental barometer of housing market health, the study of its determinants remains in its infancy. This paper examines the housing price ratio in Ireland, during an extreme housing market cycle. Using new data on first-time buyer loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, a one-step error correction model of the housing price ratio in Ireland is presented for the first time. Covering the period 2000-2012, it finds clear evidence that, alongside user cost, credit conditions were central in determining equilibrium in the housing market, which saw rapid adjustment in the ratio in response to changes in its determinants. The results imply that an increase in the LTV by 10pp would have associated with a fall in the yield in 2012 from 5.6% to 5.2% in equilibrium. Overall, the results suggest that simplistic models of the housing price ratio, depending solely on user cost, are lacking. The importance of credit conditions is a finding with implications for other markets and for macro-prudential policy. |
| Keywords: | Housing markets; housing bubbles; price-rent ratio; credit conditions; Ireland. |
| JEL: | E32 E44 E51 G12 G21 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0717&r=ure |
| By: | Bruno Albuquerque (-) |
| Abstract: | I investigate the extent to which a common US monetary policy affects regional asymmetries through different household debt levels across states. After constructing a novel indicator of consumer prices at the state level, I compute a state-specific monetary policy stance measure as deviations from an aggregate Taylor rule for a panel of 30 states. Using local projection methods over 1999-2015, I find that a common monetary policy contributes to amplifying regional asymmetries. While a looser monetary policy stance stimulates borrowing and growth in states with low household debt, it is only the case in the short term for high debt states: household debt and real GDP decline over the medium to longer run in high debt states. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, Household debt, Regional asymmetries, Local Projections, Taylor rule |
| JEL: | C33 E32 E52 G21 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:17/937&r=ure |
| By: | García, Jorge Luis (University of Chicago); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Ziff, Anna (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates gender differences in life-cycle impacts across multiple domains of an influential enriched early childhood program targeted toward disadvantaged children that was evaluated by the method of random assignment. We assess the impacts of the program on promoting or alleviating population differences in outcomes by gender. For many outcomes, boys benefit relatively more from high-quality center childcare programs compared to low-quality programs. For them, home care, even in disadvantaged environments, is more beneficial than lower-quality center childcare for many outcomes. This phenomenon is not found for girls. We investigate the sources of the gender differentials in impacts. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, childcare, early childhood education, health, randomized trials, substitution bias |
| JEL: | J13 I28 C93 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10758&r=ure |
| By: | Alexander Erler (Department of Business, Economics and Law, University of Bayreuth); Horst Gischer (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg); Bernhard Herz (Department of Business, Economics and Law, University of Bayreuth) |
| Abstract: | Competition in the US banking industry as measured by the Lerner Index has on average increased substantially during the last decade. At the same time, regional differences in competition on the state level have decreased considerably. Based on a dynamic panel framework we find that these developments are mainly driven by industry specific factors such as the costs to income ratio. The empirical evidence indicates that inefficiency and the Lerner index are significant negatively correlated. Macroeconomic conditions appear to have supported these trends in competition, however, to a somewhat lesser extent. |
| Keywords: | competition, US banking, efficiency, regional markets |
| JEL: | D40 G21 L19 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mag:wpaper:170008&r=ure |
| By: | Tim Conley (University of Western Ontario); Nirav Mehta (University of Western Ontario); Todd Stinebrickner (Western University); Ralph Stinebrickner (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | We develop and estimate a model of study time choices of students on a social network. The model is designed to exploit unique data collected in the Berea Panel Study. Study time data allow us to quantify an intuitive mechanism for academic social interactions: own study time may depend on friend study time. Social network data allow study time choices and resulting academic achievement to be embedded in an estimable equilibrium framework. New data on study propensities allow us to directly address potential sorting into friendships based on typically unobserved determinants of study time. We develop a specifi cation test that exploits the equilibrium nature of social interactions and use it to show that our study propensity measures substantially address endogeneity concerns. We find friend study time strongly affects own study time, and, therefore, student achievement. We examine how network structure interacts with student characteristics to affect academic achievement. Sorting on friend characteristics appears important in explaining variation across students in study time and achievement, and determines the aggregate achievement level. |
| Keywords: | social networks, peer effects, homophily, time-use |
| JEL: | H00 I20 J00 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-042&r=ure |
| By: | Grönqvist, Hans (Department of economics, Uppsala university, IFAU, UCLS); Nilsson, J Peter (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, IFAU, UCLS); Robling, Per-Olof (Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University,) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the phase-out of leaded gasoline to isolate the impact of early childhood lead exposure on outcomes in adulthood. By combining administrative data on school performance, high school graduation, crime, earnings, and cognitive and non-cognitive skills with a novel measure of lead exposure, we follow 800,000 children from birth into adulthood. We find that reduced lead exposure improves the adult outcomes, particularly among boys. Below certain thresholds, the relationship becomes much weaker. Non-cognitive traits (externalizing behavior, conscientiousness, and neuroti-cism) follow a similar non-linear dose response pattern and seem to be the key mediators between early lead exposure and adult outcomes. |
| Keywords: | environmental policy; human capital; crime; non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | I18 K42 Q53 |
| Date: | 2017–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2017_004&r=ure |
| By: | Simon Burgess (Department of Economics, University of Bristol); Claire Crawford (Department of Economics, University of Warwick and Institute of Fiscal Studies); Lindsey Macmillan (Department of Social Science, University College London) |
| Abstract: | One of the main motivations given for the proposed new expansion of grammar schools in England is to improve social mobility. We assess the role of existing grammar schools in promoting social mobility by examining a) access to grammar schools, differentiating among the 85 per cent non-poor pupils, and b) the higher education outcomes of those who attend a grammar school relative to those who just miss out and relative to those who attend similar schools in non-selective areas. We find stark differences in grammar school attendance within selective areas by SES, even when comparing pupils with the same Key Stage 2 attainment. We also find that grammar school pupils are more likely to participate in higher education, and attend a high-status university than those who just miss out in selective areas. However, conditional on attendance and prior attainment, they do not perform as well at university. Worryingly, those who miss out on grammar places in selective areas who are high-attaining at primary school are significantly less likely to participate in university, attend a high-status university or achieve a good degree classification compared to equivalent pupils in non-selective areas. This highlights the harm that selective systems cause to those who do not make it into grammar schools. Taken together, these inequalities in access and outcomes suggest that grammar schools do not promote social mobility and actually work against it. |
| Keywords: | Grammar schools; Social mobility |
| JEL: | I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2017–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1709&r=ure |
| By: | Hsieh, Chih-Sheng; Lee, Lung fei |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we model network formation and network interactions under a unified framework. The key feature of our model is to allow individuals to respond to incentives stemming from interaction benefits on certain activities when they choose friends (network links), while capturing homophily in terms of unobserved characteristic variables in network formation and activities. There are two advantages of this modeling approach: first, one can evaluate whether incentives from certain interactions are important factors for friendship formation or not. Second, in addition to homophily effects in terms of unobserved characteristics, inclusion of incentive effects in the network formulation also corrects possible friendship selection bias on activity outcomes under network interactions. A theoretical foundation of this unified model is based on a complete information cooperative game. A tractable Bayesian MCMC approach is proposed for the estimation of the model. We apply the model to empirically study American high school students' friendship networks with the Add Health data. We consider two activity variables, GPA and smoking frequency, and find a significant incentive effect from GPA, but not from smoking, on friendship formation. These results suggest that the benefit of interactions in academic learning is an important factor for friendship formation, while the interaction benefit in smoking is not, even though homophily in smoking behavior is important for a smoker to link to other smokers. On the other hand, from the perspective of network interactions, both GPA and smoking frequency are subject to significant positive interaction (peer) effects. |
| Keywords: | Social Networks, social interaction, selectivity, spatial autoregression, Bayesian estimation |
| JEL: | C21 C25 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2017–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60726&r=ure |
| By: | ITF |
| Abstract: | This report assesses ports policies in Chile. Highly dependent on maritime trade, the quality of Chile’s ports has a direct impact on the country’s economy. The report offers a series of recommendations intended to help further develop Chile’s ports policies. It is based on a thorough assessment of current port performance, an analysis of the bottlenecks that would need to be resolved to increase performance, and takes into account good international practices. This report is part of the International Transport Forum’s Case-Specific Policy Analysis series. These are topical studies on specific issues carried out by the ITF in agreement with local institutions. The city of Venice (Italy) is a major cruise destination. Cruise shipping brings in passengers and their money, but also air pollution, visual impacts and concerns about the lagoon. So does the city ultimately benefit from this form of maritime tourism, and is the cruise shipping boom Venice has experienced sustainable? This report aims to bring more clarity to these controversial issues by assessing the various impacts cruise shipping has had in Venice. It analyses policies in place and provides recommendations on how to increase the net benefits from cruise shipping to Venice. This report is part of the International Transport Forum’s Case-Specific Policy Analysis series. These are topical studies on specific issues carried out by the ITF in agreement with local institutions. |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaac:26-en&r=ure |
| By: | Bethlehem A. Argaw |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an informative picture of the extent of regional inequality of economic outcomes and opportunities in the pre-and post-reform Ethiopia. We start by presenting evidence that regional inequality in educational attainment, formal employment, and access to safe water and sanitation facilities declined substantially between the mid-1990s and late 2000s. When we measure regional inequality of opportunities using the intergenerational persistence of educational attainment, we find a moderate increase in intergenerational mobility at the national level and a declining gap across regions. Given the regional concentration of ethnic and language groups in Ethiopia, further reducing the unequal distribution of economic outcomes and opportunities across regions have important implications for the political stability and economic development of the country. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-118&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Russo (Università di Salerno and CSEF); Francesco Salsano (Università di Milano) |
| Abstract: | Unexplored stylized facts on OECD countries suggest that plurality electoral systems are associated with higher openness to immigration. We propose an explanation based on a retrospective voting model where immigration hurts voters but benefits a rent-seeking policymaker who appropriates part of the income generated by immigrants.To be reappointed, the policymaker must distribute compensation. With respect to proportional systems, plurality systems make it possible to compensate only a few decisive districts and leave higher after-compensation rents, producing therefore higher immigration. In our model, non-decisive districts receive no compensation at all under both electoral systems, providing a rationale for widespread anti-immigration attitudes. Notably, our results also help to explain why governments often seem more pro-immigration than voters. Finally, our model suggests that proportional systems may incentivize the enfranchisement of immigrants with voting rights and that opposition to immigration is more territorially dispersed in plurality systems. Basic evidence supports both predictions. |
| Keywords: | electoral systems, rent extraction, retrospective voting, immigration |
| JEL: | D72 D78 F22 H00 H40 |
| Date: | 2017–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:473&r=ure |
| By: | Raouf BOUCEKKINE (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics and IMéRA), CNRS and EHESS); Giorgio FABBRI (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS and EHESS); Salvatore FEDERICO (Università degli Studi di Siena, Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Statistica); Fausto GOZZI (Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli, Roma) |
| Abstract: | Abstract. We provide with an optimal growth spatio-temporal setting with capital accumulation and diffusion across space in order to study the link between economic growth triggered by capital spatio-temporal dynamics and agglomeration across space. We choose the simplest production function generating growth endogenously, the AK technology but in sharp contrast to the related literature which considers homogeneous space, we derive optimal location outcomes for any given space distributions for technology (through the productivity parameter A) and population. Beside the mathematical tour de force, we ultimately show that agglomeration may show up in our optimal growth with linear technology, its exact shape depending on the interaction of two main effects, a population dilution effect versus a technology space discrepancy effect. |
| Keywords: | Growth, agglomeration, heterogeneous and continuous space, capital mobility, infinite dimensional optimal control problems |
| JEL: | R1 O4 C61 |
| Date: | 2017–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2017006&r=ure |
| By: | Josue Ortega |
| Abstract: | There is no matching mechanism that satisfies integration monotonicity and stability. If we insist on integration monotonicity, not even Pareto optimality can be achieved: the only option is to remain segregated. A weaker monotonicity condition can be combined with Pareto optimality but not with path independence, which implies that the dynamics of social integration matter. If the outcome of integration is stable, integration is always approved by majority voting, but a non-vanishing fraction of agents always oppose segregation. The side who receives the proposals in the deferred acceptance algorithm suffers significant welfare losses, which nevertheless become negligible when societies grow large. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1705.08033&r=ure |
| By: | Clemens, Michael A.; Hunt, Jennifer |
| Abstract: | An influential strand of research has tested for the effects of immigration on natives' wages and employment using exogenous refugee supply shocks as natural experiments. Several studies have reached conflicting conclusions about the effects of noted refugee waves such as the Mariel Boatlift in Miami and post-Soviet refugees to Israel. We show that conflicting findings on the effects of the Mariel Boatlift can be explained by a sudden change in the race composition of the Current Population Survey extracts in 1980, specific to Miami but unrelated to the Boatlift. We also show that conflicting findings on the labor-market effects of other important refugee waves can be produced by spurious correlation between the instrument and the endogenous variable introduced by applying a common divisor to both. As a whole, the evidence from refugee waves reinforces the existing consensus that the impact of immigration on average native-born workers is small, and fails to substantiate claims of large detrimental impacts on workers with less than high school. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; instrumental variables; Refugees |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12050&r=ure |
| By: | Altangerel, Khulan; van Ours, Jan C. |
| Abstract: | The 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was directed at tackling the problem of growing unauthorized migration through legalization of unauthorized immigrants, increasing border security and sanctioning employers who hired unauthorized immigrants. Our paper investigates how the IRCA affected the migration dynamics of Mexican immigrants focusing on their age of onset of migration and the duration of their first trip. We find that the IRCA had a positive effect in reducing unauthorized migration to the US. Although primarily aiming at unauthorized immigration, the IRCA had substantial effects on legal migration through its legalization program. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12032&r=ure |
| By: | Karagiannis, Dimitris; Metaxas, Theodore |
| Abstract: | The role of Local Government (LG) in achieving tourism development is extremely important. A characteristic example is the province of Ontario in Canada, which managed with the assistance of the Ministries of Tourism and Culture and with the cooperation of the private sector, to create an effective tourism development tool promote the region through its gastronomy - Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), a non-profit, industry driven organization which leads the implementation of the provincial Culinary Tourism Strategy. Specifically, the municipalities, the ministry and the enterprises assigned to OCTA to develop a comprehensive, Strategic Action Plan 2005-2015 for the Development of Gastronomy Tourism in order to make Ontario, firstly, the primary culinary tourism destination across Canada, and then worldwide. OCTA connects and coordinates successfully all food tourism stakeholders of Ontario |
| Keywords: | Local Government, Gastronomic tourism, Canada, Regional development |
| JEL: | O21 R58 Z10 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79325&r=ure |
| By: | Sandra E. Black; Erik Grönqvist; Björn Öckert |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of birth order on personality traits among men using population data on enlistment records and occupations for Sweden. We find that earlier born men are more emotionally stable, persistent, socially outgoing, willing to assume responsibility, and able to take initiative than later-borns. In addition, we find that birth order affects occupational sorting; first-born children are more likely to be managers, while later-born children are more likely to be self-employed. We also find that earlier born children are more likely to be in occupations that require leadership ability, social ability and the Big Five personality traits. Finally, we find a significant role of sex composition within the family. Later-born boys suffer an additional penalty the larger the share of boys among the older siblings. When we investigate possible mechanisms, we find that the negative effects of birth order are driven by post-natal environmental factors. We also find evidence of lower parental human capital investments in later-born children. |
| JEL: | J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23393&r=ure |