|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Clément Gorin (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etenne, GATE L-SE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint- Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies on the geography of innovation have established that skilled workers’ mobility and collaboration networks shape the diffusion of knowledge across firms and regions. At the same time, the literature on absorptive capacity insisted on the importance of local research capabilities to take advantage of knowledge developed elsewhere. This paper inves- tigates both phenomena in an integrated framework by assuming that mobility and networks provide access to knowledge, but the proportion of accessible knowledge effectively used for innovation depends on absorptive capacity. Such complementaries in regional research efforts are effectively captured using a spatial Durbin model in which the connectivity structure stems from mobility and collaboration patterns. Results confirm the relative importance of these two channels in the diffusion of knowledge, and suggests that human capital increases absorptive capacity. These findings have implications for the geography of innovation. While greater accessibility encourages convergence, the notion of absorptive capacity implies a self-reinforcing effect leading to divergence. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Mobility, Network, Absorptive capacity, Spatial Durbin model, Urban areas |
| JEL: | C33 J61 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1722&r=ure |
| By: | Gavriilidis, Gaby; Metaxas, Theodore |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of Strategic Planning (SP) in city/regional development, as well as to identify which strategies, in the context of planning, can be used for achieving local economic development. For that purpose, a review of the relevant literature was conducted. In the analyzed papers, different regions were used as case studies. Additionally, eight areas were identified in which SP was successfully implemented, namely: City/urban development, Tourism, Transportation, Health Care, Education, Energy, Land use and Housing, and Local Governance, revealing the wide applicability of strategic planning in regional development. Several key policies in the context of planning which lead to regional development were identified for each domain. The results indicated that there is a positive association between strategic planning and regional development. More specifically, it was found that strategic planning contributed to the economic development of the examined regions, indicating that it is an efficient tool which can be used by local authorities for enhancing the performance of their regions. The findings are expected to help local actors and urban planners to obtain a more comprehensive view of the advantages, effectiveness and limitations of strategic planning, as well as to identify which strategies mentioned in the academic literature, and were applied in other countries, can be used for achieving local economic development outcomes in Greek regions. |
| Keywords: | Strategic Planning, Regional Development, City Development, Greece. |
| JEL: | R58 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81131&r=ure |
| By: | Gallego, Juan; Montoya, Sergio; Sepúlveda, Carlos |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of urban fiscal policies on housing value. We use a focalization system in Bogotá where certain subsidies and taxes are targeted based on a classification of houses according to external conditions and urban surroundings (socioeconomic stratification). We use a regression discontinuity design, and a rich dataset on cadastre appraisal and housing characteristics, to assess whether a higher tax burden affects the property value. Our results suggest that the usual (negative) capitalization effect is compensated by other channels. We show evidence that as stratum increases, investment on the house maintenance improve. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Economía, Finanzas públicas, Impuestos, Investigación socioeconómica, Políticas públicas, Vivienda, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:994&r=ure |
| By: | García-López, Miguel Ángel; Moreno-Monroy, Ana I. |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of urban spatial structure on income segregation in Brazilian cities between 2000 and 2010. Our results show that, first, local density conditions increase income segregation: the effect is higher in monocentric cities and smaller in polycentric ones. Second, the degree of monocentricity-polycentricity also affects segregation: while a higher concentration of jobs in and around the CBD decreases segregation in monocentric cities, a higher employment concentration in and around subcenters located far from the CBD decreases segregation in polycentric cities. Third, results are heterogeneous according to city size: local density does not increase segregation in small (monocentric) cities, it increases segregation in medium size cities, and it decreases segregation in large (polycentric) cities. Finally, results also differ between income groups: while local density conditions increase the segregation of the poor, a more polycentric configuration reduces the segregation of the rich. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Desarrollo urbano, Investigación socioeconómica, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:957&r=ure |
| By: | Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo; Duque, Juan Carlos; Urrego, Joaquin A. |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between urban public transportation innovation and crime. In 2004, the city of Medellin in Colombia developed an innovative public transportation system based on cable cars (Metrocable) to reach dense, isolated and dangerous neighborhoods. Using Spatial Difference in Difference approaches and a rich dataset at spatial analytical level, using max-p modeling, we explore the effects of the Metrocable on crime and its mechanisms. We find a significant impact on homicides reduction in the treated neighborhoods, especially in the medium run. Homicides decreased around 41% more than the general crime reduction in the city between 2004 and 2006, and by 49% between 2004 and 2012. We explore two mechanisms through which this intervention may affect the level of criminality, one is reducing the travel costs and improving accessibility to the rest of the city for low-income population (socioeconomic mechanism); the other is the increasing of the probability of apprehension for potential and active o enders (deterrent mechanism). |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Innovación, Investigación socioeconómica, Pobreza, Seguridad ciudadana, Transporte, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:978&r=ure |
| By: | Saleem Bahaj (Bank of England; Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM)); Angus Foulis (Bank of England; Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM)); Gabor Pinter (Bank of England; Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM)) |
| Abstract: | The homes of those in charge of firms are an important source of finance for ongoing businesses. We use firm level accounting data, transaction level house price data and loan level residential mortgage data from the UK to show that a £1 increase in the value of the residential real estate of a firm’s directors increases the firm’s investment and wage bill by £0.03 each. These effects run through smaller firms and are similar in booms and busts. In aggregate, the homes of firm directors are worth 80% of GDP. Using this, a back of the envelope calculation suggests that a 1% increase in real estate prices leads, through this channel, to up to a 0.28% rise in business investment and a 0.08% rise in total wages paid. We complement this with evidence on how a firm responds to changes in the value of its own corporate real estate; we find that, in aggregate, the residential real estate of directors is at least as important for activity. We use an estimated general equilibrium model to quantify the importance of both types of real estate for the propagation of shocks to the macroeconomy. |
| JEL: | D22 E32 R30 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfm:wpaper:1724&r=ure |
| By: | TANAKA Ryuichi; ISHIZAKI Kazumi |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of teaching practices on the educational achievement of elementary school students. Using unique student-level test score data and controlling for school fixed effects, we estimate the impact of linguistic activity in the classroom on reading and mathematics test scores of sixth grade students. We find that linguistic activities improve students reading and mathematics test scores and that their impacts are substantial. We find heterogeneity in the effect of these activities across class size environment and home environment such as cram schooling. These findings indicate that the types of language teaching practices matter for students' academic achievement, and the effectiveness may depend on the learning environment in school and at home. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17108&r=ure |
| By: | Alves, Guillermo |
| Abstract: | I study slum growth in contemporary urbanization processes by estimating a spatial equilibrium model with houses with and without basic water and sanitation services in Brazilian cities between 1991 and 2010. Slum growth results from households moving to cities following higher wages (elasticity of 1.7), this movement impacting cities’ serviced housing rents much more (elasticity of 0.4) than unserviced ones (elasticity of 0.1), and these rent changes impacting households’ location decisions more for serviced (elasticity of -0.5) than for unserviced houses (elasticity of -0.4). I show that the effect of urban economic growth on cities’ slum incidence depends critically on what happens in other cities. When a few cities grow, they experience higher slum incidence because they are the focus for migrants coming from rural areas and less dynamic cities. When all cities grow, slum incidence declines in all cities as a result of two forces. First, each individual city faces less housing demand pressure as migration between cities becomes more balanced and rural migrants flow to all cities. Second, generalized economic growth improves households’ incomes nation-wide, allowing households to switch to higher quality non-slum housing. In terms of common slum policies, I show that the effects of slum repression on any individual city are mild and decrease with the number of other cities repressing slums. If all cities repress slums by making unserviced housing 20% more expensive, this lowers aggregate urbanization by 0.4% and low income households’ welfare by 1.1%. On the other hand, a generalized slum upgrading policy turning 10% of cities’ 1991 unserviced housing stock into serviced housing, increases aggregate urbanization by 1.1%, low income households’ welfare by 4.0%, and high income households’ welfare by 3.6%. |
| Keywords: | Investigación socioeconómica, Pobreza, Vivienda, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:958&r=ure |
| By: | O´Clery, Neave; Lora, Eduardo |
| Abstract: | Cities thrive through the diversity of their occupants because the availability of complementary skills enables firms in the formal sector to grow, delivering increasingly sophisticated products and services. The appearance of new industries is path dependent in that new economic activities build on existing strengths, leading cities to both diversify and specialize in distinct areas. Hence, the location of necessary capabilities, and in particular the distance between firms and people with the skills they need, is key to the success of urban agglomerations. Using data for Colombia, this paper assesses the extent to which cities benefit from skills and capabilities available in their surrounding catchment areas. Without assuming a priori a definition for cities, we sequentially agglomerate the 96 urban municipalities larger than 50,000 people based on commuting time. We show that a level of agglomeration equivalent to between 45 and 75 minutes of commuting time, corresponding to between 62 and 43 cities, maximizes the impact that the availability of skills has on the ability of agglomerations to generate formal employment. Smaller urban municipalities stand to gain more in the process of agglomeration. A range of policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Educación, Investigación socioeconómica, Sector privado, Trabajo y protección social, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:959&r=ure |
| By: | Smyth, Emer |
| Abstract: | Young people in Irish schools are required to choose whether to sit lower and upper secondary exam subjects at higher or ordinary level. This paper draws on a mixed methods longitudinal study of students in twelve case-study schools to trace the school and student factors influencing take-up of higher level subjects within lower secondary education. School organisation and process are found to shape the extent to which young people actually have a ‘choice’ or whether this is circumscribed by the school they attend or the class group to which they are allocated. Streaming practices, which are more prevalent in schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, constrain the degree of choice young people have over their subject levels, with those in lower stream classes usually allocated to ordinary level. Even where schools have mixed ability base classes, schools influence access to higher level subjects. In the middle-class and socially mixed schools, teachers are more likely to expect and encourage all students to take higher level, at least for as long as possible. In contrast, in working-class schools, there are sharp declines in the proportion taking higher level subjects as they approach the national exam taken at the end of lower secondary education. Early decisions about not pursuing higher level are found to have long-term consequences by closing off particular pathways for the future. These early decisions are often made in the absence of formal school-based guidance, thus contributing to social inequalities in young people’s destinations. The findings contribute to our understanding of how curriculum differentiation reinforces social class differences in educational pathways. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp568&r=ure |
| By: | INOUE Atsushi; TANAKA Ryuichi |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this study is to reveal empirically the relationship between teachers' majors in natural science and students' test score in science. For this purpose, we estimate the effect of teacher characteristics by regressing students' test scores taken from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) on teachers' majors in natural science using matched data of students and teachers in public junior high schools in Japan. We find that eighth grade students taught by teachers with natural science majors attain higher test scores in science than those who are taught by teachers without natural science majors. Estimating a quantile regression model, we find a stronger relationship for students with low achievement in science. We also find that the teachers' experience positively affects the students' test score. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:17052&r=ure |
| By: | Rene Belderbos; Helen S. Du; Anthony Goerzen |
| Abstract: | One of the manifestations of the increasing diversity in multinational corporation (MNC) operations is the growing importance of regional headquarters (RHQs). RHQs assume an intermediary, bridging role between the corporate headquarters and local affiliates and other actors in their respective regions. They can have a coordination and control (i.e., administrative) mandate as well as an opportunity seeking (i.e., entrepreneurial) mandate. Since these mandates require RHQs to interact with various internal and external entities and exchange knowledge across distant locations, MNCs tend to locate their RHQs in highly connected “global cities” because these places allow the firm to economize on spatial transaction costs. In this paper, we explore the interplay between geographic distance, RHQ roles, and connectivity by analyzing which global city is selected by an MNC when establishing an RHQ. We argue that there is substantial heterogeneity among MNCs in the importance they attach to city connectivity—which we conceptualize as encompassing the effects of the international flows of people, knowledge, and services—because the connectivity needs of an RHQ varies in relation to its corporate mandate as well as to the geographic configuration of the MNC’s activities. Our mixed logit analysis of the location choices for 1,031 newly established RHQs in 48 global cities between 2003 and 2012 provides qualified support for the notion that the relationship between city connectivity and location choice is more pronounced for RHQs with an entrepreneurial role. Although the geographic distance of a city to the MNC’s regional affiliates discourages the establishment of RHQs with administrative roles, distance effects disappear when the city is highly connected. Moreover, well connected cities are able to attract MNCs’ RHQs from distant countries-of-origin. |
| Keywords: | connectivity, geographic distance, global cities, location choice, regional headquarters |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:msiper:589986&r=ure |
| By: | Essi Eerola; Teemu Lyytikäinen |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of housing demand subsidies on rents using discontinuities in the Finnish housing allowance system as a quasi-experimental setting. The stepwise dependence of housing allowance on the floor area of the dwelling and the year of construction of the building causes economically and statistically significant discontinuities in the amount of housing allowances. However, our results show that there are no discontinuities in rents of the recipient households at these cut-offs. Instead, differences in the amount of the housing allowance are translated roughly one-to-one into differences in the rent net of housing allowance. |
| Keywords: | housing demand subsidies, housing allowance, incidence, rents |
| JEL: | H22 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0220&r=ure |
| By: | Pierre André; Paul Maarek (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | Using a nationally representative household survey from Mali with retrospective information on school supply, we estimate the effect of opening new schools on education and on social capital formation. I compare the difference in educational attainment between individuals below and above the age of 9 at a school opening date using a quasi regression discontinuity design. School openings increase school enrollment; they also increase the participation in village associations and the involvement in local political life. The effect on political participation is concentrated in the eldest cohorts of the village with education, aged more than 40; this is not surprising: the eldest occupy a pivotal role in the social life of African villages. Also, the effect of education is concentrated on individuals belonging to a chief family of the village, so education seems to change local political power inside the dominant group of the village. |
| Keywords: | Education, political participation, school openings, Mali |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2017-18&r=ure |
| By: | Buonnano, Paolo; Vargas, Juan F. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between economic inequality and crime in Colombian municipalities. Following recent scholarly research that suggests that the legacy of slavery is largely manifest in persistent levels of economic inequality, we instrument economic inequality with a census-based measure of the proportion of slaves in each municipality before the abolition of slavery in the 19 century. We also explore the robustness of our estimates to relaxing the exclusion restriction, as the slavery instrument is only plausibly exogenous. We document a strong association between inequality and both violent and property crime rates at the municipal level. Our estimates are robust to including traditional determinants of crime (like population density, the proportion of young males, the average education level, the quality of law enforcement institutions, and the overall economic activity), as well as current ethnic differences and geographic characteristics that may be correlated both with the slave economy and with crime. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Economía, Equidad e inclusión social, Investigación socioeconómica, Pobreza, Seguridad, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:987&r=ure |
| By: | Pascal Pochet (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Lourdes Diaz Olvera (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Didier Plat (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Amakoé Adolehoume (LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | As urban growth contributes towards a surge in mobility needs, motorcycles are becoming increasingly present in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are proving to be the transport mode best adapted to the poor road conditions and heavy congestion, as well as a solution to the structural difficulties encountered by public transport to ensure daily mobility for inhabitants. The advance of motorcycles takes different forms, depending on the cities in question: a growth driven by personal use and the rise in motorcycle taxis over the last decades. |
| Keywords: | motorbike taxi, mobility, earnings, public health, Lomé,private motorcycle |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01482898&r=ure |
| By: | Collins, Matthew; Curtis, John |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the diffusion of energy efficiency retrofits across the national housing stock and specifically examines whether the level of applications for subsidy support is impacted by advertising, either online or through print and radio media, and whether there are spillover effects from prior investments in retrofits on new retrofit subsidy applications. While there are numerous drivers of household retrofitting activities, the focus here is specifically on advertising and spillover effects. The analysis employs a Bass growth model using a subsidy scheme administrative dataset from Ireland. The research finds that some but not all advertising related to a retrofit subsidy scheme increases the level of scheme applications and also that there are spillover effects from a niche retrofit scheme targeting communities (covering both private and community buildings) on private applications for energy efficiency subsidy support. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp569&r=ure |
| By: | Justiniano, Alejandro; Primiceri, Giorgio E; Tambalotti, Andrea |
| Abstract: | We document the emergence of a disconnect between mortgage and Treasury interest rates in the summer of 2003. Following the end of the Federal Reserve expansionary cycle in June 2003, mortgage rates failed to rise according to their historical relationship with Treasury yields, leading to significantly and persistently easier mortgage credit conditions. We uncover this phenomenon by analyzing a large dataset with millions of loan-level observations, which allows us to control for the impact of varying loan, borrower and geographic characteristics. These detailed data also reveal that delinquency rates started to rise for loans originated after mid 2003, exactly when mortgage rates disconnected from Treasury yields and credit became relatively cheaper. |
| Keywords: | Credit boom; housing boom; private label; Securitization; subprime. |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12265&r=ure |
| By: | Goytia, Cynthia; Dorna, Guadalupe |
| Abstract: | We analyze the relationship between urban sprawl and changing patterns of inequality and segregation in metropolitan areas of Argentina. The existing literature has endeavored to study the determinants of the expansion of cities, but less attention has been placed in understanding the effects of this sprawl on the livelihood of the people that live in them. Understanding whether different patterns of urban extension determine both segregation and inequality is extremely relevant in the context of fast growing urban agglomerates of Latin American countries. Among other findings, we provide evidence that there is segregation of the poor and not of the rich in all urban agglomerates but in Greater Buenos Aires, where segregation of the affluent, not the poor, prevails in the areas of greater informal urban expansion, measured by the extension of informal settlements. Yet, not all the patterns of urban development and built-up growth have the same effect. More leapfrog appears to explain greater segregation -particularly of the poor- while both infill and extension are positively related to more homogeneous urban agglomerations. This means that the most disadvantaged are more evenly distributed in agglomerations that have not seen much of their sprawl due to discontinue urban expansion of their borders. Finally, we also find a positive association between more unequal municipalities and greater slum expansions. The causality of this relationship is unclear and further analysis could be promising. It might be the case that more unequal municipalities allow for institutional environments in which slums can grow faster. Or it might well be that places which have experienced more accelerated slum growth have become more unequal because of the arrival of new families that accentuates such disparities. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Desarrollo social, Desarrollo urbano, Economía, Equidad e inclusión social, Investigación socioeconómica, Pobreza, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:972&r=ure |
| By: | Estrada, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | I use detailed applications data to document a case in which, contrary to prevailing concerns, increasing school stratification by ability co-existed with stable stratification by family income: Mexico City public high schools. To understand this puzzle, I develop a model that shows that the effect of an overall increase in the demand for elite schools on school stratification by family income is a horse race between the correlations of family income and ability, and family income and demand. My empirical analysis reveals an initial (and decreasing) demand gap by family income that explains the observed stability in stratification. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Economía, Investigación socioeconómica, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1065&r=ure |
| By: | Crafts, Nicholas; Klein, Alex |
| Abstract: | We construct spatially-weighted indices of the geographic concentration of U.S. manufacturing industries during the period 1880 to 1997 using data from the Census of Manufactures and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Several important new results emerge from this exercise. First, we find that average spatial concentration was much lower in the late-20th- than the late-19th century and that this was the outcome of a continuing reduction over time. Second, the persistent tendency to greater spatial dispersion was characteristic of most manufacturing industries. Third, even so, economically and statistically significant spatial concentration was pervasive throughout this period. |
| Keywords: | manufacturing belt; spatial concentration; transport costs |
| JEL: | N62 N92 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12257&r=ure |
| By: | Estelle Malavolti (TSE - Toulouse School of Economics - Toulouse School of Economics, ENAC - Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile); Frédéric Marty (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) |
| Abstract: | A lot of cases had arouse in the past decade about agreements between regional airports and low-cost carriers. These agreements are challenged on the basis of the State Aids European control as they rise concerns not only about competition distortions between airlines but also about fiscal competition risks among Member States or local governments. Such phenomena could be expected as regional airports are characterized by significant overcapacities and overlapping inducing a substitutability for airlines. Surprisingly, the new 2014 guidelines on State Aids granted to airlines open the way to transitory operating aid schemes, an option apparently at odds with the European longstanding principles. Our purpose in this paper is to demonstrate with the help of the development of a model, that such agreements can make sense from the economic point of view provided that the relationship between the carrier and the airport is no longer analyzed as a vertical chain, inducing an assessment in terms of economic dependence, but as a two-sided market. The favorable usage terms granted to low cost carriers generate additional flows on the other side, with commercial revenues from shops or parking. Consequently, subsidizing operating costs might be rational, even for a private investor in a market economy, and might be a perennial device. |
| Keywords: | two-sided market,state aids,air transport economics |
| Date: | 2017–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01538698&r=ure |
| By: | Akbar, Prottoy; Duranton, Gilles |
| Abstract: | We provide a novel approach to estimate the deadweight loss of congestion. We implement it for road travel in the city of Bogotá using information from a travel survey and counterfactual travel data generated from Google Maps. For the supply of travel, we find that the elasticity of the time cost of travel per unit of distance with respect to the number of travelers is on average about 0.06. It is close to zero at low levels of traffic, then reaches a maximum magnitude of about 0.20 as traffic builds up and becomes small again at high levels of traffic. This finding is in sharp contrast with extant results for specific road segments. We explain it by the existence of local streets which remain relatively uncongested and put a floor on the time cost of travel. On the demand side, we estimate an elasticity of the number of travelers with respect to the time cost of travel of 0.40. Although road travel is costly in Bogotá, these findings imply a small daily deadweight loss from congestion, equal to less than 1% of a day’s wage. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Investigación socioeconómica, Transporte, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1028&r=ure |
| By: | Arrosa, María Laura; Gandelman, Néstor |
| Abstract: | We use a life satisfaction approach for the valuation of public goods and amenities in Latin American cities. We apply a homogenous database of seventeen cities gathered by the Development Bank of Latin America CAF. Using the estimated monetary value for several public goods and neighborhood amenities we construct a city level quality of life index. We find that access to electricity, access to running water and security are the three largest valued urban characteristics in terms of life satisfaction and housing satisfaction. The monetary equivalent valuations represent more than duplicating the household per capita income. Lacking access to them has a tremendous impact on quality of life. We also show that although richer households have more access, public good and amenities are a source for reductions in quality of life disparities. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Investigación socioeconómica, Servicios públicos, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:979&r=ure |
| By: | Böhlmark, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, IFAU, CReAM); Willén, Alexander (Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, USA) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of ethnic residential segregation on short- and long-term education and labor market outcomes of immigrants and natives. Our identification strategy builds on the one-sided tipping point model, which predicts that neighborhood native population growth drops discontinuously once the immigrant share exceeds a certain threshold. After having identified a statistically and economically significant discontinuity in native population growth at candidate tipping points in the three metropolitan areas of Sweden between 1990 and 2000, we show that these thresholds also are associated with a discontinuous jump in ethnic residential segregation. We exploit these thresholds to estimate the intent-to-treat effect of tipping. We find modest adverse education effects among both immigrants and natives. These effects do not carry over to the labor market. |
| Keywords: | residential segregation; education; labor market; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | J15 J16 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2017_014&r=ure |
| By: | FUJII Daisuke; SAITO Yukiko; SENGA Tatsuro |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical evidence has revealed that firm age is one of the key determinants for firm growth, while other literature points out the importance of customer-supplier networks for firm growth. This paper investigates how the inter-firm transaction network evolves over the firm lifecycle and its relationship with firm growth using large-scale firm network data in Japan. Old firms are large in size and well connected compared to young firms. In particular, older firms are connected to other older firms exhibiting positive assortativity of age. Younger firms tend to add and drop links more frequently, and the stability of a transaction link increases with its duration of active relationships, implying gradual learning of link-specific productivity over time. Moreover, firm's sales growth is positively related with the expansion of transaction partners in various measures, conditional on firm age. This suggests that the observed relationship between firm age and firm growth may be due to the lifecycle pattern of building inter-firm networks. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17110&r=ure |
| By: | Zhao, Yunhui |
| Abstract: | I evaluate the subsidized default insurance policy (implemented through the guarantee for Government-Sponsored Enterprises, GSEs) in the U.S. mortgage market both empirically and theoretically. Empirically, I find that the subsidy has raised mortgage interest rates for all loans strictly eligible for the subsidy (conforming loans), which is contrary to conventional wisdom. I do so by applying regression discontinuity designs and using the exogenous variation in mortgage rates generated by a mandate of U.S. Congress. My empirical strategy circumvents the endogeneity problem in conventional studies. Then I set up a screening model with asymmetric information, which explains my empirical results. Moreover, the model implies that the subsidy has hurt borrowers it was intended to help, even without considering the higher tax burden imposed on borrowers to finance the subsidy. The observed positive jumbo-conforming spread can also be explained by the model through incentive compatibility constraints associated with asymmetric information. My paper cautions regulators against interpreting the observed jumbo-conforming spread as an indication that the subsidy necessarily decreases mortgage rates and benefits conforming borrowers. Moreover, the paper shows that the subsidy raises household leverage, increases mortgage default rate, and ultimately undermines financial stability, calling for deeper housing finance reforms in the U.S. beyond the Dodd-Frank Act. |
| Keywords: | U.S. Mortgage; Government-Sponsored Enterprises; Default; Regression Discontinuity Designs; Moral Hazard |
| JEL: | C54 G18 G21 R3 |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81083&r=ure |
| By: | Alzúa, María Laura; Amendolaggine, Julián; Cruces, Guillermo; Greppi, Catrihel |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of a social housing policy program implemented in Argentina, exploiting the random assignment rule to identify the policy's causal effect on labor market and other socio-economic outcomes. In particular, this paper evaluates an intervention that combines access to quality housing at a heavily subsidized cost, the granting of property rights, and relocation in a suburb of Rosario, Argentina's third largest city. In a preliminary analysis, based on administrative social security records, we find that the policy generates a reduction in registered employment by more than 7 percentage points, especially for women and beneficiaries over 50 years of age. We went further and conducted a purposely-designed household survey among a sample of beneficiaries in order to understand the underlying mechanisms and welfare implications of these results. All in all, our analysis points to the existence of an income effect and confirms the registered fall in formal employment and labor force participation. We do not find an increase in informalization, although beneficiaries' perceived access to local job opportunities are signicantly reduced. |
| Keywords: | Economía, Investigación socioeconómica, Trabajo y protección social, Vivienda, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:971&r=ure |
| By: | Emma Riley |
| Abstract: | This paper presents experimental evidence on the impact of a role model on secondary school student exam performance in Uganda. Students preparing to take their national exams (classes S4 and S6) were individually randomised to see either an aspirational movie featuring a potential role model, Queen of Katwe, or to see a placebo movie. I find that treatment with the aspirational movie leads to a 0.11 standard deviation increase in maths performance for S4 students, with the effect coming from students being 11 percentage points less likely to fail the exam. This effect is being driven by the lowest ability and students at lower ranked schools. For S6 students, their total score on their exams increase by 0.13 standard deviations. This study highlights the power of a role model as a cost-effective way to improve secondary school students' educational attainment, particularly of the worst performing students. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2017-13&r=ure |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi (University of Pittsburgh); Giacomo DeGiorgi (GSEM-University of Geneva); Jaromir Nosal (Boston College) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | subprime debt, housing boom, housing crisis |
| JEL: | D14 E21 G21 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-066&r=ure |
| By: | Garrido, Nicolás; Vargas, Miguel |
| Abstract: | The aim of this work is to study the relationship between high-skilled workers’ segregation and productivity in Latin American cities. This relationship is not clear at first sight. On the one hand high-skilled workers’ spatial concentration would take advantage of agglomeration economies and cause positive spillovers amongst the most advantaged that could compensate productivity losses due the existence of low-skilled workers ghettos. On the other hand, it would be the case that those spillovers are not enough for compensating the worse-off groups’ productivity losses, and hence the aggregated productivity would be negatively affected. We calculate this group segregation for a group of Latin American countries’ most important cities. We found a negative and significant relationship amongst cities’ productivity and high-skilled workers segregation. However, we found evidence of a quadratic relationship between segregation and productivity as well. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Investigación socioeconómica, Trabajo y protección social, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1016&r=ure |
| By: | Estrada, Ricardo; Gignoux, Jérémie |
| Abstract: | We exploit data on the future earnings students at high school completion expect to receive with and without a college education, together with information on learning achievement and college outcomes, to study the benefits from admission into a system of elite public high schools in Mexico City. Using data for the centralized allocation of students into schools and an adapted regression discontinuity design strategy, we estimate that elite school admission increases the future earnings and returns students expect from a college education. These gains in earnings expectations seem to reflect improvement in actual earnings opportunities, as admission to this elite school system also enhances learning achievement and college graduation outcomes. This provides evidence of the earnings benefits from attending elite schools. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Investigación socioeconómica, Trabajo y protección social, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1017&r=ure |
| By: | Glaser, Stephanie |
| Abstract: | Despite the increasing availability of spatial count data in research areas like technology spillovers, patenting activities, insurance payments, and crime forecasting, specialized models for analysing such data have received little attention in econometric literature so far. The few existing approaches can be broadly classified into observation-driven models, where the random spatial effects enter the moments of the dependent variable directly, and parameterdriven models, where the random spatial effects are unobservable and induced via a latent process. Moreover, within these groups the modelling approaches (and therefore the interpretation) of spatial effects are quite heterogeneous, stemming in part from the nonlinear structure of count data models. The purpose of this survey is to compare and contrast the various approaches for econometric modelling of spatial counts discussed in the literature. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:192017&r=ure |
| By: | Duque, Valentina; Rosales-Rueda, María; Sánchez, Fabio |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how early-life conditions interact with subsequent human capital investments to influence future educational outcomes. To provide causal evidence, we exploit two sources of exogenous variation: i) variation in early-life environments resulting from a child's exposure to extreme rainfall and drought shocks in early-life; and ii), variation in subsequent investments resulting from the availability of conditional cash transfers (CCT) that promote investments in children's health and education. Using Colombian administrative data, we combine a natural experiment with a regression discontinuity design using the CCT assignment rule. Results show that, although the CCT has an overall positive impact on children's educational outcomes, it does not have a differential effect on children exposed to early-life shocks; however, the overall effect of the program is large enough to mitigate the negative impact of the weather shock. These findings have important policy implications as they provide evidence of the role of social policies in closing gaps generated by early-life trauma. |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo social, Educación, Equidad e inclusión social, Investigación socioeconómica, Salud, Niñez, Familia, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:955&r=ure |
| By: | Christian Krekel (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study whether raising instructional time can crowd out student pro-social behaviour. To this end, we exploit a large educational reform in Germany that has raised weekly instructional hours for high school students by 12.5% as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that this rise has a negative and sizeable effect on volunteering, both at the intensive and at the extensive margin. It also affects political interest. There is no similar crowding out of scholastic involvement, but no substitution either. Impacts seem to be driven by a reduction in available leisure time as opposed to a rise in intensity of instruction, and to be temporary only. Robustness checks, including placebo tests and triple differencing, confirm our results. |
| Keywords: | Instructional Time, Student Pro-Social Behaviour, Volunteering,Scholastic Involvement, Political Interest, Quasi-Natural Experiment,G8 Reform, SOEP |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01578364&r=ure |
| By: | Estrada, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I use a unique empirical setting that allows me to compare the performance of teachers hired in a discretionary process led by the teachers’ union in Mexico with the performance of those hired on the basis of a screening rule (test scores on a standardized exam). My results show that the discretionary hires perform considerably worse than the rulebased hires (as measured by value added to student achievement). The evidence presented here shows the impact of personnel selection mechanisms on the quality of public service delivery. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Economía, Investigación socioeconómica, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1083&r=ure |
| By: | Parag Mahajan; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | How readily do potential migrants respond to increased returns to migration? Even if origin areas become less attractive vis-à-vis migration destinations, fixed costs can prevent increased migration. We examine migration responses to hurricanes, which reduce the attractiveness of origin locations. Restricted-access U.S. Census data allows precise migration measures and analysis of more migrant-origin countries. Hurricanes increase U.S. immigration, with the effect increasing in the size of prior migrant stocks. Large migrant networks reduce fixed costs by facilitating legal immigration from hurricane-affected source countries. Hurricane-induced immigration can be fully accounted for by new legal permanent residents (“green card” holders). |
| JEL: | F22 O15 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23756&r=ure |
| By: | Folgerø, Ingrid Kristine (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Harding, Torfinn (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Westby, Benjamin (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of speed limits on local air pollution, using a series of datespecific speed limit reductions in Oslo over the 2004-2015 period. We find that lowering the speed limit from 80 to 60 km/h reduces travel speed by 5.8 km/h, but we find no effect on local air pollution. A conservative cost–benefit calculation suggests a net social loss from the speed limit reductions of 0.52 billion USD each year. Our findings imply that policy makers need to consider other actions than speed limit reductions to improve local air quality. |
| Keywords: | Temporary speed limit; air pollution; travel time; cost-benefit; regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | H23 Q53 Q58 R41 |
| Date: | 2017–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2017_012&r=ure |
| By: | Ethan Ilzetzki (London School of Economics (LSE); Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM)); Saverio Simonelli (University of Naplpes Federico II; enter for Studies in Economics and Finance) |
| Abstract: | We measure output per worker in nearly 8,000 municipalities in the Italian electoral process using ballot counting times in the 2013 general election and two referenda in 2016. We document large productivity dispersion across provinces in this very uniform and low-skill task that involves nearly no technology and requires limited physical capital. Using a development accounting framework, this measure explains up to half of the firm-level productivity dispersion across Italian provinces and more than half the north-south productivity gap in Italy. We explore potential drivers of our measure of labor efficiency and find that its association with measures of work ethic and trust is particularly robust. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity, Development accounting, Work ethic, Cultural economics |
| JEL: | O47 E24 J24 Z10 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfm:wpaper:1725&r=ure |
| By: | Duque, Juan Carlos; Patino, Jorge Eduardo; Betancourt, Alejandro |
| Abstract: | Slum identification in urban settlements is a crucial step in the process of formulation of propoor policies. However, the use of conventional methods for slums detection such as field surveys may result time consuming and costly. This paper explores the possibility of implementing a low-cost standardized method for slum detection. We use spectral, texture and structural features extracted from very high spatial resolution imagery as input data and evaluate the capability of three machine learning algorithms (Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine and Random Forest) to classify urban areas as slum or no-slum. Using data from Buenos Aires (Argentina), Medellin (Colombia), and Recife (Brazil), we found that Support Vector Machine with radial basis kernel deliver the best performance (over 0.81). We also found that singularities within cities preclude the use of a unified classification model. |
| Keywords: | Ciudades, Desarrollo urbano, Economía, Equidad e inclusión social, Georreferenciación, Investigación socioeconómica, Pobreza, Políticas públicas, Servicios públicos, Vivienda, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:975&r=ure |
| By: | Arnold Katz (Bureau of Economic Analysis) |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bea:wpaper:0144&r=ure |
| By: | Cheikh Diop (College of Architecture and Urban Planning - Tongji University) |
| Abstract: | The various political regimes that have succeeded Senegal have initiated different projects, programs, strategies and plans in several sectors including "Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE)" which is the latest to place Senegal in ramps of the emergence or development. The results were more or less satisfactory. Therefore, it seems important, through this study, to mention an important part of water and sanitation in our human settlements: neighborhoods without adequate treatment, may further delay the long awaited emergence/development of our country. One of the major events in recent decades in Senegal is Guet Ndar, a neighborhood located in the Municipality of Saint-Louis in northern Senegal, is a perfect illustration with a high concentration of the population in urban areas consecutive high rate of natural increase. The physical constraints to the expansion of the district, it is densely populated over the years both in terms of habitat and population, reaching a population of more than 16,000 inhabitants on a 16.9 hectares [1], making it one of the most densely populated areas of Senegal. In these conditions, access to water and sanitation for that district of populations is complicated by the current lack of planned and operational solution. The town of Saint-Louis, in this context of the policy in support of the people's problems, is considering a number of projects to improve the environment and living conditions of the population. Guet Ndar is characterized by: narrow streets, promiscuity, lack or weakness of networks (water, electricity, telephone, sanitation, and roads), amenities (schools, health, socio-educational, worship, etc.) and the lack of property titles. Eventually, the living conditions in these areas will be significantly improved with the resolution of the problem of water and sanitation, which are the necessities. Yet the challenge of the emergence and sustainable development of Guet Ndar will be difficult to meet if the area is not properly sanitized. It constitutes a real bottleneck for the City of St. Louis. In this respect, in a context where the emergence is brandished as, lack of sanitation should not find its place in municipalities and cities of Senegal leading to be the locomotive of growth. This study provides some possible solutions to create better living conditions for the residents of Guet Ndar and could assist local authorities in their missions. |
| Keywords: | sanitation,development,decentralization,waste water |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01527742&r=ure |
| By: | Gordon Hanson; Chen Liu; Craig McIntosh |
| Abstract: | From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the United States experienced an epochal wave of low-skilled immigration. Since the Great Recession, however, U.S. borders have become a far less active place when it comes to the net arrival of foreign workers. The number of undocumented immigrants has declined in absolute terms, while the overall population of low-skilled, foreign-born workers has remained stable. We examine how the scale and composition of low-skilled immigration in the United States have evolved over time, and how relative income growth and demographic shifts in the Western Hemisphere have contributed to the recent immigration slowdown. Because major source countries for U.S. immigration are now seeing and will continue to see weak growth of the labor supply relative to the United States, future immigration rates of young, low-skilled workers appear unlikely to rebound, whether or not U.S. immigration policies tighten further. |
| JEL: | J11 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23753&r=ure |
| By: | Maya Escueta; Vincent Quan; Andre Joshua Nickow; Philip Oreopoulos |
| Abstract: | In recent years, there has been widespread excitement around the potential for technology to transform learning. As investments in education technology continue to grow, students, parents, and teachers face a seemingly endless array of education technologies from which to choose—from digital personalized learning platforms to educational games to online courses. Amidst the excitement, it is important to step back and understand how technology can help—or in some cases hinder—how students learn. This review paper synthesizes and discusses experimental evidence on the effectiveness of technology-based approaches in education and outlines areas for future inquiry. In particular, we examine RCTs across the following categories of education technology: (1) access to technology, (2) computer-assisted learning, (3) technology-enabled behavioral interventions in education, and (4) online learning. While this review focuses on literature from developed countries, it also draws upon extensive research from developing countries. We hope this literature review will advance the knowledge base of how technology can be used to support education, outline key areas for new experimental research, and help drive improvements to the policies, programs, and structures that contribute to successful teaching and learning. |
| JEL: | I20 I29 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23744&r=ure |
| By: | Efendic, Adnan; Pugh, Geoffrey T. |
| Abstract: | This empirical study is based on nationally representative cross-sectional survey data gathered to investigate the effect of ethnic diversity on individual and household economic performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The complexity of this relationship in the context of this post-conflict country is addressed and investigated by estimating models in which ethnic diversity affects personal and family incomes. The 1992-1995 conflict was ethnically characterized, and harmful for ethnic diversity. Yet, two decades later, we find positive economic consequences of ethnic diversity for individuals and households. After controlling for other influences, the authors estimate that both personal and family incomes are around 10% higher in ethnically diverse than in ethnically homogenous areas. A corollary is that policy makers in this post-conflict country, and in similar environments elsewhere, should take into consideration the economic costs of policies supporting ethnic homogeneity over diversity. |
| Keywords: | ethnic diversity,economic performance,Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| JEL: | D00 D10 D31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201757&r=ure |
| By: | Matias Nunez (LAMSADE - Laboratoire d'analyse et modélisation de systèmes pour l'aide à la décision - Université Paris-Dauphine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marco Scarsini (Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - LUISS - Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli [Roma]) |
| Abstract: | We consider spatial competition when consumers are arbitrarily distributed on a compact metric space. Retailers can choose one of finitely many locations in this space. We focus on symmetric mixed equilibria which exist for any number of retailers. We prove that the distribution of retailers tends to agree with the distribution of the consumers when the number of competitors is large enough. The results are shown to be robust to the introduction of (i) randomness in the number of retailers and (ii) different ability of the retailers to attract consumers. |
| Keywords: | Location,Equilibrium,Hotelling games,Large games,Poisson games,Valence |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01512621&r=ure |
| By: | Enflo, Kerstin (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Missiaia, Anna (Department of Economic History, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides regional GDP estimates for the 24 Swedish regions (NUTS-3) for the benchmark year 1571 and for 11 ten-year benchmarks for the period 1750-1850. The 1571 estimates are based on tax sources and agricultural statistics. The 1750-1850 estimates are produced following the widely used methodology by Geary and Stark (2002): labour force figures from population censuses at regional level are used to allocate to regions the national estimates of agriculture, industry and services while wages are used to correct for productivity differentials. By connecting our series to the existing ones by Enflo et al. (2014) for the period 1860-2010, we are able to produce the longest set of regional GDP series to date for any single country. |
| Keywords: | regional GDP; Sweden; long-run regional inequality; pre-industrial regional development |
| JEL: | N01 N13 N93 |
| Date: | 2017–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0162&r=ure |
| By: | Fajardo, Gustavo; Gutiérrez, Emilio; Larreguy, Horacio |
| Abstract: | We study how unemployment shocks in the United States affect Mexican households’ migration decisions. We emphasize households at origin (as op-posed to individuals) as the decisionmaking units for migration decisions. We show that negative changes in US labor market conditions, which are diffused by household members at destination to those at origin, lead to heterogeneous migration responses by Mexican households that have members abroad. We argue that this heterogeneous response is driven by the relative magnitudes of income and substitution effects after a negative employment shock in the United States. While the income effect dominates the substitution effect for poor households, the opposite holds for richer households. These results also inform the literature on selection patterns in international migration, which suggests a new channel through which negative shocks in the host economy negatively affect the skill composition of subsequent migrants. |
| Keywords: | Economía, Investigación socioeconómica, Trabajo y protección social, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1082&r=ure |
| By: | YUGAMI Kazufumi; MORIMOTO Atsushi; TANAKA Yoshiyuki |
| Abstract: | We use municipal amalgamations implemented in Japan between 2000 and 2005 as a natural experiment to identify the impact of welfare benefits on labor supply. In Japan's Public Assistance (PA) program, the maximum benefit level for a person with zero income depends on the recipient's residency area. Each municipality is assigned to one of six class-areas, each with different benefit levels. In the case of an amalgamation among municipalities that belong to different class-areas, the highest among them must be applied to the new municipality, as per governmental notification. Exploiting this event, we use a difference-in-differences approach to identify the effect of the increase in PA benefits after the municipal amalgamations on the labor supply. The results show that the increases in PA benefit levels raised the recipient rate, but did not affect the employment rate of the working-age population on average. However, the analysis by demographic group shows that these effects are substantial and strongly significant for prime-age unmarried males and females. The exogenous increase in public assistance benefits in the 2000s decreased the employment rate for those who are likely to receive public assistance benefits by at least one percentage point, and perhaps by as much as two percentage points. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17109&r=ure |