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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Gregory Howard (MIT) |
| Abstract: | Because people choose to move to relatively prosperous regions, economists have traditionally believed that migration mitigates the effects of local shocks. In the first part of this paper, I document that the opposite holds in the data: within-U.S. migration causes a large reduction in the unemployment rate of the receiving city, over several years. To establish the causal effect of inmigration, I construct a plausibly exogenous shock by using the outmigration of other places and predicting its destination based on historical patterns. In the second part of the paper, I document that the increase in the demand for housing explains the boom, through two channels. The construction channel occurs because housing is a durable good: hence there is a surge in the number of new houses and construction jobs. The house price channel occurs because the migrants' housing demand drives up prices, leading to increased borrowing and higher labor demand in non-tradable sectors. Together, these channels account for the size of the labor demand boom. This boom implies that the endogenous response of migration amplifies local labor demand shocks, an effect I label the "migration accelerator." In the final part of the paper, I estimate that migration amplifies these shocks by 20 percent. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:563&r=ure |
| By: | Passmore, Wayne; Hafften, Alexander H. von |
| Abstract: | The 30-year fixed-rate fully amortizing mortgage (or "traditional fixed-rate mortgage") was a substantial innovation when first developed during the Great Depression. However, it has three major flaws. First, because homeowner equity accumulates slowly during the first decade, homeowners are essentially renting their homes from lenders. With so little equity accumulation, many lenders require large down payments. Second, in each monthly mortgage payment, homeowners substantially compensate capital markets investors for the ability to prepay. The homeowner might have better uses for this money. Third, refinancing mortgages is often very costly. We propose a new fixed-rate mortgage, called the Fixed-Payment-COFI mortgage (or "Fixed-COFI mortgage"), that resolves these three flaws. This mortgage has fixed monthly payments equal to payments for traditional fixed-rate mortgages and no down payment. Also, unlike traditional fixed-rate mortgages, Fixed-COFI mortgages do not bundle mortgage financing with compensation paid to capital markets investors for bearing prepayment risks; instead, this money is directed toward purchasing the home. The Fixed-COFI mortgage exploits the often-present prepayment-risk wedge between the fixed-rate mortgage rate and the estimated cost of funds index (COFI) mortgage rate. Committing to a savings program based on the difference between fixed-rate mortgage payments and payments based on COFI plus a margin, the homeowner uses this wedge to accumulate home equity quickly. In addition, the Fixed-COFI mortgage is a highly profitable asset for many mortgage lenders. Fixed-COFI mortgages may help some renters gain access to homeownership. These renters may be, for example, paying rents as high as comparable mortgage payments in high-cost metropolitan areas but do not have enough savings for a down payment. The Fixed-COFI mortgage may help such renters, among others, purchase homes. |
| Keywords: | COFI; Cost of funds; Financial institutions; Fixed-rate mortgage; Homeownership; Interest rates; Mortgages and credit |
| JEL: | G21 G28 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2017–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2017-90&r=ure |
| By: | Afridi, Farzana (Indian Statistical Institute); Barooah, Bidisha (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)); Somanathan, Rohini (Delhi School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study whether information provision improves the academic performance of primary school children in a setting where parents have incomplete information about their child's cognitive skills and there exist competing public and private providers of education. Contiguous village councils in the north Indian state of Rajasthan were randomly assigned to either a control or one of four treatment groups in which schools and/or parents were provided information through report cards on either intra or both intra and inter school performance of students in curriculum based tests. We find significant improvement in test scores of private school students by 0.31 standard deviations when information on both absolute and relative school quality is provided to households and schools. There are no significant improvements in the learning outcomes of public school children in any treatment. Close examination of the results suggest that private school students chose better quality schools in the new academic year. Public school parents did respond by exercising school choice and lowering student absenteeism but saw no improvements in learning outcomes possibly because of constrained school choice set. Overall, our results suggest that information on the relative quality of schools can be a cheap and effective tool for improving learning outcomes when households can exercise school choice. |
| Keywords: | report cards, test scores, school choice, India |
| JEL: | I20 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10971&r=ure |
| By: | Börjesson, Maria (KTH); Fung, Chau Man (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); Proost, Stef (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); Yan, Zifei (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper optimises the number of bus stops, and prices for car, bus and cycling in the busiest inner city corridor in Stockholm. We find that the number of bus stops is already close to optimal. Welfare would increase if the peak frequency was increased, the bus fares were differentiated such that short trips paid less than the current rate, and that the toll for longer car trips was increased. The optimal toll for cyclists, and the welfare benefit from it, is small and does not compensate the transaction costs. The distributional effects of bus fare changes and higher car tolls are small because on one hand, high income groups place more value on travel time gains, but on the other hand, low income groups travel less frequently by car. Surprisingly, we find that in the welfare optimum, the bus service generates a surplus due to congestion in the bus lane, crowding in the buses, and extra boarding and alighting time per passenger. The Mohring effect is limited because the demand, and thereby the baseline frequency, is already high. |
| Keywords: | Public transport; Cycling; Bus stops; Congestion; Optimal pricing of urban transport |
| JEL: | R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2017–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2017_010&r=ure |
| By: | Duddy, Conal |
| Abstract: | In a school choice problem each school has a priority ordering over the set of students. These priority orderings depend on criteria such as whether a student lives within walking distance or has a sibling already at the school. I argue that by including just the priority orderings in the problem, and not the criteria themselves, we lose important information. More particularly, the priority orderings fail to capture important aspects of the information from which they are derived when a student may satisfy a given criterion across multiple schools. This loss of information results in mechanisms that discriminate between students in ways that are not easy to justify. I propose an extended formulation of the school choice problem wherein a “priority matrix”, indicating which criteria are satisfied by each student-school pair, replaces the usual profile of priority orderings. |
| Keywords: | school choice; matching; priority ordering; deferred acceptance |
| JEL: | C78 H40 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81057&r=ure |
| By: | Yusuki Narita (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Many centralized school admissions systems use lotteries to ration limited seats at oversubscribed schools. The resulting random assignment is used by empirical researchers to identify the effect of entering a school on outcomes like test scores. I first find that the two most popular empirical research designs may not successfully extract a random assignment of applicants to schools. When do the research designs overcome this problem? I show the following main results for a class of data-generating mechanisms containing those used in practice: One research design extracts a random assignment under a mechanism if and practically only if the mechanism is strategy-proof for schools. In contrast, the other research design does not necessarily extract a random assignment under any mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Matching Market Design, Natural Experiment, Program Evaluation, Random Assignment, Quasi-Experimental Research Design, School Eectiveness |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2056r&r=ure |
| By: | Martins, Pedro S. (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Non-cognitive skills programs may be an important policy option to improve the academic outcomes of adolescents. In this paper, we evaluate experimentally the EPIS program, which is based on bi-weekly individual or small-group non-cognitive mediation short meetings with low-performing students. Our RCT estimates, covering nearly 3,000 7th and 8th-grade students across over 50 schools and a period of two years, indicate that the program increases the probability of progression by 11% to 22%. The effects are stronger amongst older students, girls, and in language subjects (compared to maths). |
| Keywords: | student achievement, non-cognitive skills, RCT, gender |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J08 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10950&r=ure |
| By: | Paul J Burke; Tsendsuren Batsuuri; Muhammad Halley Yudhistira |
| Abstract: | Indonesia has serious traffic jams. This study uses data from 19 Indonesian toll roads over 2008-2015 to calculate the effects of Indonesia's historic recent fuel subsidy reforms on motor vehicle travel. The timing of the reforms was determined by budgetary and political factors, providing a suitable setting for estimating a causal effect. We control for a broad set of other factors potentially influencing traffic flows. Estimates using monthly data suggest an immediate fuel price elasticity of motor vehicle flows on the roads in our study of -0.1, increasing to -0.2 when responses over a year are considered. We estimate that Indonesia's fuel subsidy reforms of 2013 and 2014 had reduced traffic pressure on these roads in the second half of 2015 by around 10% relative to the counterfactual without reform. A move to an adequate fuel excise system could contribute to more free-flowing traffic, while generating revenue for infrastructure and other investment. |
| Keywords: | fuel subsidy, gasoline, price, elasticity, transport, Indonesia |
| JEL: | R41 R48 H20 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2017-10&r=ure |
| By: | Tammaru, Tiit (University of Tartu); Marcińczak, Szymon (University of Tartu); Aunap, Raivo (University of Tartu); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to get new insight into the complex relationship between social inequalities and socioeconomic segregation by undertaking a comparative study North and South European cities. Our main finding shows that during the last global economic cycle from the 1980s through the 2000s, both levels of social inequalities and socio-economic segregation have grown. However, the effects of rising levels of inequality affect levels of segregation with a strong time lag. This reminds us that the effect of the most recent economic crisis will most likely be long-term, especially in the South of Europe. |
| Keywords: | social inequalities, residential segregation, comparative urban studies, South Europe, North Europe |
| JEL: | N94 O18 P25 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10980&r=ure |
| By: | Steven Bradley; Robert Crouchley |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse the interactions between, and determinants of, test scores, truancy and the risk of youth unemployment and NEET in a simultaneous equations framework. This approach allows us to disentangle the observable direct and indirect effects of truancy and test scores on the risk of unemployment and NEET from their unobserved effects. We use a unique data source, combining the Youth Cohort Study, the School Performance Tables, and the School’s Census, enabling us to control for a large number of personal, family, school, peer group and neighbourhood effects on the three response variables. Our findings suggest that models of the determinants of youth unemployment and NEET that ignore correlation between the unobservables of the determinants test scores and truancy will lead to misleading inference about the magnitude and strength of their direct effects. However, our findings also suggest that truancy has a indirect effect on labour market outcomes via its effect on test scores. Truancy does have an unobserved effect on the risk of unemployment and the risk of NEET insofar as the correlation between latent variables for truancy and labour market outcomes are positive and statistically significant. Test scores have a direct effect on labour market outcomes, and through the estimation of ATTs, we show a good performance in high stakes tests (i.e. GCSEs) can mitigate the effect of truanting from school on labour market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Youth unemployment, truancy, test scores, Simultaneous equations |
| JEL: | I21 J64 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:189398493&r=ure |
| By: | Hart, Robert A. (University of Stirling); Moro, Mirko (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of date of birth on state selective education using the 1944 Education Act in England and Wales as a natural experiment. We compare the probabilities of gaining selective school entry – which in our study period meant attending a grammar school – before and after the Act using a difference-in-difference approach. Before 1944, grammar school entry was achieved either noncompetitively through fee-paying or free based on a competitive 11+ exam. After 1944, all children were required to take a competitive 11+ exam and about one-third gained a grammar school place. Pre-1944 we find the children born in the middle or late in the school year (January to August) fared significantly worse in gaining a grammar school place than those born at the beginning of the school year (from September to December). Post-1944, the prospects of grammar school entry among children born in the middle of the school year (January to April) improved considerably. We argue that a greater recourse to age standardisation of 11+ test scores may well have accounted for this outcome. The youngest 'summer children' (those born at the end of the school year from May to August) remained significantly disadvantaged, however. A strong influence was the practice of streaming (or tracking) junior school children at age 7 into classes delineated by average ability. |
| Keywords: | 1944 Education Act, date of birth, selective schooling, class streaming |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10949&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (FSU Jena); Moritz Zoellner (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the stability of cooperative relationships between inventors and consequences for the characteristics and patent productivity of the respective regional innovation systems (RIS). The empirical analysis is for nine German regions over a period of 15 years. We find a rather high level of 'fluidity', i.e., entry and exit of actors, as well as instability of their relationships over time. The aggregate characteristics of the regional networks are, however, quite robust even with high levels of micro-level fluidity. There are both significantly positive and negative relationships between micro-level fluidity and the performance of the respective RIS. |
| Keywords: | Innovation networks, R&D cooperation, division of innovative labor, patents |
| JEL: | O3 R1 D2 D8 |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2017-009&r=ure |
| By: | Barth, Erling (Institute for Social Research, Oslo); Pekkala Kerr, Sari (Wellesley College); Olivetti, Claudia (Boston College) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, establishment wage differentials, earnings growth |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10974&r=ure |
| By: | Thomas Steger (University of Leipzig); Volker Grossmann (University of Fribourg) |
| Abstract: | There are, by now, several long term, time series data sets on important housing & macro variables, such as land prices, house prices, and the housing wealth-to-income ratio. However, an appropriate theory that can be employed to think about such data and associated research questions has been lacking. We present a new housing & macro model that is designed specifically to analyze the long term. As an illustrative application, we demonstrate that the calibrated model replicates, with remarkable accuracy, the historical evolution of housing wealth (relative to income) after World War II and suggests a further considerable increase in the future. The model also accounts for the close connection of house prices to land prices in the data. We also compare our framework to the canonical housing & macro model, typically employed to analyze business cycles, and highlight the main differences. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:549&r=ure |
| By: | James Mabli; Hande Inanc |
| Abstract: | This report presents findings from a rapid cycle evaluation of an operational component of a Pay for Success initiative. The initiative is designed to place chronically homeless individuals into housing as quickly as possible to reduce the cost of emergency services used while homeless. |
| Keywords: | Homeless, housing, triage, Pay For Success |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:4e3f9228a4d2405ab581519bc5a98282&r=ure |
| By: | Kleinepier, Tom (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines ethnic differences in childhood neighborhood disadvantage among children living in the Netherlands. In contrast to more conventional approaches for assessing children's exposure to neighborhood poverty and affluence (e.g., point-in-time and cumulative measures of exposure), we apply sequence analysis to simultaneously capture the timing and duration of exposure to poor and nonpoor neighborhoods during childhood. Rich administrative microdata offered a unique opportunity to follow the entire 1999 birth cohort of the Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean second generation and a native Dutch comparison group from birth up until age 15 (N=24,212). Results indicate that especially Turkish and Moroccan children were more likely than native Dutch children to live in a poor neighborhood at any specific stage within childhood, but particularly throughout childhood. Although differences became substantially smaller after adjusting for parental and household characteristics, ethnic differences remained large and statistically significant. In addition, the impact of household income on children's neighborhood income trajectories was found to be weaker for ethnic minority children than for native Dutch children. Our findings are discussed in relation to theories on spatial assimilation, place stratification, and residential preferences. |
| Keywords: | childhood, ethnicity, life course, neighborhood, sequence analysis |
| JEL: | I30 J60 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10944&r=ure |
| By: | Kugler, Adriana (Georgetown University); Tinsley, Catherine H. (Georgetown University); Ukhaneva, Olga (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Recent work suggests that women are more responsive to negative feedback than men in certain environments. We examine whether negative feedback in the form of relatively low grades in major-related classes explains gender differences in the final majors undergraduates choose. We use unique administrative data from a large private university on the East Coast from 2009-2016 to test whether women are more sensitive to grades than men, and whether the gender composition of major-related classes affects major changes. We also control for other factors that may affect a student's final major including: high school student performance, gender of faculty, and economic returns of majors. Finally, we examine how students' decisions are affected by external cues that signal STEM fields as masculine. The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues. Women are, however, more likely to switch out of male-dominated STEM majors in response to poor performance compared to men. Therefore, we find that it takes multiple signals of lack of fit into a major (low grades, gender composition of class, and external stereotyping signals) to impel female students to switch majors. |
| Keywords: | education gender gap, major choice, STEM field |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10947&r=ure |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi; Giacomo De Giorgi; Jaromir Nosal |
| Abstract: | A broadly accepted view contends that the 2007-09 financial crisis in the U.S. was caused by an expansion in the supply of credit to subprime borrowers during the 2001- 2006 credit boom, leading to the spike in defaults and foreclosures that sparked the crisis. We use a large administrative panel of credit file data to examine the evolution of household debt and defaults between 1999 and 2013. Our findings suggest an alternative narrative that challenges the large role of subprime credit in the crisis. We show that credit growth between 2001 and 2007 was concentrated in the prime segment, and debt to high risk borrowers was virtually constant for all debt categories during this period. The rise in mortgage defaults during the crisis was concentrated in the middle of the credit score distribution, and mostly attributable to real estate investors. We argue that previous analyses confounded life cycle debt demand of borrowers who were young at the start of the boom with an expansion in credit supply over that period. |
| JEL: | D14 E01 E21 E40 G01 G1 G18 G20 G21 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23740&r=ure |
| By: | Hassink, Robert (Kiel University); Gong, Huiwen (Kiel University) |
| Abstract: | Over the last twenty years, modern economic geography has been increasingly fragmented, particularly concerning its themes, on the one hand, and its schools of thought, perspectives and paradigms, on the other. Although there have been arguments in favor of engaged pluralism between the latter, what we see in reality is mainly fragmented pluralism, which is particularly problematic for the identification with the sub-discipline and the exchange with neighboring social disciplines. In order to solve this problem, in our view, we need an Integrative Paradigm of Economic Geography. In this paper, we sketch the contours of such a paradigm, which consists of a core, namely economic activities in space, place and scales and their drivers, and three inter-related ontological foundations, namely networks, evolution and institutions. |
| Keywords: | economic geography; pluralism; paradigms; Integrative Paradigm of Economic Geography |
| JEL: | R10 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_012&r=ure |
| By: | Ana Figueiredo (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of information frictions and social learning as a novel channel through which neighbourhoods affect children educational outcomes. I write a model of educational choice with two novel features: (i) individuals are uncertain about the returns to education, and (ii) they learn about the them by observing nearby skilled neighbours. In contrast to prior models of human capital formation with local interactions, in a model with information frictions and social learning, it is not only about being exposed skilled neighbours, but also about their wage distribution: skilled neighbours only increase schooling investment if the labor market information they disclose leads to an increase in the perceived education premium. Using school-district data from Michigan over the period 2008-2014, I find evidence supporting the model’s pre- diction. I also calibrate the model to Detroit data in 2013 and through counterfactual experiments show that social learning plays an important role in reducing the underlying uncertainty about college returns, however it also increases inequalities across neighbourhoods. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:529&r=ure |
| By: | Aurora Alejandra Ramirez-Alvarez (El Colegio de México) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether individuals' crime perceptions and crime avoidance behavior respond to changes in crime news coverage. I use data from Mexico, where major media groups agreed to reduce coverage of violence in March 2011. Using a unique dataset on national news content and machine learning techniques, I document that after the Agreement, crime news coverage on television, radio, and newspapers decreases relative to the national homicide rate. Using survey data, I find robust evidence that crime perceptions respond to this change in content. After the Agreement, individuals with higher media exposure are less likely to report that they feel insecure and that their country, state, or municipality is insecure, relative to individuals with lower media exposure. However, I show that these changes in crime perceptions are not accompanied by changes in crime avoidance behavior (i.e. no longer going out at night for fear of being a victim of crime), or at least that e ects are much smaller. |
| Keywords: | mass media; persuasion; crime perception; Mexico. |
| JEL: | D83 K42 L82 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emx:ceedoc:2017-06&r=ure |
| By: | Pavlidis, Efthymios (Lancaster University); Martinez-Garcia, Enrique (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas); Grossman, Valerie (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) |
| Abstract: | The recently developed SADF and GSADF unit root tests of Phillips et al. (2011) and Phillips et al. (2015) have become popular in the literature for detecting exuberance in asset prices. In this paper, we examine through simulation experiments the effect of cross-sectional aggregation on the power properties of these tests. The simulation design considered is based on actual housing data for both U.S. metropolitan and international housing markets and thus allows us to draw conclusions for different levels of aggregation. Our findings suggest that aggregation lowers the power of both the SADF and GSADF tests. The effect, however, is much larger for the SADF test. We also provide evidence that tests based on panel data techniques, namely the panel GSADF test recently proposed by Pavlidis et al. (2015), can perform substantially better than univariate tests applied to aggregated series. |
| JEL: | C12 C22 G12 R30 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:325&r=ure |
| By: | Stratton, Leslie S. (Virginia Commonwealth University) |
| Abstract: | Rising unemployment and housing price appreciation are associated with increased college enrollment. Enrollment does not, however, guarantee completion. We use a discrete time, competing hazard function that accommodates individual-specific heterogeneity to assess the impact changing unemployment and housing prices have on progress toward a college degree in the United States for students interviewed for the 1996-2001 Beginning Post-Secondary Survey. The results indicate that rising unemployment rates have at best a modest effect on six year graduation rates. Both boys and girls are, however, more likely to not be enrolled and less likely to have graduated at the six-year mark when housing prices appreciate, and this effect is more pronounced for more disadvantaged youth. |
| Keywords: | higher education, graduation, housing prices, unemployment, disadvantage |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10941&r=ure |
| By: | Atsuko Okuda and Siope Vakataki Ofa from the Transport Division. (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) |
| Abstract: | The digital divide in Asia and the Pacific continues to widen over time. It affects ESCAP low-income countries (mostly LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS) which need ICT connectivity the most in their efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response, ESCAP member countries recently endorsed the AP-IS Master Plan and Regional Cooperation Framework Document which provide a regional platform for key stakeholders to coordinate and collaborate towards expanding investment in developing missing fibre-optic networks and improving inclusive broadband access. In that context, this brief explores how to promote broadband infrastructure investments. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:pbmpdd:pb48&r=ure |
| By: | Fernando M. Aragon (Simon Fraser University); Anke Kessler (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the economic effects of existing private property rights on First Nations’ reserves. We focus on three forms of land tenure regimes: lawful possession, designated land, and permits. These land regimes have been used to create individual land holdings, and grant, secure and transferable, rights of use of reserve land to band and non-band members. Using confidential Census micro-data and rich administrative data, we find evidence of improvements in home ownership and housing conditions, as well as increments in band’s public spending. However, we do not find significant effects on household income nor employment outcomes. Instead, we document a sizeable increase in non-Aboriginal population. Our findings suggest that some caution is warranted when discussing the potential economic benefits of property rights reforms for First Nations’ communities. |
| Keywords: | First Nations, property rights, lawful possession |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp17-14&r=ure |
| By: | Hsu, Wen-Tai (School of Economics, Singapore Management University); Li, Xiaolu (Division of Economics, Nanyang Technological University); Tang, Yang (Division of Economics, Nanyang Technological University); Wu, Jing (Hang Lung Center for Real Estate and Department of Construction Management, Tsinghua University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores two political factors for their potential effects on urban land supply in China: corruption, and competition for promotion. We find that standard urban-economic predictions hold in the sense that both population and income increases are strongly significant determinants for the increase in urban land supply. Conditional on these demand-side factors, we find that the usage of two-stage auctions (as a proxy for corruption) is highly correlated with the increase in land supply. The corruption effects are strongest for commercial land, followed by residential land and then industrial land. To shed light on the competition motives among prefectural leaders, we examine how the number of years in office affects land supply, and distinguish among different hypotheses. Our empirical results show robust rising trends in land sales (both in quantity and revenue). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the impatience and anxiety in later years from not being promoted may contribute to the increase in land sales revenue in later years; they are inconsistent with the hypothesis that prefectural leaders may give up and become more corrupt in later years. We also find that prefectural leaders may aim for larger land sales revenue overall in the first few (around 5) years in office instead of larger revenue in the first couple years. |
| Keywords: | Land supply; China; Political factors; institution; Monocentric-city model |
| Date: | 2017–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:smuesw:2017_007&r=ure |
| By: | L Rachel Ngai (Reader in Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science; Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS)); Christopher A Pissarides (London School of Economics; Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS)); Jin Wang (Division of Social Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS)) |
| Abstract: | China’s hukou system imposes two main barriers to population movements. Agricultural workers get land to cultivate but run the risk of losing it if they migrate. Social transfers (education, health, etc.) are conditional on holding a local hukou. We show that the land policy is a more important barrier on industrialization. This distortion can be corrected by giving property rights to farmers. Social transfers dampen mainly urbanization. We calculate that the two policies together lead to overemployment in agriculture of 6.7 points, under-employment in the urban sector of 6.3 points and have practically no impact on the rural non-agricultural sector. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hku:wpaper:201744&r=ure |
| By: | Adriana D. Kugler; Catherine H. Tinsley; Olga Ukhaneva |
| Abstract: | Recent work suggests that women are more responsive to negative feedback than men in certain environments. We examine whether negative feedback in the form of relatively low grades in major-related classes explains gender differences in the final majors undergraduates choose. We use unique administrative data from a large private university on the East Coast from 2009-2016 to test whether women are more sensitive to grades than men, and whether the gender composition of major-related classes affects major changes. We also control for other factors that may affect a student's final major including: high school student performance, gender of faculty, and economic returns of majors. Finally, we examine how students' decisions are affected by external cues that signal STEM fields as masculine. The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues. Women are, however, more likely to switch out of male-dominated STEM majors in response to poor performance compared to men. Therefore, we find that it takes multiple signals of lack of fit into a major (low grades, gender composition of class, and external stereotyping signals) to impel female students to switch majors. |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23735&r=ure |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi |
| Abstract: | A broadly accepted view contends that the 2007-09 fi nancial crisis in the U.S. wascaused by an expansion in the supply of credit to subprime borrowers during the 2001-2006 credit boom, leading to the spike in defaults and foreclosures that sparked thecrisis. We use a large administrative panel of credit fi le data to examine the evolutionof household debt and defaults between 1999 and 2013. Our fi ndings suggest an alternative narrative that challenges the large role of subprime credit in the crisis. We showthat credit growth between 2001 and 2007 was concentrated in the prime segment,and debt to high risk borrowers was virtually constant for all debt categories duringthis period. The rise in mortgage defaults during the crisis was concentrated in themiddle of the credit score distribution, and mostly attributable to real estate investors.We argue that previous analyses confounded life cycle debt demand of borrowers whowere young at the start of the boom with an expansion in credit supply over that period. Moreover, a positive correlation between the concentration of subprime borrowersand the severity of the 2007-09 recession found in previous research may be driven byhigh prevalence of young, low education, minority individuals in zip codes with largesubprime population. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pit:wpaper:6174&r=ure |
| By: | Schnitzer, Monika; Watzinger, Martin |
| Abstract: | We provide the first measurement of knowledge spillovers from venture capital-financed companies onto the patenting activities of other companies. On average, these spillovers are nine times larger than those generated by the R&D investment of established companies. Spillover effects are larger in complex product industries than in discrete product industries. Start-ups with experienced inventors holding a patent at the time of receiving the first round of investment produce the largest spillovers, indicating that venture capital fosters the commercialization of technologies. Methodologically, we contribute by developing a novel definition of the spillover pool, combining citation-based and technological proximity-based approaches. |
| Keywords: | innovation; Spillovers; venture capital |
| JEL: | G24 O3 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12236&r=ure |
| By: | Takeshi Ebina; Noriaki Matsushima |
| Abstract: | We study the entry timing and location decisions of two exclusive buyer-supplier relationships in a continuous-time spatial competition model. In each relationship, the firms determine their entry timing and location, and negotiate a wholesale price through Nash bargaining. Then, the downstream firm immediately determines its retail price. Our findings are as follows. Ordinarily, if the supplier of the first entrant (called the leader pair) has strong bargaining power, the equilibrium location of the leader will be closer to the center, inducing a delay in entry by the second entrant (called the follower pair). This delay implies the stronger bargaining power of the supplier in the leader pair can also benefit the buyer of the pair. The location of the leader pair can change non-monotonically with an increase in the supplier's bargaining power, which has a substantial impact on the entry timing of the follower pair. However, the greater the bargaining power of the supplier in the follower pair, the closer the leader pair will be to the edge. This implies that having greater bargaining power will enhance the profitability of the supplier in the follower pair. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1009&r=ure |
| By: | Sangeeta Pratap (Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center); Carlos Urrutia (ITAM); Felipe Meza (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Méx) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of credit conditions on the allocation of inputs, and their implications for aggregate TFP growth. For this, we build a new dataset for Mexican manufacturing merging real and financial data at the 4-digit industrial sector level. Using a simple misallocation framework, we find that changes in allocative efficiency account for 75 percent of aggregate TFP variability. We then construct a model of firm behavior with working capital constraints and borrowing limits which generate sub-optimal use of inputs, and calibrate it to our data. We find that the model accounts for 56 percent of the observed variability in efficiency. An important conclusion is that sectoral heterogeneity in credit conditions is key in accounting for efficiency gains. Despite overall credit stagnation, better credit and lower interest rates to distorted sectors contributed substantially to the recovery from the 2009 recession, suggesting a plausible mechanism for credit-less recoveries. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:538&r=ure |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The transition from school to work can be a difficult period associated with spells of unemployment. Data show that those who leave school early have comparatively low skills and low educational attainment and face the greatest challenges in the labour market compared to their peers who stayed in education longer. Efforts should be made to ensure that people remain in education until they complete at least upper secondary education – considered the minimum threshold for successful entry into the labour market. Remaining in education not only leads to higher educational attainment, but also fosters the skills needed to ensure a successful transition into the labour market. |
| Date: | 2017–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:54-en&r=ure |
| By: | Steeve Mongrain (Simon Fraser University); John D. Wilson (Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | An ongoing debate in the tax competition literature is whether a system of countries or regions should restrict the preferential tax treatment of different types of firms or capital. We further investigate this issue by departing from the bulk of the literature in three ways: (1) rather than maximize only tax revenue, governments also put positive weight on the income generated by resident-owned firms; (2) under preferential taxation, firms are distinguished by their country of origin; and (3) the competing regions are allowed to differ in size. Under the assumption of uniformly-distributed moving costs, identical regions always prefer the non-preferential regime. But when a small and large region compete, the small region prefers the preferential regime in some cases. We also identify non-uniform distributions of moving costs where the preferential regime is preferred by identical competing regions. This finding is related to differences in tax-base elasticities. |
| Keywords: | Tax Competition; Heterogeneity; Preferential Tax Treatment. |
| JEL: | H73 H77 H71 |
| Date: | 2017–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp17-13&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Roson (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari and IEFE, Bocconi University, Milan) |
| Abstract: | This study provides some empirical evidence and quantification of differences in labor productivity among industries and countries. Using a recently available data base of value added per worker, country and time fixed effects are estimated first for various industries. Results are subsequently elaborated, to identify some time trends and sectoral profiles by country, which are in turn employed in a cluster analysis, summarizing some salient characteristics of industrial labor productivity in different economies. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity, structural change, economic dynamics, cluster analysis |
| JEL: | C23 C82 O11 O47 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2017:15&r=ure |
| By: | Aurore Burietz; Kim Oosterlinck; Ariane Szafarz |
| Abstract: | According to the syndicated loan pricing puzzle (Carey and Nini, Journal of Finance, 2007) interest rates charged to corporate borrowers are lower in Europe than in the U.S. Our investigation suggests that controlling for region-specific credit ratings makes the Europe-U.S. gap insignificant, and solves the puzzle. We speculate that the puzzle originates from the lack of uniformity of accounting standards. |
| Keywords: | Pricing puzzle; Syndicated loan; Rating; Europe; U.S. |
| JEL: | E40 G15 G21 G24 |
| Date: | 2017–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/256702&r=ure |
| By: | Cettolin, Elena; Suetens, Sigrid |
| Abstract: | Trustworthiness is key for successful economic and social interactions. We conduct an experiment with a representative sample of the Dutch population to study whether trustworthiness depends on the ethnicity of the interaction partner. Native Dutch trustees play trust games with an anonymous other, who is either another native Dutch or an immigrant from non-Western descent. We find that the trustees reciprocate trust up to 13% less frequently if the trustor is a non-Western immigrant than if he/she is native Dutch. This percentage increases up to 23% for trustees who report disliking ethnic diversity in society in a survey that took place one year before the experiment. Since the decision to reciprocate does not involve behavioral risk, we take our results as evidence of taste-based discrimination. The implication is that the return on trust is lower for immigrants from non-Western descent than for native Dutch. |
| Keywords: | ethnic diversity; representative sample; taste-based discrimination; trust game; trustworthiness |
| JEL: | C72 C9 D01 J15 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12244&r=ure |
| By: | Bengtsson, Elias; Grothe, Magdalena; Lepers, Etienne |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a framework for monitoring vulnerabilities related to the residential real estate sector in a cross-country context. The framework might be useful for complementing or cross-checking signals available from existing approaches. It takes into account three dimensions of real estate sector vulnerabilities (i.e. valuation, household indebtedness and the bank credit cycle) and enables monitoring across countries in a simple and informative way. Indicators are derived from the early warning literature and policy publications. They are aggregated in a modelfree way to a vulnerability measure, explicitly capturing the level and the dynamics of vulnerabilities. The measure proves to be a significant predictor of historical real estate crises, with a better forecasting performance than the majority of advantageously in-sample calibrated model-based estimates. The monitoring framework allows for a simple and transparent analysis across different dimensions, provides a cross-check of consistency of signals from several indicators, and accounts for the developments in terms of the levels and dynamics. In view of its good forecasting performance, it is a useful complement of model-based toolkits for analysing vulnerabilities in the residential real estate sector. |
| Keywords: | early warning models, real estate crises, real estate vulnerabilities, risk monitoring |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20172096&r=ure |
| By: | Florent Dubois (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille, UM - Université du Maine) |
| Abstract: | Few studies tried to quantify the relative importance of each determinants of residential segregation. This mainly comes from a reverse causality problem which hampers the identification of the quantity of interest. In this paper, we decompose the whole change in segregation between 2001 and 2011 in South Africa by using segregation curves. We show that, even without an experimental setting (which might be impossible to obtain), identification of the causal effects can still be achieved by using the dynamics of the phenomenon. The provision of basic public services appears to be one of the main explanation of the gap observed, while differences in sociodemographic characteristics play a minor role only for the least segregated neighborhoods. Housing market is responsible for an important part only among neighborhoods intermediately integrated, while past segregation and income influence moderately segregation throughout more than half of the South African neighborhoods. |
| Keywords: | post-apartheid South Africa,generalized decompositions,residential segregation,causal inference |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01524506&r=ure |
| By: | Florent Dubois (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille, UM - Université du Maine); Christophe Muller (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille) |
| Abstract: | In his seminal work, Schelling (1971) shows that even individual preferences for integration across groups may generate high levels of segregation. However, this theoretical prediction does not match the decreasing levels of segregation observed since the 1970s. We construct a general equilibrium model in which preferences depends on the number of peers and unlike individuals, but also on the benefit (or loss) they attribute to the economic and social life that a minority member brings with him, which we call their “perception of the minority”. In this framework, there always exists a structure of the preferences for which integrated equilibria emerge and are stable. Even when individuals are all prejudiced against other groups, there is still a level of the perception of the minority for which integration is a stable outcome. We then propose an econometric specification in which the structural preference parameters can be identified. In the case of South Africa, our estimates of preferences provide evidence for a dynamics toward increasing integration as the effect of the perception of the minority is found positive and significant, and overcome both racism and homophily by between roughly one and four times. |
| Keywords: | post-apartheid South Africa,residential segregation,racial preferences,structural estimation |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01520308&r=ure |
| By: | Virginia Knechtel; Thomas Coen; Pia Caronongan; Nickie Fung; Lisbeth Goble |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of KIPP Pre-K programs and their persistence over time, finding that KIPP positively affects student achievement and that these impacts persist to some degree in grade 2. |
| Keywords: | KIPP, Charter School, Pre-K, Pre-Kindergarten,, Early Childhood Education |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:252c4c955f4c48d699d7acc8941304fc&r=ure |
| By: | Randall Akee; Maggie R. Jones; Sonya R. Porter |
| Abstract: | This paper presents income shares, income inequality, and income immobility measures for all race and ethnic groups in the United States using the universe of U.S. tax returns matched at the individual level to U.S. Census race data for 2000–2014. Whites and Asians have a disproportionately large share of income in top quantiles. Income for most race groups ranges between 50–80 percent of the corresponding White income level consistently across various percentiles in the overall income distribution—suggesting that class alone cannot explain away overall income differences. The rate of income growth at the 90th percentile exceeds that of the 50th and 10th percentiles for all race and ethnic groups; divergence is largest for Whites, however, in the post-Great Recession era. Income immobility is largest for the highest-income races. Overall, these results paint a picture of a rigid income structure by race and ethnicity over time. |
| JEL: | C81 D31 D63 J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23733&r=ure |
| By: | Arnaud Dupuy (CREA, Université du Luxembourg); Alfred Galichon (New York University, USA and Toulouse School of Economics, France ") |
| Abstract: | This note introduces a maximum likelihood estimator of the value of job amenities and labor productivity in a single matching market based on the observation of equilibrium matches and wages. The estimation procedure simultaneously fits both the matching patterns and the wage curve. Our estimator is suited for applications to a wide range of assignment problems. |
| Keywords: | Matching, Observed transfers, Structural estimation, Value of job amenities, Value of productivity. of productivity |
| JEL: | C35 C78 J31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-14&r=ure |
| By: | Faia, Ester; Paiella, Monica |
| Abstract: | Despite the lack of delegated monitor and of collateral guarantees P2P lending platforms exhibit relatively low loan and delinquency rates. The adverse selection is indeed mitigated by a new screening technology (information processing through machine learning) that provides costless public signals. Using data from Prosper and Lending Club we show that loans' spreads, proxing asymmetric information, decline with credit scores or hard information indicators and with indications from "group ties" (soft information from social networks). Also an increase in the risk of bank run in the traditional banking sector increases participation in the P2P markets and reduces their rates (substitution effect). We rationalize this evidence with a dynamic general equilibrium model where lenders and borrowers choose between traditional bank services (subject to the risk of bank runs and early liquidation) and P2P markets (which clear at a pooling price due to asymmetric information, but where public signals facilitate screening). |
| Keywords: | liquidity shocks; peer-to-peer lending; pooling equilibria; signals; value of information |
| JEL: | G11 G23 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12235&r=ure |
| By: | Böckerman, Petri (Labour Institute for Economic Research); Ilmakunnas, Pekka (Aalto University) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the potential role of adverse working conditions and management practices in the determination of employees' retirement behavior. Our data contain both comprehensive information regarding perceived job disamenities, job satisfaction, and intentions to retire from nationally representative cross-sectional surveys and information on employees' actual retirement decisions from longitudinal register data that can be linked to the surveys. Using a trivariate ordered probit model, we observe that job dissatisfaction arising from adverse working conditions is significantly related to intentions to retire, and this in turn is related to actual retirement during the follow-up period. |
| Keywords: | working conditions, job satisfaction, retirement, new management practices |
| JEL: | J26 J28 J53 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10964&r=ure |
| By: | Robert Plant (University of Miami); Manuel S. Santos (University of Miami); Tarek Sayed (University of Miami) |
| Abstract: | Technology investment has been consistently growing since the 1950s when the mainframe started to impact the organization followed by the introduction of the PC in the early 1980s. Mainframes and minicomputers evolved into a distributed environment, which later gave way to the mobile platform, and to the machine to machine interactions. We study the impact of these technology episodes on US labor market trends. We focus on the composition of employment, varying compensation premiums across occupations, as well as a declining labor income share. We isolate some job attributes which have resisted computerization. |
| Keywords: | Technology eras, computerization, job attributes, education attainment, structured vs. unstructured work, social perceptiveness. Publication Status: Submitted |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J01 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mia:wpaper:2017-09&r=ure |
| By: | Xin, Guangyi |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of social interaction on employment status and employment quality by using longitudinal data from BHPS (British Household Panel Survey). Active community membership is employed as the measurement of social Interaction. Various identification strategies provide robust evidence that a higher level of social interaction results in increased probability of being full-time employed. The effect of social interaction on employment status is also investigated among different gender groups and at different age stages. Moreover, three indices of social interaction have been constructed to capture the different dimension effect of social interaction on labour market outcome. As a result, active group memberships in professional organisations and sport clubs have the largest effect. Regarding employment quality, social interaction leads to a positive and significant effect on wages. This social interaction effect is also studied among different gender and occupation groups. |
| Keywords: | Social Capital; Social Interaction; Labour Market Outcome |
| JEL: | C1 J21 J31 J64 L14 |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80976&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Yeaple (Pennsylvania State University); Chong Xiang (Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | The quality of a country's educational infrastructure is a crucial determinant of economic well-being. Historically, measurement of educational quality relied on crude output measures, such as average years of schooling. More recently, researchers have tried to measure the comparative quality of educational systems directly by comparing test scores on international tests. Aspects of educational quality that are ill-measured by exams, however, are neglected in such analyses. In this paper, we develop a general equilibrium framework that allow educational outcomes to vary in the extent to which they are readily quantified on exams. Our framework allows inference along multiple dimensions of educational quality and provides a method for aggregating over these dimensions to construct a single measure of institutional quality. Many countries that score well on international exams fair poorly according to our measure, and our comparative static results suggest important tradeoffs across eductional dimensions. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:510&r=ure |
| By: | Claudia Macaluso (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the effects of discrepancies between local supply and demand for skills on wages, employment, and mobility rates of laid-off workers. I propose the concept of local skill remoteness to capture the degree of dissimilarity between the skill profiles of workers and jobs in a local labor market. I implement a measure of local skill remoteness at the occupation-city level, and find that higher skill remoteness at layoff is associated with lower re-employment rates and lower wages upon re-employment. Earnings differences between the top and bottom skill remoteness quartiles amount to a loss of 15% of the median worker’s annual income and persist for at least two years. Skill-remote workers also have a higher probability of changing occupation, a lower probability of being re-employed at jobs with similar skill profiles, a higher propensity to migrate to another city and, conditional on migration, a higher likelihood of becoming less skill-remote. Motivated by this evidence, I develop a search-and-matching model with two-sided heterogeneity that provides a natural framework to interpret my skill remoteness measure. I use a calibrated version of the model to show that subsidies to on-the-job training lower the average skill remoteness of unemployed workers, thus the aggregate unemployment rate. The marginal benefit of such a policy is increasing in the level of unemployment. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:569&r=ure |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Globally, enrolment in secondary education has expanded dramatically over the past decades. This expansion is also reflected in PISA data, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. Between 2003 and 2015, Indonesia added more than 1.1 million students, Turkey and Brazil more than 400 000 students, and Mexico more than 300 000 students, to the total population of 15-year-olds eligible to participate in PISA. This welcome expansion in education opportunities makes it more difficult to interpret how mean scores in PISA have changed over time. Indeed, increases in coverage can lead to an underestimation of the real improvements that education systems have achieved. Household surveys often show that children from poor households, ethnic minorities or rural areas face a greater risk of not attending or completing lower secondary education. Typically, as populations that had previously been excluded gain access to higher levels of schooling, a larger proportion of low-performing students will be included in PISA samples. |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:75-en&r=ure |
| By: | Pavlina R. Tcherneva |
| Abstract: | This paper examines two key aspects of unemployment--its propagation mechanism and socioeconomic costs. It identifies a key feature of this macroeconomic phenomenon: it behaves like a disease. A detailed assessment of the transmission mechanism and the existing pecuniary and nonpecuniary costs of unemployment suggests a fundamental shift in the policy responses to tackling joblessness. To stem the contagion effect and its outsized social and economic impact, fiscal policy can be designed around two criteria for successful disease intervention--preparedness and prevention. The paper examines how a job guarantee proposal uniquely meets those two requirements. It is a policy response whose merits include much more than its macroeconomic stabilization features, as discussed in the literature. It is, in a sense, a method of inoculation against the vile effects of unemployment. The paper discusses several preventative features of the program. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; Epidemic; Mortality; Morbidity; Health; Scarring Effects; Crime; Family; Job Guarantee; Labor Market Dynamics; Involuntary Job Loss; Prevention |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H1 H4 I18 I3 J08 J6 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_895&r=ure |
| By: | Florent Dubois (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille, UM - Université du Maine); Christophe Muller (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM - Ecole Centrale de Marseille) |
| Abstract: | Despite the influential work of Cutler and Glaeser [13], whether ghettos are good or bad is still an open and debatable question. In this paper, we provide evidence that, in South Africa, ghettos can be good or bad for income depending on the studied quantile of the income distribution. Segregation tends to be beneficial for rich Whites while it is detrimental for poor Blacks. Even when we find it to be also detrimental for Whites, it is still more detrimental for Blacks. We further show that the multitude of results fuelling this debate can come from misspecification issues and selecting the appropriate sample for the analysis. Finally, we quantify the importance of segregation in the income gap between Blacks and Whites in the post-Apartheid South Africa. We find that segregation can account for up to 40 percent of the income gap at the median. It is even often a larger contribution than education all across the income distribution. |
| Keywords: | post-apartheid South Africa,generalized decompositions,income distribution,residential segregation |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01520311&r=ure |
| By: | Benjamin Montmartin (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marcos Herrera (Universidad Nacional de Salta, CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas); Nadine Massard (UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique database containing information on the amount of R&D tax credits and regional, national and European subsidies received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001-2011, we provide new evidence on the efficiency of R&D policies taking into account spatial dependency across regions. By estimating a spatial Durbin model with regimes and fixed effects, we show that in a context of yardstick competition between regions, national subsidies are the only instrument that displays total leverage effect. For other instruments internal and external effects balance each other resulting in insignificant total effects. Structural breaks corresponding to tax credit reforms are also revealed. |
| Keywords: | structural breaks,R&D investment,spatial panel,Additionality,French policy mix |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01559041&r=ure |
| By: | Sin, Isabelle (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust); Stillman, Steven (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano); Fabling, Richard (Independent Researcher) |
| Abstract: | As in other OECD countries, women in New Zealand earn substantially less than men with similar observable characteristics. In this paper, we use a decade of annual wage and productivity data from New Zealand's Linked Employer-Employee Database to examine different explanations for this gender wage gap. Sorting by gender at either the industry or firm level explains less than one-fifth of the overall wage gap. Gender differences in productivity within firms also explain little of the difference seen in wages. The relationships between the gender wage-productivity gap and both age and tenure are inconsistent with statistical discrimination being an important explanatory factor for the remaining differences in wages. Relating across industry and over time variation in the gender wage-productivity gap to industry-year variation in worker skills, and product market and labor market competition, we find evidence that is consistent with taste discrimination being important for explaining the overall gender wage gap. Explanations based on gender differences in bargaining power are less consistent with our findings. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, discrimination, sorting, productivity, competition |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10975&r=ure |
| By: | Rishi Ahuja (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); Ronan C. Lyons (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Online marketplaces were built with the implicit promise of reducing discrimination. Over time, though, online marketplaces have increasingly been designed to reduce anonymity as an exercise in trust building. While the reduction of anonymity can build trust, such design choices can also facilitate discrimination. This study is the first to examine whether there is discrimination against those in same-sex relationships (SSRs) in the sharing economy. Specifically, we examine whether SSRs face discrimination on the Airbnb platform in Dublin, Ireland, through a field experiment. We find that guests in implied male SSRs are approximately 20-30 percent less likely to be accepted than identical guests in implied opposite-sex relationships (OSRs) and in female SSRs. This difference is driven by non-responses from hosts, not outright rejection, and persists regardless of a variety of host and location characteristics, although male hosts and those with many listings are less likely to discriminate. Discrimination against male SSRs was observed least in the most desirable locations. The findings are not consistent with taste-based discrimination but, with little evidence for statistical discrimination, they raise something of a puzzle about the underlying source of discrimination against those in SSRs. |
| Keywords: | discrimination; sharing economy; field experiment; Airbnb |
| JEL: | J16 R3 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1917&r=ure |