|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Jan (J.) Rouwendal (VU Amsterdam); Adriaan Keus (VU Amsterdam); Jasper Dekkers (VU Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of the sale of rental housing in Amsterdam on the local housing market. This increases the supply of owner-occupied housing, but can also contribute to gentrification associated with the inflow of different household groups. Earlier literature focused on the former effect and reported a negative price effect. We take a fresh look at the issue by considering the sale of private as well as social rental housing, allow for differing time trends within the municipality, controlling for area fixed effects, distinguishing between short and long-term impacts and addressing endogeneity of the sale of rental housing. The main finding is a robust gentrifying effect of the sale of private rental housing in the core area of Amsterdam. |
| Keywords: | gentrification; social housing; Dutch housing market |
| JEL: | R21 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20180022&r=ure |
| By: | Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (Queens College, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | Using a nationally representative sample of 12,344 immigrants from 41 different countries of ancestry living in Spain in 2007, we find that the higher the housing-loan penetration in the country of ancestry, the higher the likelihood of having a mortgage in Spain. Similarly, the higher the mortgage depth in the country of ancestry, the higher the present value of the monthly mortgage payments. Our results suggest that social norms regarding mortgage finance in the country of ancestry matter in determining immigrants' mortgage finance in the host country. More specifically, the effect of social norms on the decision to have a mortgage (the extensive margin) and the amount of the mortgage payments (the intensive margin) is about one third and tenth the size of the effect of having a college degree on mortgage debt, respectively. Evidence of strong persistence of culture among those with longer tenure in the host country, those who immigrated as children or young adults, and second-generation immigrants suggests that vertical transmission of beliefs (from parents to children) is a plausible channel of transmission. Perhaps most importantly, we find that cultural attitudes regarding property rights are most relevant when explaining individuals' decision to get a mortgage, but those regarding credit information matter most when explaining the amount of the mortgage debt. |
| Keywords: | housing-loan penetration, mortgage depth, culture, formal and informal institutions, and epidemiological approach |
| JEL: | G21 G28 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11316&r=ure |
| By: | Laurent Denant-Boèmont (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR1 - Université de Rennes 1 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Carl Gaigné (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AGROCAMPUS OUEST); Romain Gaté (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR1 - Université de Rennes 1 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AGROCAMPUS OUEST) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the effects of urban design on pollution and welfare. We build a theoretical model of residential choices with pollution externalities arising from commuting, where the size of the central business district (CBD) and the demand for housing are endogenous. We show that a polycentric city is desirable from welfare and ecological perspective, provided that travel speed and/or the number of roads directly connected with the CBD are sufficiently high. The spatial extension of cities remains the critical variable to curb transport-related urban pollution. |
| Keywords: | Urban form,Housing,Travel speed,Carbon emissions,Welfare |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01717983&r=ure |
| By: | Áureo de Paula (University College London); Imran Rasul (University College of London); Pedro Souza (PUC-Rio) |
| Abstract: | It is almost self-evident that social interactions can determine economic behavior and outcomes. Yet, information on social ties does not exist in most publicly available and widely used datasets. We present methods to recover information on the entire structure of social networks from observational panel data that contains no information on social ties between individuals. In the context of a canonical social interactions model, we provide sufficient conditions under which the social interactions matrix, endogenous and exogenous social effect parameters are all globally identified. We describe how high dimensional estimation techniques can be used to estimate the model based on the Adaptive Elastic Net GMM method. We showcase our method in Monte Carlo simulations using two stylized and two real world network structures. Finally, we employ our method to study tax competition across US states. We find the identified network structure of tax competition differs markedly from the common assumption of tax competition between geographically neighboring states. We analyze the identified social interactions matrix to provide novel insights into the long-standing debate on the relative roles of factor mobility and yardstick competition in driving tax setting behavior across states. Most broadly, our method shows how the analysis of social interactions can be usefully extended to economic realms where no network data exists. |
| Keywords: | social interactions, panel data, high dimensional estimation, GMM, adaptive elastic net |
| JEL: | C18 C31 D85 H71 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-013&r=ure |
| By: | Song, Yang (Department of Economics, Colgate University) |
| Abstract: | School choice reforms give talented students the option to sort out of low-performing schools but often leave disadvantaged students behind. This study shows how a Chinese city was successful in helping its low-performing schools to catch up by encouraging talented students to sort into these schools. The city identified eleven low-performing middle schools and guaranteed elite high school admission to their top ten-percent graduates. This study documents that the policy improved school performance by 0.19-0.26 standard deviations. Using data on lottery middle school assignment, I further test for potential mechanisms, including strategic sorting and improvement in school value-added. |
| Keywords: | Education Inequality; School Choice; Incentives; Sorting; Peer Effects. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgt:wpaper:2018-01&r=ure |
| By: | OKAMURO, Hiroyuki; NISHIMURA, Junichi |
| Abstract: | Increasing attention has been paid to regional innovation systems. However, previous studies have so far only focused on (the regional impact of) national policies or specific regions. To date, no studies have been carried out on the implementation and variety of local research and development (R&D) subsidy programs at the municipality level. Our research fills this gap by using information on R&D subsidy programs from local authorities in Japan collected via websites and our original survey. Our research confirms 151 R&D subsidy programs conducted by 131 cities among all cities in 2015 and investigates the determinants of the implementation and design of local R&D subsidy programs at city level (length and upper limit of subsidies, and flexibility of subsidy conditions) considering both demand- and supply-side factors. The empirical results suggest that, after controlling for city type and population size, supply-side factors including local government conditions significantly affect the implementation of public R&D subsidy programs. In contrast, we find that demand-side factors matter more for the design of subsidy programs than supply-side factors. |
| Keywords: | local authority, innovation policy, R&D subsidy, policy design, city |
| JEL: | H71 O38 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:ccesdp:68&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriel Ahlfeldt; Elisabetta Pietrostefani; Abel Schumann; Tadashi Matsumoto |
| Abstract: | Most developed countries now pursue policies that implicitly or explicitly aim at promoting compact urban form. This report analyses more than 300 academic papers that study the effects of compact urban form, and finds that 69% of the papers reviewed find positive effects associated with compact urban form. Over 70% of studies find positive effects of economic density (the number of people living or working in an area). A smaller majority of studies attribute positive effects to mixed land use (58%) and the density of the built environment (56%). These averages hide significant variation across specific dimensions of urban development. In order to understand the effects of compact urban form, the report estimates the monetary per capita value of the change in 15 outcomes in response to a 10% change in economic density. The major benefits of economic density arise from improved productivity and better access to jobs and services. Further benefits are generated through the preservation of urban green space, greater energy efficiency, pollution reduction and safer urban environments. The major costs of higher economic density are related to congestion, health and well-being. Increasing compactness can also contribute to higher land values and housing costs, which are borne disproportionately by renters and first-time buyers. Increasing economic density therefore requires accompanying policy interventions to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs associated with compactness. In particular, policymakers need to facilitate large-scale investment in housing supply and public transport networks to ensure efficient and equitable access to housing, services and jobs in compact cities. |
| Keywords: | compact cities, cost-benefit-analysis, urban form, urban policy |
| JEL: | R14 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2018/03-en&r=ure |
| By: | Teresa Farinha Fernandes; Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Andrea Morrison; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | There is ample evidence of regions diversifying in new occupations that are related to pre- existing activities in the region. However, it is still poorly understood through which mechanisms related diversification operates. To unpack relatedness, we distinguish between three mechanisms: complementarity (interdependent tasks), similarity (sharing similar skills) and local synergy (based on pure co-location). We propose a measure for each of these relatedness dimensions and assess their impact on the evolution of the occupational structure of 389 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) for the period 2005-2016. Our findings show that new jobs appearing in MSA?s are related to existing ones, while those more likely to disappear are more unrelated to a city?s jobs' portfolio. We found that all three relatedness dimensions matter, but local synergy shows the largest impact on entry and exit of jobs in US cities. |
| Keywords: | evolutionary economic geography, regional capabilities, jobs, skills, relatedness, similarity, complementarity, local synergy, US cities |
| JEL: | J24 O18 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1813&r=ure |
| By: | Grafeneder-Weissteiner, Theresa; Prettner, Klaus; Südekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | Economic development in industrialized countries is characterized by rising per capita GDP, increasing life expectancy, and an ever larger share of the population living in cities. We explain this pattern within a regional innovation-driven economic growth model with labor mobility and a demographic structure of overlapping generations. The model shows that there is a natural tendency for core-periphery structures to emerge in modern knowledge-based economies. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration,migration,innovation,growth,demography,urbanization,core-periphery structure,regional inequality |
| JEL: | J10 O30 O41 R23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:042018&r=ure |
| By: | Levy, Daniel; Snir, Avichai |
| Abstract: | We use novel and unique data to study the effect of price changes in the market for luxury and middle class homes. We find that luxury home sales respond less to price changes than the middle-class home sales; in the market for luxury homes, past prices affect current prices; luxury home prices persist; and prices of luxury homes are stickier than prices of middle-class homes. Recent macroeconomic models predict that housing markets can have counter-cyclical effect, if home prices are flexible. Our findings imply that home prices, especially luxury home prices, may not be flexible enough to generate such effect. |
| Keywords: | Housing market,Luxury housing,Housing demand,Price rigidity,Sticky prices,Predictability,Veblen Effect |
| JEL: | E31 E32 R21 G14 D12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:175843&r=ure |
| By: | Borgoni, Riccardo; Michelangeli, Alessandra; Pirola, Federica |
| Abstract: | Residential satisfaction depends on housing and neighborhood conditions in addition to housing cost affordability. To determine the relative importance of these factors, their average effect is usually estimated using sample data, eventually split in sub-samples in order to represent social classes. In this paper, within the theoretical framework of subjective well-being, we propose a novel empirical strategy independent of the concept of social class, able to estimate how the effect of drivers of residential satisfaction change on continuous according to households' income. We apply our methodology to investigate residential satisfaction in 23 European countries using 2012 EU-SILC module on housing conditions. |
| Keywords: | housing,subjective well-being,Europe,EU-SILC Survey |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:190&r=ure |
| By: | Nguyen, Cuong; Noy, Ilan |
| Abstract: | We measure the longer-term effect of a major earthquake on the local economy, using night-time light intensity measured from space, and investigate whether insurance claim payments for damaged residential property affected the local recovery process. We focus on the destructive Christchurch earthquake of 2011 as our case study. In this event more than 95% of residential housing units were covered by insurance, but insurance payments were staggered over 5 years, enabling us to identify their local impact. We find that night-time luminosity can capture the process of recovery and describe the recovery’s determinants. We also find that insurance payments contributed significantly to the process of economic recovery after the earthquake, but delayed payments were less affective and cash settlement of claims were more affective in contributing to local recovery than insurance-managed rebuilding. |
| Keywords: | Earthquake, Recovery, Disaster, Insurance, Light, New Zealand, |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:6955&r=ure |
| By: | Julie L. Hotchkiss; Anil Rupasingha |
| Abstract: | This paper determines how individual, relative to community social capital affects individual migration decisions. We make use of non-public data from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey to predict multi-dimensional social capital for observations in the Current Population Survey. We find evidence that individuals are much less likely to have moved to a community with average social capital levels lower than their own and that higher levels of community social capital act as positive pull-factor amenities. The importance of that amenity differs across urban/rural locations. We also confirm that higher individual social capital is a negative predictor of migration. |
| Keywords: | social capital, migration, Current Population Survey, amenities, non-public data, factor analysis |
| JEL: | R23 D71 C36 C38 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:18-14&r=ure |
| By: | You Suk Kim; Steven Laufer; Karen M. Pence; Richard Stanton; Nancy Wallace |
| Abstract: | Nonbanks originated about half of all mortgages in 2016, and 75% of mortgages insured by the FHA or VA. Both shares are much higher than those observed at any point in the 2000s. We describe in this paper how nonbank mortgage companies are vulnerable to liquidity pressures in both their loan origination and servicing activities, and we document that this sector in the aggregate appears to have minimal resources to bring to bear in a stress scenario. We show how these exact same liquidity issues unfolded during the financial crisis, leading to the failure of many nonbank companies, requests for government assistance, and harm to consumers. The extremely high share of nonbank lenders in FHA and VA lending suggests that nonbank failures could be quite costly to the government, but this issue has received very little attention in the housing-reform debate. |
| Keywords: | FHA ; Ginnie Mae ; Mortgages and credit ; Financial crisis ; Mortgage servicing ; Nonbank institutions |
| JEL: | G21 G23 G28 D12 D18 E58 |
| Date: | 2018–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2018-16&r=ure |
| By: | Manley, David (University of Bristol); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Hedman, Lina (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Longer term exposure to high poverty neighbourhoods can affect individual socio-economic outcomes later in life. Previous research has shown strong path dependence in individual neighbourhood histories. A growing literature shows that the neighbourhood histories of people is linked to the neighbourhoods of their childhood and parental characteristics. To better understand intergenerational transmission of living in deprived neighbourhoods it is important to distinguish between inherited disadvantage (socio-economic position) and contextual disadvantage (environmental context in which children grow up). The objective of this paper is to come to a better understanding of the effects of inherited and contextual disadvantage on the neighbourhood careers of children once they have left the parental home. We use a quasi-experimental family design exploiting sibling relationships, including real sibling pairs, and "synthetic siblings" who are used as a control group. Using rich register data from Sweden we find that real siblings live more similar lives in terms of neighbourhood experiences during their independent residential career than synthetic sibling pairs. This difference reduces over time. Real siblings are still less different than synthetic pairs but the difference gets smaller with time, indicating a quicker attenuation of the family effect on residential outcomes than the neighbourhood effect. |
| Keywords: | siblings, hybrid model, residential selection, intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | I30 J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11335&r=ure |
| By: | Lorena Figueiredo; Taku Honiden (OECD); Abel Schumann (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses approaches to strengthen and monitor urban resilience through the use of indicators. Resilience is the capacity of a city or community to prepare for, respond to and adapt from dangerous and disruptive events, such as natural disasters, economic crises, demographic changes, health epidemics and others. Given that resilience is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, local authorities should design and implement strategies for urban resilience that integrate economic, social, environmental and institutional aspects. In order to monitor progress in becoming more resilient, local authorities should use indicators that measure resilience along these dimensions. The paper analyses different types of indicators and discusses the contexts in which they should be used. It provides recommendations on how local authorities can choose indicators tailored to their policy priorities and develops guidelines for the effective use of indicators in a broader governance framework. |
| Date: | 2018–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2018/02-en&r=ure |
| By: | Massimiliano Ferraresi (European Commission, Directorate I) |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits political features of Italian local governments to identify the presence of spatial interactions in spending decisions over the period 2001-2011. In particular, I take advantage of the political cycle to isolate the effect of spending decisions of one municipality on neighbors’ municipalities. The results of this analysis point to the presence of strategic interaction between neighboring municipalities, and indicate that such a fiscal behavior is more pronounced during electoral years, that is municipalities are engaged in yardstick competition. Moreover, to isolate any other source of spatial interactions from yardstick competition, I rely on a sample of municipalities experiencing a council dismissal, for which the political process is expected to be less marked - as they are led by a commissioner, who does not have any political concern. In this case, I build a measure of intensity of commissioner to induce variation in the spending decisions, finding, however, no evidence of spatial dependencies. Taken together these results suggest that the observed spatial dependence in spending decisions is unlikely to be driven by spillover e?ects, rather, it seems to be consent with the yardstick competition hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | spatial interactions, yardstick competition, spillover, political budget cycle, commissioner, external instruments |
| JEL: | H20 H71 H77 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:69&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Funke; Petar Mihaylovski; Adrian Wende |
| Abstract: | In view of regional house prices drifting apart, we examine whether regionally differentiated macroprudential policies can address financial stability concerns and moderate house price differences. To this end, we disaggregate both the household sector and the housing stock in a two-region DSGE model with out of sync subnational housing markets and compare four macroprudentail policy types: standard monetary policy by means of a standard Taylor rule, leaning against the wind monetary policy, national macroprudential policy or one that targets region-specific LTV ratios. In terms of reducing variances of house prices, regionally differentiated macroprudential policy performs best, provided the policy authorities are concerned with stabilising output and house prices rather than simply minimising the variance of inflation. Thus the findings point to a critical role for policy in regionalising macroprudential tools. |
| Keywords: | macroprudential policies, housing, DSGE, Great Britain |
| JEL: | E32 E44 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6887&r=ure |
| By: | Carolin Fritzsche; Lars Vandrei |
| Abstract: | We review the existing literature on the causes of vacancies in the housing market. First, we present a detailed overview of theoretical approaches that may explain the mechanisms causing vacancies under the assumptions of a standard market model, the search and matching theory and behavioral economics. Concerning the latter, we propose a new framework to explain vacancies in the housing market in the context of prospect theory which could be extended by future research. Second, we formulate hypotheses based on these theories regarding the causes and the extent of vacancies. Third, we evaluate the validity of the hypotheses by referring to the existing empirical literature while comparing the data, samples and methods employed in the various studies. The main findings of our literature review are (1) that there is considerable room to extend existing theoretical models and (2) that some hypotheses have either been investigated by the empirical literature only to a limited degree or have not been investigated at all. We also suggest that (3) a social welfare analysis that takes the specific type of vacancy into account is highly relevant for housing policy decisions. |
| Keywords: | Search frictions, matching, prospect theory, real estates, housing, vacancy |
| JEL: | D83 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_258&r=ure |
| By: | Konstantin A. Kholodilin |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a new international longitudinal database of governmental housing policies. The regulations are measured using binary variables based on a thorough analysis of the real-time country-specific legislation. Three major restrictive policies are considered: rent control, protection from restriction, and housing rationing. The database covers 47 countries and states between 1910 and 2018. This allows comparisons of regulation stringency across both time and space. The analysis reveals a surge of all restrictive policies in the first half of the 20th century. However, following World War II, the evolution of policies diverged: while rent control became more flexible or was phased out, tenure security stabilized at a high level or even increased, while housing rationing became used less frequently. An application of dynamic multivariate longitudinal clustering permits dividing the sample in two groups. One cluster comprises countries with more flexible rent control, stronger tenure security, and more housing rationing. It mostly includes European continental countries. Another cluster unifies countries with a more rigid rent control, weaker tenant protection, and rarely used housing rationing. |
| Keywords: | regulation indices, rent control, tenure security, housing rationing |
| JEL: | C43 O18 R38 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1727&r=ure |
| By: | Dehos, Fabian T. |
| Abstract: | Does refugee migration cause crime? I address this question drawing on recent refugee migration to Germany during the years 2010 to 2015. Based on administrative data records, I add to the literature by disentangling the direct crime impact of asylum seekers and recognized refugees separately. For the group of asylum seekers, I exploit dispersal policies and locational restrictions and find no impact on crime except for migrationspecific offenses. For the group of recognized refugees, who may endogenously move, I use a shift-share instrument and find a positive association between the share of recognized refugees and the overall crime rate, which is driven by non-violent property crimes and frauds. The empirical results prove robust along several robustness checks and are consistent with predictions of the Becker model. |
| Keywords: | refugee migration,crime |
| JEL: | F22 K42 J15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:737&r=ure |
| By: | Dario Diodato; Frank Neffke; Neave O?Clery |
| Abstract: | The fact that firms benefit from close proximity to other firms with which they can exchange inputs, skilled labor or know-how helps explain why many industrial clusters are so successful. Studying the evolution of coagglomeration patterns, we show that which type of agglomeration benefits firms has drastically changed over the course of a century and differs markedly across industries. Whereas, at the beginning of the twentieth century, industries tended to colocate with their value chain partners, in more recent decades the importance of this channels has declined and colocation seems to be driven more by similarities industries? skill requirements. By calculating industry-specific Marshallian agglomeration forces, we are able to show that, nowadays, skill- sharing is the most salient motive in location choices of services, whereas value chain linkages still explain much of the colocation patterns in manufacturing. Moreover, the estimated degrees to which labor and input-output linkages are reflected in an industry?s coagglomeration patterns help improve predictions of city-industry employment growth. |
| Keywords: | Coagglomeration, Marshallian externalities, labor pooling, value chains, manufacturing, services, regional diversification |
| JEL: | J24 O14 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1814&r=ure |
| By: | Bertazzini, Mattia C. |
| Abstract: | Between 1935 and 1940 the Italians built an extensive road network to facilitate the occupation of Ethiopia and secure control over the Horn of Africa, but were expelled in 1941. This provides a unique case study to examine the long-run effect of cheap transport networks on the concentration of economic activity in developing countries. The results show that cells located next to Italian paved roads are significantly richer today and that the relationship is causal. Persistence is explained by a combination of direct and indirect mechanisms: colonial roads attracted economic activity through lower transport costs until 1960. After that date, the advantage of treated locations persisted only indirectly through increasing returns to scale. |
| Keywords: | colonial transport infrastructure; roads; increasing returns to scale |
| JEL: | N70 N77 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:87074&r=ure |
| By: | Edgar Salgado Chavez (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | Using two rounds of population census for 1043 districts in Peru I document that large-scale mining activity had a positive effect on local employment over 14 years. The effect is differentiated by industry, skill and migration status. Employment grew by 0.04 percentage points faster by one standard deviation increase in the mineral prices. Both high and low skilled workers enjoyed similar employment increase, however only low skilled workers experienced a decline in unemployment. Using data from 10 annual household surveys I find that, consistent with a model of heterogeneous firms and labor, wages for low skilled workers in districts close to the mining activity was 0.05 percentage points higher by every standard deviation increase in the index of mineral prices. Additional evidence with the census data suggests that locals working in the mining or the agricultural sector filled the new employment opportunities. More evidence suggests that mobility costs and not the elasticity of substitution between high and low skilled workers or skill acquisition may explain the outcome. Together these findings suggest that large-scale mining activity increases the demand for mining and agricultural local employment, and the wages in the local economy. |
| Keywords: | local labour markets; mining; productivity |
| JEL: | J61 O12 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:0718&r=ure |
| By: | Andrea Bassanini (OECD - OECD - OECD); Eve Caroli (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); François Fontaine (PSE - Paris School of Economics); Antoine Rebérioux (LADYSS - Laboratoire dynamiques sociales et recomposition des espaces - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8, Vincennes-Saint-Denis - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of local social pressure on the choice of employment contracts made by firms. Using linked employer-employee data, we show that secondary establishments located closer to headquarters have higher shares of fixed-term contracts in hiring than those located further away whenever firms' headquarters are located in selfish communities. In contrast, when firms' headquarters belong to unselfish communities, the impact of distance to headquarters on the share of fixed-term contracts turns out to be positive. We show that these findings can only be explained by local social pressure. When the local community at the firm's headquarters is selfish, i.e. cares about dismissals only when they take place at short distance, CEOs are under pressure to avoid dismissing workers close to headquarters. By adding to the adjustment costs associated with open-ended contracts, this creates an incentive for them to rely more on fixed-term contracts, in an attempt to escape social pressure when hiring workers close to headquarters. |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01724188&r=ure |
| By: | Lars P. Feld; Christoph A. Schaltegger; Janine Studerus |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the importance of fiscal mechanisms for regional risk sharing and redistribution in Switzerland. Switzerland is a particularly interesting setting in this context because it features both a high level of fiscal autonomy for Swiss cantons and explicit fiscal transfers between the federal government and the cantons. Based on panel-data analysis we study the redistributive and stabilizing properties of fiscal equalization transfers, federal government transfers in general, direct federal taxation, the unemployment insurance scheme and the first pillar pension scheme. We find a combined redistributive effect of these mechanisms of about 20%. This means that long-run income differentials of 1 Swiss Franc between cantons translate into differences of long-run disposable income after taxes and transfers of about 80 cents. The combined contemporary stabilization effect with respect to short-term income fluctuations amounts to less than 10%, which is a small effect compared to previous findings for other countries. |
| Keywords: | regional risk sharing, redistribution, fiscal transfers |
| JEL: | E62 H10 H70 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6902&r=ure |
| By: | Gibbons, Steve; Overman, Henry; Sarvimäki, Matti |
| Abstract: | We study the local economic impacts of a major regeneration programme aimed at enhancing the quality of life of local people in deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. The analysis is based on a panel of firm and area level data available at small spatial scales. Our identification strategies involve: a) exploiting the fine spatial scale of our data to study how effects vary with distance to the intervention area; and b) comparing places close to treatment in early rounds of the programme with places close to treatment in future rounds. We consider the long run impact of schemes funded between 1995 and 1997 on outcomes up to 2009. Our estimates suggest that the programme increased workplace employment in the intervention area but this had no impact on the employment rates of local residents. |
| Keywords: | employment, regional development, Labour markets and education, H50, J08, R11, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:92&r=ure |
| By: | Celia Melguizo Cháfe (QR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Vicente Royuela (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | In Spain, economic disparities between regions have traditionally played a relevant role in migration. Nevertheless, during the previous high-instability period, analyses provided conflicting results about the effect of these variables. In this work, we aim to determine the role that labour market factors play in internal migration during the Great Recession, paying special attention to the migration response of the heterogeneous population groups. To do so, we resort to an extended gravity model and we consider as a territorial unit the 45 Spanish Functional Urban Areas. Our results point to real wages as having a significant influence on migration motivations. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Spanish urban areas, Labour market factors JEL classification: C23, J61, R23 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201709&r=ure |
| By: | WGEM Team on Real and Financial Cycles; Rünstler, Gerhard; Balfoussia, Hiona; Burlon, Lorenzo; Buss, Ginters; Comunale, Mariarosaria; De Backer, Bruno; Dewachter, Hans; Guarda, Paolo; Haavio, Markus; Hindrayanto, Irma; Iskrev, Nikolai Ivanov; Jaccard, Ivan; Kulikov, Dmitry; Kunovac, Davor; Lenarcic, Crt; Lequien, Matthieu; Lozej, Matija; Mandler, Martin; Papageorgiou, Dimitris; Pedersen, Jesper; Perez-Quiros, Gabriel; Rannenberg, Ansgar; Rots, Eyno; Scharnagl, Michael; Welz, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the cyclical properties of real GDP, house prices, credit, and nominal liquid financial assets in 17 EU countries, by applying several methods to extract cycles. The estimates confirm earlier findings of large medium-term cycles in credit volumes and house prices. GDP appears to be subject to fluctuations at both business-cycle and medium-term frequencies, and GDP fluctuations at medium-term frequencies are strongly correlated with cycles in credit and house prices. Cycles in equity prices and long-term interest rates are considerably shorter than those in credit and house prices and have little in common with the latter. Credit and house price cycles are weakly synchronous across countries and their volatilities vary widely – these differences may be related to the structural properties of housing and mortgage markets. Finally, DSGE models can replicate the volatility of cycles in house and equity prices, but not the persistence of house price cycles. JEL Classification: C32, E32, E44 |
| Keywords: | DSGE models, financial cycles, real-time estimates, synchronicity |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbops:2018205&r=ure |
| By: | Anda David (Agence Française de Développement Government of France); Nathalie Guilbert (Independant consultant); Nobuaki Hamaguchi (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan); Yudai Higashi (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, Japan); Hiroyuki Hino (Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU)in the Poverty and Inequality Initiative of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan); Murray Leibbrandt (Pro-Vice Chancellor, School of Economics, and Director of Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and DST/NRF Research Chair on Poverty and Inequality); Muna Shifa (Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), South Africa) |
| Abstract: | Using the 2011 South African population census, we provide income and multidimensional poverty and inequality estimates at the municipal level. We go on to estimate a spatial econometric model to identify the correlates of poverty across municipalities in South Africa. Our results show that both income and multidimensional poverty and inequality vary significantly across municipalities in South Africa. In general, areas that are historically characterized by low economic and welfare outcomes still experience significantly higher poverty and deprivation levels. Using both global and local spatial autocorrelation measures we find significant and positive spatial dependence and clustering of regional development indicators. The situation of poverty is both spatially unequal and autocorrelated. Results from our spatial econometric analysis indicate negative and significant relations between the municipal poverty levels and local levels of education and economic activity (GDP per capita). Significant and positive relations are found between municipal poverty levels and local inequality levels, suggesting that municipalities with higher levels of inequality also have higher incidences of poverty. In contrast, natural geographic factors such as rainfall and temperature are not significantly related to municipal poverty. Accounting for both direct, intra-municipality effects as well as spillover effects of neighbouring municipalities is important. These spillover effects notably reduce the coefficient sizes suggested by non-spatial, OLS regressions. Most striking, the large negative coefficient that OLS attributes to residing within a historical homeland area is greatly reduced and even loses statistical significance in some spatial models. Clearly municipalities in homeland areas are particularly likely to be surrounded by very poor municipal neighbours and therefore subject to strong negative spillovers. That said, when interactions between this historical geographical variable and contemporary socio-economic deprivations are included, then homeland becomes statistically significant once more. This makes the important point that while, it is these socio-economic deprivations that are particularly important in explaining contemporary income poverty across the county, those who reside in these homeland areas remain especially badly off in terms of these deprivations. |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2018-02&r=ure |
| By: | Eerola, Essi; Lyytikäinen, Teemu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of housing allowance 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 allows us to isolate the impact of the generosity of housing allowance from other determinants of rents. The discontinuities in the amount of housing allowances at the studied cut-offs are economically and statistically significant. 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 benefit, rent, Social security, taxation and inequality, H22, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:88&r=ure |
| By: | Aucejo, Esteban M.; Romano, Teresa Foy |
| Abstract: | Abstract While instructional time is viewed as crucial to learning, little is known about the effectiveness of reducing absences relative to increasing the number of school days. Using administrative data from North Carolina public schools, this paper jointly estimates the effect of absences and length of the school calendar on test score performance. We exploit a state policy that provides variation in the number of school days prior to standardized testing and find substantial differences between these two effects. Extending the school calendar by ten days increases math and reading test scores by only 1.7 and 0.8 of a standard deviation, respectively. A similar reduction in absences would lead to gains of 5.5 in math and 2.9 in reading. We perform a number of robustness checks including utilizing flu data to instrument for absences, family-year fixed effects, distinguishing between excused and unexcused absences, and controlling for a contemporaneous measure of student disengagement. Our results are robust to these alternative specifications. In addition, our findings indicate considerable heterogeneity across student ability, suggesting that targeting absenteeism among low performing students could aid in narrowing current gaps in performance. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2016–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68655&r=ure |
| By: | Dalgaard, Carl-Johan; Kaarsen, Nicolai; Olsson, Ola; Selaya, Pablo |
| Abstract: | How persistent is public goods provision in a comparative perspective? We explore the link between infrastructure investments made during antiquity and the presence of infrastructure today, as well as the link between early infrastructure and economic activity both in the past and in the present, across the entire area under dominion of the Roman Empire at the zenith of its geographical extension. We find a remarkable pattern of persistence showing that greater Roman road density goes along with (a) greater modern road density, (b) greater settlement formation in 500 CE, and (c) greater economic activity in 2010. Interestingly, however, the degree of persistence in road density and the link between early road density and contemporary economic development is weakened to the point of insignificance in areas where the use of wheeled vehicles was abandoned from the first millennium CE until the late modern period. Taken at face value, our results suggest that infrastructure may be one important channel through which persistence in comparative development comes about. |
| Keywords: | infrastructure; Persistence; Public Goods; Roman Empire; Roman roads |
| JEL: | H41 O40 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12745&r=ure |
| By: | Alan Manning; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | If we want to create jobs in disadvantaged local areas, the idea of 'local' needs to be revisited. Alan Manning and Barbara Petrongolo explain the problem of thinking of geographical space as non-overlapping single labour markets. Their study, which draws on evidence from job openings in London ahead of the 2012 Olympics, provides a useful toolkit to understand the likely impact of place-based policies. |
| Keywords: | Job search, local labour markets, location-based policies, ripple effects |
| JEL: | J61 J63 J64 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:523&r=ure |
| By: | Silliman, Mikko |
| Abstract: | I estimate the impact of a targeted funding policy that provides disadvantaged schools in Helsinki with extra resources for hiring additional staff. Using a differences-in-differences strategy, I identify significant improvement in transitions to secondary education for low-performing native students and students from an immigrant background. As a result of the policy native students are 3 percentage points less likely to drop out of education after middle school, and students from immigrant backgrounds are 6 percentage points less likely to drop out of education after middle school as well as 7 percentage points more likely to attend the academic track of upper-secondary school. The impacts of the policy are particularly large for male native students and female students from an immigrant background. The analysis suggests that these results are driven by improvements in non-academic skills rather than only in academic coursework. The results, robust to various checks, provide evidence that extra resources can be particularly effective when targeted towards students from an immigrant background. |
| Keywords: | targeted school funding, secondary education, Labour markets and education, I24, I28, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:91&r=ure |
| By: | Harjunen, Oskari; Saarimaa, Tuukka; Tukiainen, Janne |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of municipal mergers using novel geocoded data on public sector jobs, housing transactions and local politicians’ place of residence. We find that total municipal expenditures evolve in the same way on average in merged municipalities as in the control group of hypothetical mergers that did not take place. These findings hide substantial heterogeneity within the mergers. Those municipalities that gained only weak political representation in the new post-merger council experience a substantial reduction in local public jobs in administration, and health and social care sectors relative to the municipalities in the same merger that were more strongly represented. This result implies that the mergers had an effect on the within merger spatial distribution of municipal services. However, we do not find conclusive evidence concerning welfare effects. This might be explained by a distance-quality trade-off related to these services. |
| Keywords: | health and social services, impact assessment of policy measures, local democracy, municipal finances, municipal mergers, municipalities, public services, voting, Local public finance and provision of public services, C23, D72, H72, H75, H77, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:98&r=ure |
| By: | O'Malley, Terry (Central Bank of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | Does reducing repossession risk lead more borrowers to default on their mortgages? In this letter, I present recent research examining this question. In Ireland in 2011, a high court ruling effectively removed a bank’s ability to lawfully repossess homes. Analysing mortgage arrears patterns before and after the Dunne judgment in Ireland, I show that borrowers defaulted after the judgment at a higher rate than they otherwise would have. Borrowers who responded by defaulting were more likely to be in negative equity but were also more likely to have missed payments before the judgment, have lower incomes and face higher interest rates. |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:ecolet:1/el/18&r=ure |
| By: | Tim Conley; Nirav Mehta; Ralph Stinebrickner; Todd Stinebrickner |
| Abstract: | We develop and estimate a model of student study time on a social network. The model is designed to exploit unique data collected in the Berea Panel Study. Study time data allow us to quantify an intuitive mechanism for academic social interactions: own study time may depend on friend study time in a heterogeneous manner. Social network data allow us to embed study time and resulting academic achievement in an estimable equilibrium framework. We develop a specification test that exploits the equilibrium nature of social interactions and use it to show that novel study propensity measures mitigate econometric endogeneity concerns. |
| Keywords: | social networks, peer effects, homophily, time-use |
| JEL: | C52 C54 I20 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6896&r=ure |
| By: | Homburg, Stefan |
| Abstract: | The German property tax is probably unconstitutional. Since this tax violates the ability-to-pay principle anyway, the author proposes a simpler design that preserves municipal and state revenues and also avoids increases in housing costs. |
| Keywords: | Property tax, Grundsteuer, Finanzausgleich |
| JEL: | H27 H77 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-629&r=ure |
| By: | Siebert, W. Stanley (University of Birmingham); Wei, Xiangdong (Lingnan University); Wong, Ho Lun (Lingnan University); Zhou, Xiang (University of Birmingham) |
| Abstract: | This study reports a randomized controlled trial to improve teacher-student-parent feedback, conducted in a rural county in China with many left-behind children. Data are collected from over 4,000 primary schoolchildren (8 to 10 years old) over two school terms. We find that bi-weekly student feedbacks using our special scorecard of schoolwork and behavior improve mathematics results by 0.16 to 0.20 standard deviations, with 0.09 for language. Communicating these assessments also to parents produces further large mathematics benefits for young left-behind children, about 0.30 standard deviations. A low-cost investment in better feedback thus brings significant achievement gains especially for disadvantaged children. |
| Keywords: | student assessment, parent-teacher communication, academic performance, randomized controlled trial, rural China |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11347&r=ure |
| By: | Makram El-Shagi; Steven Yamarik (California State University Long Beach; Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents updated estimates for state-level capital and investment for 1950 to 2015. We improve upon the procedure of Garofalo and Yamarik (2002) and Yamarik (2013) by using quantity measures to apportion the mining capital stock and a geometric pattern of depreciation to derive investment data. In an empirical application we use our data to estimate the production function and a simple growth model. We find coefficient estimates that support constant returns to scale and a 1/3 output elasticity of capital. These results are consistent with past regional and cross-country papers, supporting the plausibility of our data. |
| Keywords: | capital stock, investment, production function, Solow |
| JEL: | O47 O51 R11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fds:dpaper:201801&r=ure |
| By: | Itaya, Jun-ichi; Ibuka, Yoko; Miyazato, Naomi |
| Abstract: | Traditional economic models of vaccination behavior simply assume that agents free-ride on the vaccination decisions of others. We provide three different models of private provision of a public good, such as a joint production model and a conjectural variation model, to explain how a positive peer effect regarding vaccination behavior arises. We conduct two empirical studies using Japanese data in these models. The first empirical analysis, using a data set on the vaccination behavior of neighbors residing in the same block of a city, finds the existence of positive peer effects on individuals' vaccination decisions. The second empirical analysis also confirms that there are peer effects on the vaccination decisions of members of the same household using a dataset from the national survey we conduct. |
| Keywords: | Peer effect, Public Good, Vaccination, Free-rider, |
| Date: | 2018–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hok:dpaper:321&r=ure |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Maddalena Davoli; Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | Gender and origin background are widely accepted in the economics of education literature as factors that highly correlate with educational outcomes. However, little attention has been devoted so far to the interaction of these two dimensions. We use Italian data from PISA 2015 to investigate potential immigrant-gender gaps in education. We find that, as expected, girls outperform boys in reading and are outperformed by them in math and science. In addition, immigrant students’ scores are persistently below those of natives. However, interestingly, we find that being immigrant and female does not imply a double disadvantage in math and science. On the contrary, immigrant girls slightly compensate for the immigrant gap in all disciplines. Moreover, the wider gap we find is that of immigrant boys in reading: it ranges from to 0.66 to 2 school years with respect to native boys. Language spoken at home is one of the main cofactors affecting immigrant boy’s scores. Targeted policies should therefore be implemented. |
| Keywords: | immigrant-gender gap, education, OECD-PISA |
| JEL: | I24 F22 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:136&r=ure |
| By: | Remi Jedwab; Adam Storeygard |
| Abstract: | Previous work on transportation investments has focused on average impacts in high- and middle-income countries. We estimate average and heterogeneous effects in a poor continent, Africa, using roads and cities data spanning 50 years in 39 countries. Using changes in market access due to distant road construction as a source of exogenous variation, we estimate an 30-year elasticity of city population with respect to market access of 0.05-0.20. Our results suggest that this elasticity is stronger for small and remote cities, and weaker in politically favored and agriculturally suitable areas. Access to foreign cities matters little. |
| Keywords: | Transportation Infrastructure; Paved Roads; Urbanization; Cities; Africa;Market Access; Trade Costs; Highways; InternalMigration; Heterogeneity |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0822&r=ure |
| By: | Paul Cheshire; Christian Hilber; Hans R. A. Koster |
| Abstract: | In areas of Britain where there are empty houses, planners typically allocate less land for development and make it more difficult to build or adapt houses. Research by Paul Cheshire, Christian Hilber and Hans Koster exposes the unintended and undesirable consequences of additional local restrictions, including more, not fewer, empty homes and longer commutes. |
| Keywords: | Residential vacancy rates, housing supply constraints, land use regulation |
| JEL: | R13 R38 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:525&r=ure |
| By: | Irena Slavova-Georgieva (University of National and World Economy, department: Marketing and Strategic Planning); Yovka Bankova (University of National and World Economy, department: Marketing and Strategic Planning) |
| Abstract: | The concept of sustainable development as a global and long-term philosophy of development is directed towards achieving a balance and interconnectedness between economic activities, social aspects and the environment and offers an overall approach to solving the growing and complex global problems.This paper examines the possibilities that clusters? main characteristics ? spatial proximity, strategic collaboration and competition; interaction between stakeholders (businesses, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations) - can provide for the implementation of responsible business practices and joint corporate socially responsible activities which contribute to sustainable development.Based on publications in academic literature regarding the relationship between clusters and corporate social responsibility (CSR), known as the ?cluster? approach to CSR, as well as the results from a practical study of an industrial cluster in Bulgaria, we outline the potential of clusters to bring about not only economic benefits but also social and environmental improvements. The conditions for successful implementation of CSR actions in the cluster are studied, which for some industrial clusters can be prerequisites for improvement of their actual capacity for contribution to sustainable development and for others, they can turn into significant limitations. The results of the practical study show that in order for industrial clusters to use their potential for contribution to sustainable development, based on the main cluster characteristics (according to cluster theory), in addition to cluster activity, the social-economic and environmental context and the state of development of CSR and clusters in the respective country are also of defining importance. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development, cluster, corporate social responsibility, mining industry, industrial cluster Srednogorie (Bulgaria) |
| JEL: | M14 Q01 L72 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5908307&r=ure |
| By: | Cid, Alejandro; Bernatzky, Marianne |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the impact of an after-school program called Apoyo Escolar, sited in one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods of a developing country, Uruguay. The outcomes of interest are academic achievement, behavior at school and grade retention. By a field experiment, we explore the interaction effects of being randomly assigned to an after-school program with an indicator of parent commitment - an unaddressed question in previous literature. We found novel results that should guide policy design. Increasing time spent in safe settings does not guarantee academic success: the after-school program is effective in improving academic performance when children have committed parents. And students’ performance at school is highly correlated with parents’ educational expectations. Thus, the interaction between hope, family and after-school for disadvantaged children deserves more attention in policy design. |
| Keywords: | after-school program; poverty; education; impact evaluation; family; parenting |
| JEL: | I2 I24 J13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:84764&r=ure |
| By: | Galeotti, Andrea; Golub, Benjamin; Goyal, Sanjeev |
| Abstract: | Individuals interact strategically with their network neighbors. A planner can shape incentives in pursuit of an aggregate goal, such as maximizing welfare or minimizing volatility. We analyze a variety of targeting problems by identifying how a given profile of incentive changes is amplified or attenuated by the strategic spillovers in the network. The optimal policies are simplest when the budget for intervention is large. If actions are strategic complements, the optimal intervention changes all agents' incentives in the same direction and does so in proportion to their eigenvector centralities. In games of strategic substitutes, the optimal intervention is very different: it moves neighbors' incentives in opposite directions, dividing local communities into positively and negatively targeted agents, with few links across these two categories. To derive these results and characterize optimal interventions more generally, we introduce a method of decomposing any potential intervention into principal components determined by the network. A particular ordering of principal components describes the planner's priorities across a range of network intervention problems. |
| Date: | 2018–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:21698&r=ure |
| By: | Magne Mogstad (University of Chicago); Bradley Setzler (University of Chicago); Thibaut Lamadon (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We study the cost of workers reallocation between firms, industries and regions. Using IRS tax records on individuals’ earnings together with data on firms balance sheet, we estimate the pass-through of firm, region, and industry shocks to workers earnings. Using a stylized static model, link these pass-through estimates to costs of reallocating workers. Finally, we introduce long-term contracts and study the non-linear transmission of productivity shocks to earnings. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:1483&r=ure |
| By: | Brück, Tilman (ISDC - International Security and Development Center); Mahe, Clotilde (Maastricht University); Naudé, Wim (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | A common finding of the migration literature is that migrants are more likely to choose self-employment upon return to their origin countries than non-migrants. This has led to the belief that return migration stimulates entrepreneurship in source countries and hence supports economic development. In this paper, we test these assertions, drawing on the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study, a rich longitudinal data set from a transition economy with high levels of international temporary migration. We find that for return migrants, self-employment is often a temporary occupational choice, suggesting that self-employment serves as a 'parking lot'. In addition, we find evidence that return migrants who were self-employed before migrating are less likely to opt for self-employment on their return, implying that migration disrupts self-employment trajectories. Both findings cast doubt on the common narrative of return migration stimulating entrepreneurship and therefore economic development. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, entrepreneurship, migration, transition economies, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan |
| JEL: | F22 J24 L26 P20 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11332&r=ure |
| By: | Göcen, Serdar; Bayhanay, Alp; Göktaş, Nilüfer |
| Abstract: | In this study, we examined the effect of fiscal decentralization on economic growth. In economics, tacit and dispersed knowledge, public choice school, and principal–agent approaches provide a theoretical framework for this relationship. This study used both theoretical and empirical approaches. First, the fiscal decentralization–growth relationship was theoretically investigated and then the OECD countries were analyzed using panel data for the period 1995–2012. As a result, we found that different decentralization measurement criteria and different empirical methods have different effects on growth |
| Keywords: | fiscal decentralization, economic growth |
| JEL: | O11 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:84523&r=ure |
| By: | Rosés, Joan R.; Wolf, Nikolaus |
| Abstract: | We provide the first long-run dataset of regional employment structures and regional GDP and GDP per capita in 1990 international dollars, stretching over more than 100 years. These data allow us to compare regions over time, among each other, and to other parts of the world. After some brief notes on methodology we describe the basic patterns in the data in terms of some key dimensions: variation in the density of population and economic activity, the spread of industry and services and the declining role of agriculture, and changes in the levels of GDP and GDP per capita. We next discuss patterns of convergence and divergence over time and their explanations in terms of short-run adjustment and long-run fundamentals. Also, we document for the first time a secular decrease in spatial coherence from 1900 to 2010. We find a U-shaped development in geographic concentration and regional income inequality, similar to the finding of a U-shaped pattern of personal income inequality. |
| Keywords: | Europe; Long-Run; Regional Inequality |
| JEL: | D31 N1 N9 R1 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12749&r=ure |
| By: | Angelo Antoci; Fabio Sabatini |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that face-to-face interaction is declining in many countries, exacerbating the phenomenon of social isolation. On the other hand, social interaction through online networking sites is steeply rising. To analyze these societal dynamics, we have built an evolutionary game model in which agents can choose between three strategies of social participation: 1) interaction via both online social networks and face-to-face encounters; 2) interaction by exclusive means of face-to-face encounters; 3) opting out from both forms of participation in pursuit of social isolation. We illustrate the dynamics of interaction among these three types of agent that the model predicts, in light of the empirical evidence provided by previous literature. We then assess their welfare implications. We show that when online interaction is less gratifying than offline encounters, the dynamics of agents’ rational choices of interaction will lead to the extinction of the sub-population of online networks users, thereby making Facebook and similar platforms disappear in the long run. Furthermore, we show that the higher the propensity for discrimination of those who interact via online social networks and via face-to-face encounters (i.e., their preference for the interaction with agents of their same type), the greater the probability will be that they all will end up choosing social isolation in the long run, making society fall into a “social poverty trap”. |
| Keywords: | Social networks; segregation; dynamics of social interaction; social media, social networking sites. |
| JEL: | C73 D85 O33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2018_01&r=ure |
| By: | AMBA OYON, Claude Marius; Mbratana, Taoufiki |
| Abstract: | This paper develops estimators for simultaneous equations with spatial autoregressive or spatial moving average error components. We derive a limited information estimator and a full information estimator. We give the simultaneous generalized method of moments to get each component of the variance covariance of the disturbance in spatial autoregressive case as well as spatial moving average case. The results of our Monte Carlo suggest that our estimators are consistent. When we estimate the coefficient of spatial dependence it seems better to use instrumental variables estimator that takes into account simultaneity. We also apply these set of estimators on real data. |
| Keywords: | Simultaneous; GMM; Panel data; SAR; SMA |
| JEL: | C13 C33 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:84746&r=ure |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Education - Primary Education Education - Education For All Education - Early Childhood Development Education - Education Reform and Management Education - Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:25867&r=ure |
| By: | Moro, Andrea; Tello-Trillo, D. Sebastian; Tempesti, Tommaso |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of obesity on wages accounting for the workers' sorting into jobs requiring different levels of personal interactions in the workplace. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 combined with detailed information about jobs from O*Net, we find a wage penalty for obese white women. This penalty is higher in jobs that require a high level of personal interactions. Accounting for job selection does not significantly change the estimated wage penalty. |
| Keywords: | obesity,wages,selection,personal interactions |
| JEL: | I0 I12 I14 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:84540&r=ure |
| By: | Bevan Cook; Daan Steenkamp (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) |
| Abstract: | Prior to the global financial crisis (GFC), there was a relatively stable relationship between the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and retail mortgage rates. Changes in the OCR were typically accompanied by a proportional change in floating mortgage rates. However, this relationship has deteriorated since the GFC and the OCR on its own has not been a good proxy for bank funding costs. This paper examines the change in the transmission of the OCR, and the role of other funding costs for retail mortgage rates since the GFC. Banks now place greater reliance on more stable (but more costly) sources of funding. They rely on domestic deposits and long-term wholesale funding more, and less on short-term wholesale funding. This has resulted in a wider and more volatile spread between mortgage rates and the OCR. Not all changes in the OCR have passed through one-for-one into floating mortgage rates, as funding costs from other sources have sometimes been offsetting. We construct a comprehensive estimate of bank funding costs using a weighted average of the cost of domestic deposits, short-term wholesale funding and long-term wholesale funding. This weighted-average measure is further decomposed into a monetary policy rate component and a funding spread component. We use an error correction framework to measure the relative contributions of the policy rate and funding spreads to the level of mortgage rates in New Zealand, and estimate the speed of pass-through to mortgage rates from changes in funding costs. Our results suggest that funding spreads have been larger post-GFC, and have had a larger impact on the level of fixed-rate mortgages than on floating rates. There has also been a significant slowdown in the pass-through from policy and funding spreads to the floating mortgage rate. The speed of pass-through to fixed-rate mortgages has slowed only slightly. |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nzb:nzbans:2018/02&r=ure |
| By: | Shoko Yamane; Ryohei Hayashi |
| Abstract: | This study examined the peer effects of newcomer on the performance of existing members of teams, based on comparing the performances of swimming team members before and after the arrival of a newcomer. The identification strategy was similar to a natural experimental setting. This study found that the performance of an existing member of a team improves when a newcomer joins the team and that this effect is larger when the newcomer is a superior to the original team members. |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1025&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Ostrovsky; Michael Schwarz |
| Abstract: | We study the interplay between autonomous transportation, carpooling, and road pricing. We discuss how improvements in these technologies, and interactions among them, will affect transportation markets. Our main results show how to achieve socially efficient outcomes in such markets, taking into account the costs of driving, road capacity, and commuter preferences. An important component of the efficient outcome is the socially optimal matching of carpooling riders. Our approach shows how to set road prices and how to share the costs of driving and tolls among carpooling riders in a way that implements the efficient outcome. |
| JEL: | C78 L91 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24349&r=ure |